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On the Crocodiles of Ceylon — By the Bevd. Principal Roake, 



The favourite haunts of Crocodiles being but seldom visited, in 

 consequence both of the insalubrity of the localities in which they 

 are generally to be found, and of the dangerous character of their 

 inhabitants, the habits of these animals are very imperfectly known. 

 The following account of two nests, which were recently found 

 within a few miles of Colombo, may therefore be interesting to 

 Naturalists. 



The first of these nests was discovered by Mr. Symonds of the 

 Survey Department, who found it to contain about 150 eggs, which 

 he removed, not without considerable risk, having been repeatedly 

 charged by the old Crocodile who was guarding them. 



My curiosity having been excited by the description which I 

 received of the nest from Mr. Symonds, I went to examine it 

 myself. I found it amongst the bushes on the swampy bank of 

 the Bolgodde lake, at a distance of a few feet from the water. 



The nest itself consisted of wet vegetable matter mixed with mud, 

 and was raised to the height of between three and four feet, pre- 

 senting in shape very much the appearance of a small conical hay- 

 cock, but in colour and consistency that of a heap of dung. Round 

 the base of the cone, was a circular trench more than three feet 

 broad, and about two feet deep, in which the old Crocodile was 

 wont to wallow while watching her nest. The circle enclosed by 

 this trench, the whole of which was covered by the base of the 

 nest, was between six and seven feet in diameter. 



I am not aware that these conical nests have been previously 

 noticed. The Rev. J. G. Wood, who makes no mention of the nests 

 of the Crocodile, says in speaking of the Alligator in his Illustrated 

 Natural History, that the parent deposits her eggs in the sand of * 

 the river side, scratching a hole with her paws, and placing them 



