The Zoologist — November, 1868. 1441 



being full of water and of a brown exterior, resembled the body of a 

 woman. The women rushed out of the river, when the crocodile 

 made a second dash at them, and seized another water-skin, that a 

 woman had dropped in her flight. They believe this to be the same 

 monster that took a woman a few months ago. Few creatures are so 

 sly and wary as the crocodile. I watch them continually as they 

 attack flocks of small birds that throng the bushes at the water's 

 edge. These birds are perfectly aware of the danger, and they fly 

 from the attack, if possible. The crocodile then quietly and inno- 

 cently lies upon the surface, as though it had appeared quite by 

 an accident; it thus attracts the attention of the birds, and it slowly 

 sails away to a considerable distance, exposed to their view. The 

 birds, thus beguiled by the deceiver, believe that the danger is 

 removed, and they again flock to the bush, and once more dip their 

 thirsty beaks into the stream. Thus absorbed in slaking their thirst, 

 they do not observe that their enemy is no longer on the surface. A 

 sudden splash, followed by a huge pair of jaws beneath the bush that 

 engulfs some dozens of victims, is the signal unexpectedly given of 

 the crocodile's return, who has thus slyly dived, and hastened under 

 cover of water to his victims. I have seen the crocodiles repeat this 

 manoeuvre constantly ; they deceive by a feigned retreat and then 

 attack from below. 



" In like manner the crocodile perceives, while it is floating on the 

 surface in mid-stream, or from the opposite side of the river, a 

 woman filling her girba, or an animal drinking, &c, &c. Sinking 

 immediately, it swims perhaps a hundred yards nearer, and again 

 appearing for an instant upon the surface, it assures itself of the 

 position of its prey by a stealthy look ; once more it sinks, and 

 reaches the exact spot above which the person or animal may be. 

 Seeing distinctly through the water, it generally makes its fatal rush 

 from beneath — sometimes seizing with its jaws, and at other times 

 striking the object into the water with its tail, after which it is seized 

 and carried off. 



" The crocodile does not attempt to swallow a large prey at once, 

 but generally carries it away, and keeps it for a considerable time in 

 its jaws in some deep hole beneath a rock, or the root of a tree, where 

 it eats it at its leisure. The tongue of the crocodile is so unlike that 

 of any other creature that it can hardly be called by the same name ; 

 no portion throughout the entire length is detached from the flesh of 



SECOND SERIES — VOL. III. 3 H 



