CROCODILIDAE 459 



Southern China, and across the Malay Archipelago to the 

 northern coasts of Australia. Eastwards it ranges to the 

 Solomon Islands and even to Fiji. Curiously enough, it does 

 not seem to occur on the west coast of India. 



According to Tennent it is ready to assail man when pressed 

 by hunger, and the same authority mentions the following 

 serio-comic incident. A man was fishing, seated on the branch 

 of a tree overhanging the water, and to shelter himself from the 

 drizzling rain he covered his head and shoulders with a bag 

 folded into a shape common with the natives. While in this 

 attitude, a leopard sprang upon him from the jungle, but 

 missing its aim, seized the bag and not the man, and fell with 

 it into the river. Here a crocodile, which had been eyeing the 

 angler in despair, seized the leopard as it fell, and sank with it 

 to the bottom. 



I have had some personal experience in the bringing up of 

 the young of this species. Two dozen of them had come from 

 Ceylon when quite young, only one foot long. At first they 

 were very shy, and huddled together in their tank, but they 

 took food greedily strips of fish and, later on, sheep's heart. 

 When frightened they emitted peculiar, high-pitched, half- 

 croaking sounds. Some of them snapped at the finger when 

 touched ; others were of a more gentle disposition ; the shy ones 

 were undoubtedly the most vicious. Within one year they 

 grew to 18 or 20 inches, and added much to their bulk. Then 

 they were transferred to a deeper and larger tank in a green- 

 house, in which they could roam about at liberty. In the 

 daytime they dozed on the margins of their pond, mostly in 

 such a position that, at the slightest alarm, they could plunge 

 back into the water. The strongest specimen left the tank 

 entirely, and took up its favourite place for basking on the 

 stump of a tree, to reach which it had to climb up a rough wall 

 of stones. After three years, several had grown to the length of 

 three and a half, and even four feet, and had by this time 

 become formidable pets. Although handled frequently, they 

 never became tame, the only change in their behaviour being 

 that, instead of rushing off in a fright, and hiding for half an 

 hour at the bottom of the tank, they became more vicious and 

 confident, making for and snapping at the hand which fed them. 

 The nights were spent regularly in the water, either floating 



