ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



1383 



HEART OF THE CYPRESS SWAMP 

 The modern alligator has retreated into these vast, inaccessible areas 



The big specimen went into the water with a 

 crash, sending up a geyser of muddy spray. 

 The rush of the smaller reptiles was prac- 

 ticality simultaneous, and it was followed by 

 the appearance of many infant 'gators that had 

 been prowling among the cypress knees. They 

 came from all directions, running like fright- 

 ened chicks, all seeking the protecting water. 



Our experiences in a number of bayous were 

 quite similar. The writer photographed one 

 batch of alligators coming to the surface and 

 crawling out on the bank ; but this was done 

 only after constructing a blind for the camera 

 and waiting, motionless, for over an hour. Dur- 

 ing this time some great blue herons and snowy 

 egrets were much interested, coming within 

 twenty feet of us, with darting of heads and 

 staring of pale yellow eyes. Several 'gators 

 rising near these birds caused a big heron to 

 take flight, and the crash of his wings as he 

 went through the trees sent the reptile colony 

 to the bottom for another long wait. 



During one of the bayou excursions we noted 

 an alligator divine- into a water hole not more 



than six feet in diameter. When we sounded 

 this hole, we found it to be five feet deep, with 

 an under-water tunnel running off at a sharp 

 vertical slope to a distance of twelve feet. Our 

 collecting wagon was not over a mile away, on 

 a corduroy road, and we returned for a steel 

 alligator hook, an axe and coil of rope. A 

 slender young cypress was cut and the hook 

 attached to it. 



A half hour's manoeuvering enabled us to 

 hook the reptile that was located in that under- 

 ground retreat. It remained motionless until 

 the hook had firmly caught, then so furiously 

 did it struggle that to drag it out was a her- 

 culean task. The hook had penetrated a fore- 

 foot, and we brought the animal to the surface 

 for a view of its size, and to determine upon 

 methods for its subjugation. 



A noose was made, the creature was again 

 hauled out, when the rope was slipped over the 

 jaws, a loop thrown around and behind the 

 forefeet, and thence over the jaws again. Then 

 we tied the reptile to a cypress tree, and made 

 ready to bind him more securely. 



