12 WOLF'S WILD ANIMALS. 



every portion of them hidden save the eyes and nostrils (which are elevated above 

 the plane of the face), remaining motionless near the shore, waiting to seize upon any 

 animal that may approach the stream. When lying on the bank, they can hardly be 

 distinguished from it, or, if seen, appear at a little distance like dead trunks of some 

 fallen trees. They have two modes of attack. One is if they can get sufficiently 

 near their prey, to seize it in their terrible jaws and drag it to the bottom of the river. 

 Another and often practised method is to watch close to the bank, and when an 

 animal draws near to the water suddenly to sweep it into the stream by a rapid and 

 powerful blow of the tail (which can be wielded with even greater dexterity than 

 a coachman's whip), and having thus brought the victim within reach of the mouth, 

 drag, it beneath the surface, and speedily devour it. Admirably is this reptile formed 

 for the life it is destined to live. Sheathed in scaly armour composed of plates of 

 various sizes, which are joined together by what may be designated as fleshy hinges, 

 and having besides as weapons of attack and defence the long rows of sharp-pointed 

 teeth fitting together like those of a gin, and the lengthened, graduated, flexible tail, 

 with which it can give a blow sufficient to stun any animal, the crocodile is the most 

 formidable and dreaded reptile that inhabits the waters. The small, green eyes, 

 glassy . and utterly devoid of expression, are placed in a prominence on the highest 

 part of the head, which enables the creature to submerge Its body entirely, and yet 

 leave its organs of visions above the surface. Such is the repulsive looking ob- 

 ject that the animals of torrid countries have most to dread. Although its move- 

 ments are usually slow, and made apparently after much deliberation, it can travel 

 for a short distance upon the land with great speed, and I have often seen them 

 dart from where they had been sleeping into the water, so rapidly as to make it 

 difficult to follow them with the eye. 



Having now given a cursory review of the two creatures depicted in our 

 illustration, we will witness the mode by which they became engaged in the 

 tremendous struggle which will end only in the death of one of them. The sun 

 is just rising, flooding the eastern sky with golden light, and rousing the feathered 

 inhabitants of the forests from their slumbers. Shaking the dew, that lies in diamond 

 drops, from off their brilliant plumage, they awake the echo of the woods with their 

 morning songs of praise; whilst sated with the results of his nightly foray, and in 

 the company of his mate, the jungle's fierce monarch turns towards the stream to 

 quench his thirst, before seeking a lair in which to dream away the unwelcome day. 



