Rap t iles. 



8835 



her store, at the same time carefully widening the excavation, turning 

 the eggs and re-covering them with sand. Unless disturbed she will 

 lie near or over them, and leave them but for a short time to feed in 

 their close vicinity, and she will even then watch them zealously by 

 raising her head to the surface of the water, and occasionally run 

 towards them at short intervals to satisfy herself that all is right, and 

 return to her feeding-ground. The number of eggs depends upon the 

 age and size of the animal, and varies from forty to sixty. 



At the commencement of the hatching season the nest is widened 

 to accommodate the eggs, being arranged close to each other and equi- 

 distant from the surface. A slighter covering is now placed over them, 

 so that incubation by means of the sun's heat may take place. During 

 this stage the attention of the animal towards her eggs is redoubled in 

 watching and turning them, and it is dangerous for a single person to 

 approach the spot, as she will fearlessly attack and give chase at con- 

 siderable speed. After such a circumstance, or if on her return from 

 feeding, she should discover traces of man or beast in the vicinity of 

 her charge, the wary crocodile will decamp with her eggs in her mouth 

 and seek for another locality. 



From various sources I am informed the hatching time takes ninety 

 days, therefore it is during the first increase of the Nile that exclusion 

 takes place. The mother, then carrying off her young in her mouth, 

 will place them in the shaJlow water of some retired creek or in a cre- 

 vice in the bank, where she will nourish them until able to accompany 

 her and prey upon small fry for themselves. 



It is well knowm that these reptiles, although they seize their prey 

 under water, cannot under the same circumstances swallow it, and 

 must proceed to shore for that purpose, where, resting on their fore 

 legs and the head out of water, they are enabled to feed. -Large 

 animals or man when caught are retained under water until putrefaction 

 commences before they are devoured. 



Men who in Egypt devote much of their time to the destruction of 

 these animals, like our friend Saleh Abt il Samad, throw up low em- 

 bankments twenty or thirty yards from the river side, in localities where 

 they love to bask in the sun. A few days suffice to accustom the wary 

 reptiles to the new objects, and, lying close in ambush behind one or 

 the other, the skilled hunter seldom passed a day without a shot. 

 Swimming lazily towards the shore, with the tip of the nose and eyes 

 only above the water, a careful survey is taken before the crocodile 

 ventures to expose itself on the land ; then, sometimes lingering on 

 the water's edge, at others taking a short run, the reptile will cast a 



