2090 Thf. Zoologist — April, 1870. 



about a century, it has received no specific synonyms from any of ihe 



writers whose works have been examined in the preparation of ihe 



present memoir. Specimens are contained in nearly all the American 



collections. The bird is authenticated as occurring on the coast of 



Maine. 



(To be continued.) 



The Nesl of the Alligator. By Captain H. W. Feilden. 



The account of the nesting of the crocodile in Ceylon (Zool. S. S, 

 200i2), reminds me that its ally of the New World, though differing 

 specifically, seems to have many of the same habits in regard to 

 nesting as the Indian reptile. 



Holbrook, in his North American Herpetology (vol. ii., p. 59), gives 

 the geographical distribution of "Alligator Mississippiensis" as 

 follows : — " The alligator is first observed on the Atlantic border of 

 the United States at the mouth of the Neus River, in North Carolina; 

 those that are occasionally seen farther north must be considered as 

 stragglers rather than ]iermanent residents. From this point they 

 abound near the mouths of all the creeks and rivers that empty into 

 the Atlantic Ocean, or into the Gulf of Mexico, as far as New Orleans, 

 ascending up the Mississippi as high as the entrance of Red River, six 

 hundred miles." 



Having resided several years in the southern states of America, I 

 have had frequent opportunities of watching these reptiles on the 

 rice-plantations of South Carolina and Georgia, where they are 

 numerous. In the summer-time they are to be seen floating like logs 

 upon the water, or basking on the sand-banks. 



In South Carolina the alligator hybernates (I am not aware if it 

 does so in the warmer climate of Southern Florida) : creeping under 

 the banks, it wallows ont a hole and buries itself in the mud. The 

 negroes eat the flesh of these reptiles, esteeming the tail a delicacy, 

 and search for them with long poles: when found in this torpid slate 

 they are easily killed. 



Florida, however, is the paradise of the alligator ; its numerous lakes 

 and semi-tropical climate, in the southern portion of the State, are 

 most conducive to reptile life. In the summer of 1864 I was in 

 Florida, and my tour of duty took me almost to the western or Gulf 

 of Mexico side of the State. My route took me through Sumter 



