18 The Alligator and Its Allies 
Voice. The alligator, unlike most other members 
of its class, the Ophidia, Chelonia, and Lacertilia, 
has a voice, which, in an adult bull, may be heard 
fora mile or more. This bellowing is difficult to de- 
scribe; it is something between a moan and a roar, 
and may be to attract the opposite sex or to serve 
as a challenge to other large animals. It is usually 
ascribed to the male, but whether confined to him 
or not the writer is unable to say. 
In younger animals the voice is, of course, less 
deep and in very young individuals it is a squeak 
or grunt, easily imitated by hunters for the purpose 
of luring the animals from their hiding places. 
Breeding Habits. Judging from the statements 
of native hunters the laying season of the alligator 
might be thought to be at any time from January 
to September. As a matter of fact the month of 
June is the time when most, if not all, of the eggs 
are laid. S. F. Clarke gives June 9th and June 
17th as the limits of the laying season in Florida, 
but I found at least one nest in which eggs were 
laid as late as June 26th: no eggs were found before 
the first date given by Clarke. It seemed quite 
certain that the laying, during the season in ques- 
tion, had been delayed by an extreme drought that 
had dried up the smaller swamps and reduced the 
alligator holes to mere puddles. Nests were found 
in considerable numbers as early as June 8th, but no 
eggs were laid in any of them until the end of the 
dry period which occurred nearly two weeks later. 
