64 MARVELS OF THE ANIMAL WORLD 



short distance from the water's edge. Having 

 done so, she then deposits some twenty or thirty 

 eggs therein, covering them up carefully with damp 

 leaves and other decaying vegetation which retains 

 the moisture and generates a considerable amount 

 of heat. 



In the course of about eight weeks the young ones 

 hatch out, and a short time previous to this event 

 the baby alligators give voice to loud squeaking 

 sounds as a call to their ever-watchful parents, who 

 then scrape away the outer covering of the nest so 

 as to enable their progeny to crawl away as soon as 

 they emerge from the eggs. 



The nesting habits of the crocodiles are very 

 similar to those of the alligators, but differ in the 

 fact that the parents deposit their eggs, from forty 

 to sixty in number, in holes excavated in the sand. 

 In the majority of cases the ova are left to be 

 hatched out entirely by the heat of the sun, but it 

 appears that their owners will sometimes assist 

 in the incubation by reposing upon the tops of the 

 nests. In a similar manner to the alligators, the 

 young crocodiles, when ready for emerging from the 

 eggs, utter sounds to attract the notice of their 

 parents, who dig down to them and prepare an 

 exit from the nests. To assist in their breaking 

 through the egg shell, the infant crocodiles are 

 provided with a small prominence upon the end of 

 their snouts, of a similar nature to that of the 

 echidna. This ' egg- tooth,* having served its 

 purpose, is shed after a period of about two 

 days. 



