ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



1381 



HUNTING FOR LIZARDS 

 In the cool of the early morning these active creatures hide under the bark 



reflections from the mud-encrusted tree trunks 

 and cypress knees. The great river backs into 

 these swamps during freshets, and stains the 

 trunks from six to ten feet high to the color 

 of its coifee-colored waters. This dries out to 

 a pinkish-brown color^ and imparts an effect 

 like a weird stage setting for an allegorical 

 opera. 



In these swamps the crafty adult 'gator 

 selects a pool, then burrows under the bank 

 until it has constructed a deep, under-water 

 cavern in which to retreat. The pools teem 

 with fish of various kinds, and some of these 

 are of large size. In nesting time, July and 

 August, the female crocodilian selects a par- 

 ticularly secluded spot, then scrapes together 

 a great mound of dead twigs, leaves and mud. 

 The mound is from six to ten feet in diameter, 

 and from three to four feet deep. In this nest 

 the parent buries her eggs, which have a very 

 hard and brittle shell. Incubation comes from 

 a certain amount of artificial heat generated by 

 the mound of decomposing vegetation ; and the 

 young hatch in about eight weeks. 



The alligators observed by the writer in the 

 cypress swamps were extremely shy. In mak- 

 ing our way toward the pools, it was necessary 

 to go with the utmost care in order to avoid 

 stepping upon brittle twigs, or rustling the 

 leaves of bushes. Their sight is so keen that 

 it is necessary to advance very slowly, using 

 bushes and tree trunks as screens. Coming in 

 this way to a bayou we observed an alligator 

 about eleven feet long sprawled upon the bank, 

 with fore and hind feet stretched in abandon. 

 The mouth was open and the eyes appeared to 

 be shut. Nearby were about a dozen small 

 specimens ranging in length from two to four 

 feet. All were on the opposite side of the pool 

 from where we stood. We had consumed about 

 twenty minutes in our stealthy progress to the 

 pool, over the last three hundred feet, and we 

 crouclied behind an enormous cypress trunk 

 smothered in vines. One of the party, sinking 

 in the ooze, threw out an elbow to save himself. 

 On the instant it seemed that every alligator 

 in the bayou had received an electric shock. 



