2002 The Zoologist — February, 1870. 



The Nest of the Crocodile. By the Rev. Bancroft Boake, 

 Vice-President of the Royal Asiatic Society. 



[The following paper appears in the Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal 



Asiatic Society. The information is highly interesting, and if any of my readers who 

 Lave been in India can make any addition to the information it contains I shall be 

 much obliged. — Edward Newman.'] 



The favourite haunts of crocodiles being but seldom visited, in 

 consequence of the insalubrity of the localities in which they are 

 generally to be found, and of the dangerous character of their inhabi- 

 tants, the habits of these animals are very imperfectly known. The 

 following account of two nests, which were recently found within a few 

 miles of Colombo, may therefore be interesting to naturalists. 



The first of these nests was discovered by Mr. Symonds, of the 

 Survey Department, who found it to contain about one hundred and 

 fifty eggs, which he removed, not without considerable risk, having 

 been repeatedly charged by the old crocodile who was guarding 

 them. 



My curiosity having been excited by the description which I 

 received of the nest from Mr. Symonds, I went to examine it myself. 

 I found it amongst the bushes on the swampy bank of the Bolgodde 

 lake, at a distance of a few feet from the water. 



The nest itself consisted of wet vegetable matter mixed with unid, 

 and was raised to the height of between three and four feet, presenting 

 in shape very much the appearance of a small conical haycock, but in 

 colour and consistency that of a heap of dung. Round the base of 

 the cone was a circular trench more than three feet broad, and about 

 tvvo feet deep, in which the old crocodile was wont to wallow while 

 watching her nest. The circle inclosed by this trench, the whole of 

 which was covered by the base of the nest, was between six and seven 

 feet in diameter. 



I am not aware that these conical nests have been previously 

 noticed. 



The eggs are placed at a height of at least two feet above the sur- 

 face of the water; and, although the nests in Ceylon are principally 

 composed of aquatic weeds in a wet state, which might be expected 

 to give out considerable heat in fermenting, yet I do not believe that 

 any artificial heat is required to hatch the eggs, because several eggs, 

 which were procured from the Bolgodde nests, were hatched in my 



