80 Crocodiles. REPTILES. Crocodiles. 
of the Nile by this distinguished historian is declared 
by M. Geoffrey St. Hilaire, who, during the invasion 
of Egypt by the French under Napoleon I., had great 
opportunities of studying and observing the habits of 
the creature, to be true in most respects as we find it at 
the present day. It would appear that at the time he 
wrote, the Crocodile was found in Lower Egypt, but 
now it is only found in Upper Egypt, and is never seen 
below Thebes. In such situations the temperature is 
very high, and accordingly it is never found in a lethar- 
gic state, as is the case with the species found in America 
and elsewhere. It is nocturnal in its habits. During the 
day it comes ashore, taking up its abode in some quiet 
retreat for the purpose of sleeping ; but when evening 
comes on it resumes its activity and returns to the 
water, where alone it is able to successfully secure its 
prey. Their principal place of abode is a series of 
small islands in the river, and there they live in society. 
Mr. St. John, in his “ Travels in the Valley of the 
Nile,” tells us that he saw numbers of them during his 
passage up the river. “ These islands (sand-banke at 
Pharos) are the usual haunts of the Crocodile ; but as 
they love to bask in the warm sun, and have an aver- 
sion to cold, there is little danger of encountering them 
early in the morning, or when the wind blows. In 
fact they seem never to rise out of the water but when 
the surface of the Nile resembles that of a pond, and 
the whole sandy shore is glittering in the sun, when 
you see them lying in troops along the edge of the 
stream.” The different individuals of the troop select 
and keep their own particular spot. These are flat 
shores where spurs of fine sand stretch a considerable 
distance, and conduct to tbe water’s edge by a gentle 
declivity. Each troop or society remains faithfully 
attached to the localities where they were born, and 
never go far from them except when in search of prey. 
This occupation fulfilled, they return at particular 
hours to their resting-places on the sandy shore, which 
had been previously selected b}' the foresight of the 
old chiefs of the family ; and placing a sentinel to give 
the alarm in case of danger, they there abandon them- 
selves securely to sleep. The sentinel, placing his 
ear partly on tlie ground, listens for the least noise, 
and if disturbed, the troop make direct to the water. 
M. G. St. Hilaire says he has watched them at such 
times, and has seen them turn themselves slowly, and 
march at first apparently carefully and with measured 
steps, but after a certain distance they would leap 
briskly into the water, clearing at a bound a consider- 
able distance. Tbe egg of the Crocodile is white, and 
of a spheroidal form. It is not much larger than that 
of a goose, and the young Crocodile at its birth is only 
two and a half decimetres in length. 
The very name of Crocodile excites the idea of an 
animal alike formidable for its size and ferocity ; of an 
animal unequalled in its own orders, and which is the 
tyrant of the fresh waters. The story of the little bird 
called Trochilos by Herodotus, which, according to his 
account, frees the mouth of the Crocodile from the 
leeches which infest it — or, as Pliny asserts, picks or 
cleans the huge reptile’s teeth — is probably familiar to 
every one. We will allow Mr. St. John to tell the 
tale: — We shot and ate a siksalc, the Trochilos of 
Herodotus, a sort of gentleman in waiting on the Cro- 
codile, about wbich history and tradition tell strange 
stories. What they say is this, that the Crocodile 
being too much addicted to live in water with his jaws 
open, allows a number of leeches to creep down his 
throat, where, vigorousl}' sucking his blood, they prove 
extremely troublesome. Against these enemies, how- 
ever, he finds a faithful ally in the siksak, which, as 
soon as he perceives, he opens his delicate mouth, and 
the bird, rendered bold by instinct, leaps like another 
Curtins into the gulf, not to be swallowed up how- 
ever, but to swallow. He kills and devours the leeches, 
and then hopping out, receives the thanks of the Cro- 
codile. Sometimes this lumbering animal, getting 
sleepy during the process, mechanically closes his jaws, 
so as to deprive his little friend of air; upon which, 
extending his wings, furnished with sharp spikes on 
the tips of the shoulders, he wounds the Crocodile’s 
throat, and reminds him that it is his business to be 
civil. “For the truth of the story,” he adds, “ I will 
not answer ; but certain it is that I seldom, perhaps 
never, saw a Crocodile without a siksak standing close 
beside him on the sand, evidently within his reach, but 
without his exhibiting the slightest desire to molest 
or injure it.” Herodotus was the first author that 
mentions this curious tale; and M. Geoffrey thinks, 
that if we use the word generally translated leeches, to 
mean merely anything that sucks blood, the- story is 
not at all destitute of reality. There are thousands of 
gnats and musquitos in these localities he says, which 
suck blood; and he asserts that as the Crocodile has 
no movable tongue to sweep them awa}^ its mouth 
is infested with these troublesome insects to a great 
degree. Moreover, he affirms that there is a small 
bird called siksak by the natives, which he has fre- 
quently observed hopping about in all directions round 
the Crocodile, and even going into the mouth of the 
reptile as it lay asleep, or was feigning to be so. 
Attracted by these insects, upon which it feeds, he has 
no hesitation in saying the bird does enter the reptile’s 
mouth when wide open, and there picks up the insects 
which it finds in abundance. This bird is recognized 
at once as a species described by Hasslequist, under the 
name of the Egyptian plover {Charadrius TEc/yptius)] 
and as to this apparent cordiality between two such 
animals, there is nothing very extraoi'dinary in it, as 
similar affections arising from mutual good offices, ar 
exemplified in other cases in the animal kingdom. 
If the Crocodile has a good friend in the little siksak, 
it finds powerful enemies in one or two other small 
animals. The ichneumon, a small animal about 
eighteen inches long, belonging to the Viverridoc or 
Civets, is particularly destructive. It is very fond of 
eggs, and in Upper Egypt searches with great avidity 
for the eggs of the Crocodile in the sand. It devours 
great numbers, and it was thought to check so much 
the increase of these large reptiles, that it is one of 
the animals which were formerly held sacred by the 
natives ; divine honours having been paid to it in the 
ancient city of Heraclea. The tupinambis too, a 
large lizard, is a powerful enemy, for, as it swims well, 
besides eating the eggs, it destroys a great number of 
the young after they have reached the water. Though, 
