CLASS TIT TIEPTILIA: OKDEE 2. LORICATA. 371 
THE CAIMAN, 
it seems not only to be tlie common noise of tlie reptiles, but also tlieir love song, which they 
emit frequently and freely in the pairing season. The history of the pairing is not very com- 
plete, but there are some reasons for concluding that they are polygamous. The males engage 
in fierce though uncouth battles at that season, and not, as has been observed, at any other ; 
and the fair inference is that these are battles of gallantry. They usually take -place in the 
water, though in the shallows rather than the depths ; and, at first at least, they are bouts of 
cudgel-play, rather than battles with the teeth. When it comes to the latter, they are desperate, 
and the death of one, sometimes of both, is inevitable. It is said that the alligator can give no 
second bite, and as little is it disposed to leave the first one till the object which it seizes is 
fairly under water. The jaws close in the same manner as those of the biting turtles, and 
they can with difficulty be wrenched asimder, even hj a lever of considerable length. 
On some occasions the alligators beset the mouth of some retired creek, into which they have 
previously driven the fish, bellowing so loud that they may be heard at the distance of a mile. 
To catch the fish they dive under the shoal, and ha^dng secured one, rise to the surface, toss it 
into the air to get rid of the water which they necessarily take in along with it, and catch it 
again in its descent. When, however, they succeed in capturing a land animal which is too large 
to be swallowed at a single mouthful, they conceal the body beneath the bank till it begins to 
putrefy, for as their teeth are not formed for cutting or masticating, they are unable to tear the 
tough flesh in its fresh state ; it is then dragged on shore and devoured at leisure. 
When about to lay, the female digs a deep hole in the sand, and deposits her eggs in layers, 
separated from one another by intervening strata of leaves and dry grass. It would appear that 
she lays only one batch of eggs during the same season, though in the hottest parts of South 
America, according to Laborde, the caiman of Surinam and Cayenne lays at two or even three 
different periods of the year ; but as each batch is said to consist of only twenty or twenty-five 
eggs, it is probable that the whole does not exceed the number usually assigned to the common 
alligator. The female of this latter species, it is said, never loses sight of her nest till the young 
are hatched, and for months afterward affords them the most unremitting care and protection. 
This species is frequently found up the Mississippi, even beyond the Red River. In general, 
it buries itself imder the mud, at the bottom of the swamps and marshes which it inhabits, as 
soon as the cold Aveather fairly sets in, and continues in a lethargic sleep till the return of spring. 
During the very severe frosts, sensation is so completely suspended that the body of the animal 
may be cut into slices without dispelling his lethargy ; yet it is never actually frozen, and the 
partial return of a few hours' bright sunshine is at all times sufficient to restore suspended ani- 
