REESE ] BREEDING HABITS OF FLORIDA ALLIGATOR 383 
more that one occasion, seen experienced hunters disagree as to the 
supposed sex of an alligator that had just been killed. 
Although I have never seen a nest actually during the process 
of construction, it is ‘easy to imagine, after the examination of a 
large number of freshly made nests, what the process must be like. 
The alligator, probably the female, as the male, after the mating 
season, takes no interest whatever in the propagation of his species, 
selects a slight elevation on or near the bank of the “ hole” in which 
she lives. This elevation is generally, though not always, a sunny 
spot, and is frequently at the foot of a small tree or clump of 
bushes. Where the alligator is living in a large swamp she may 
have to go a considerable distance to find a suitable location for 
her nest; when her hole is scarcely more than a deep, overgrown 
puddle, as is often the case in the less swampy regions, she may 
find a good nesting place within a few feet of her cave. That the 
female alligator stays in the neighborhood of her nest after she has 
filled it with eggs seems pretty certain, but that she defends it from 
the attacks of other animals is extremely doubtful: certainly man 
is in very little danger when he robs the nest of the alligator, and, 
according to the statement of reliable hunters, bears are very per- 
sistent searchers for and eaters of alligator eggs. Having selected 
(with how much care it is impossible to say) the location for the 
nest, the alligator proceeds to collect, probably biting it off with her 
teeth, a great mass of whatever vegetation happens to be most 
abundant in that immediate vicinity. This mass of flags or of 
marsh grass is piled into a conical or rounded heap and is packed 
down by the builder repeatedly crawling over it. 
There is a great deal of variation in the size and form of the 
different nests, some being two meters or more in diameter and 
nearly a meter in height, while others are much smaller in diameter 
and so low as to seem scarcely more than an accidental pile of dead 
vegetation. It is probable that the nests are under construction for 
some time, perhaps to give time for the fresh vegetation of which 
they are composed to ferment and soften, and also for the material 
to settle into a more compact mass. The compactness of the alliga- 
tor’s nest was well illustrated one day when the writer used an 
apparently deserted nest as a vantage ground from which to take a 
photograph: on opening this nest it was found, after all, to contain 
eggs, and though some of the eggs were cracked, none of them 
were badly crushed. This nest although it was so low and flat that 
it was thought to be one that had been used during some previous 
season, contained forty-eight eggs, a greater number than avas 
