66 HUNTING AND FISHING IN FLORIDA. 
One often hears marvelous stories regarding the size of alligators 
killed by this or that hunter ; but I do not believe that there exists 
to-day in Florida an alligator which will actually measure seven- 
teen feet in length. The head of an alligator killed on the St. 
Sebastian River in 1893, purchased by Mr. W. V. Rhoads, of 
Rockledge, Florida, is so much larger than any specimens I have 
ever seen that I did not for a moment discredit his statement that 
the animal measured when killed a trifle over sixteen feet in 
length. 
The alligator lays its eggs in the sand, where they are hatched by 
the heat of the sun, and the young alligators then collect in some 
small hole where the mother keeps watch over them. The piping, 
or grunting, as it is called, of the young alligator somewhat resem- 
bles the piping call of a hen turkey. It is imitated by the ‘‘skin 
hunter,” who is usually able to call to the surface almost any old 
alligator which may be lying within hearing distance. I have 
seen John Davis repeatedly call 
alligators to the surface of small 
ponds where there was no sign 
of one when we arrived. After 
two or three grunts, as it is termed 
(although the call does not re- 
semble a grunt at all), one or 
more alligators would rise to the 
surface and lay looking at us for 
amoment. The hunter has to shoot quickly under these circum- 
stances, as the alligator soon discovers the deception and will not 
come upa second time for any amount of grunting. The little alli- 
gators may be called to the surface in a similar manner and caught 
by hand or a small dip net. I have many times caught dozens of 
them in this manner by simply leaning over the edge of a bank 
under which were a large number of young alligators and ‘* grunt- 
ing” them to the surface, where they were seized and placed in‘a 
box, until nearly all of them had been captured. An alligator 
under fifteen inches is comparatively safe to handle, as their teeth 
