OF THE UNITED STATES 163 



plover is allowed by these great reptiles to enter and feed upon 

 the parasitic worms in its tongue, thereby affording no small re- 

 lief. This fact is illustrated in Fig. 43 of the present chap- 

 ter. The plovers belong to a group known in ornithology 

 as Coursers, and they are forms of great beauty. Sometimes, on 

 the Upper Nile, it is not an uncommon sight to see an old croco- 

 dile in the water, looking for all the world like a floating log, with 

 two or three of these pretty plovers disporting themselves upon 

 its back. They have a peculiar note to alarm the sleeping and 

 ponderous amphibian, in the event of approaching danger. 



On the Lower Mle the crocodiles have been rendered nearly 

 extinct; man has shot them out. In the same locality, in ancient 

 times, the Egyptians held them to be sacred; they kept many of 

 them tame, feeding them in the most extravagant manner, and 

 ornamenting many parts of their bodies with gold bracelets, jew- 

 els, and precious stones. Thus decked out, they were worshiped 

 by the people. Many were brought to Kome, especially in the 

 time of Augustus, where they were introduced at the Amphi- 

 theater. Temples were raised at Memphis in the reptile's honor, 

 and in them, as in other cities too, living crocodiles were kept as 

 divinities. After death they were mummified with the utmost 

 care and regard. In other parts and cities of ancient Egypt, 

 however, the very opposite sentiments obtained, and crocodiles 

 received no mercy at the hands of the inhabitants. Many natives 

 in Africa eat them with great relish, but Sir Samuel Baker re- 

 garded the flesh with the utmost disgust. 



To return to our own crocodile and alligator, I may say that a 

 full knowledge of their breeding habits has as yet not been se- 

 cured by science, so that accurate observations by any natural- 

 ists will be very acceptable, and constitute a positive contribu- 

 tion to a remarkable form of reptile that sooner or later must 

 utterly disappear from this country. 



