The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1871-01-26
Alligators.

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Alligators.
There is good deal of natural history
and human nature in this article on
aliigators, from Lippincott's Magazine:
Just imagine black, Shiny looking
lizard, from ten to twenty feet long,
and you have him exactly. A dirtier,
nastier- looking creature can be found
nowhere. He is odorous too, the wrong
way. Where they are often hunted and
much shot at, alligators become very
timid and shy, and avoid men instinct
lively. In wilder parts of the country
they are sometimes fierce and trouble
some. AS they crowd the banks of the
rivers, travellers have fine sport shooting
at them, and even boast of killing q
great many; indeed, to hear the accounts
of the cockneys when they came down
the st. Johns river, Florida, you would
expect to find the stream covered with
the bodies of dead alIigators. But in
truth the creature is very hard to kill;
in three days journey on the st. Johns
l saw some three hundred shots fired,
and only one alligator killed outright
He was struck in the eye; his brain was
penetrated, and he lay like a log.
Another was made very sick by ball
in the neck, and has had u very stiff
neck ever since.
They are not sociable creatures;
have seen hundreds, and never two of
them together. Each one of the big
fellows will have his own stretch of the
river-shore or his own side of pond, or
the whole of tiff small one, and allow
no intrusion by others of his kind. I
have often heard the negro steersman
call out, ''get out your guns, dar's whar
de big gator lives;' and there he would
veyed. Allgatora are tenacious of their
rights of ownership. If another tres
passes, there is big fight, generally
ending by the stronger eating the weak
er.
The female piles up in the swamp q
mass of mud and leaves for nest, that
the heat may hatch her eggs. She is
then peculiarly savage, and will attack
anything. A friend of mine found one
of these nests, and standing on it EN-.
ployed himself in raking out the eggs
and throwing them against a tree,
much to the detriment of the unmatched
aIligators, who had not been consulted.
There was another party, however,
who thought she had a right to an opin-
ion in the matter, and that was the fe
male alligator. a rustic in the bushes,
a rush, and big pair of jaws belonging
to an eighteen footer were heard snap
ping between his legs. She was SO mad
that she actually missed her aim. NV
friend is slow mani never saw him
even walk fast-but on this occasion he
did not wait to apologize: there was then
exhibited some of the tallest ground
aud lofty tumbling ever seen in Florida
or anywhere else. The female will not
allow the male to approach her nest. He
has gluttonous habit of eating all the
eggs, thus necessitating her laying more
which she does not like to do. So,
whenever she catches him in that
neighborhood, she thrashes him on gen.
eral principles-he either has done mis-.
chief, or intends it; at any rate, he Is
meddling in domestic matters and needs
snubbing. I am told that it is really
amusing to see the big bully stick his
tai! between his legs and sneak off, the
very image of hen-pecked husband,
after one ofthese conjugal seedlings. He
is not by any means model husband;
and, although he takes his thrashing
kindly, he revenges himself by closely
watching the eggs until they are really
hatched out, and then eats up as many
of the causes of the family dispute as he
can catch. Young alligators don't like
to know their own father.
l have heard Of but few instances
whrre these creatures have attacked
grown men. They are fond of children
and show their attachment to the off
spring Of ota.er people as they do to their
own. In one instance, where man on
horseback was crossing ford, he was
seized by the leg, but when his dog
plunged In, the alligator left the leg to
take The more delicate morsel.
IN
cd In another instance, an alligator bit
,ert mule, pulling cart, and bit two
Y thokes from one of the wheels, leaving
,coe epoth in one as memento Of his visit.
pple. hurried of with great speed, on the
I'd orkout, suppose, for dentist.
hich lPitors like dogs. pigs and young
rated les. The dog is an especial favor
soul The whine of ON alligator is easily
the EN- for that Of puppy, and may
hting young and inexperienced dog.
blow Florida dog will not 60 boldly
Athe water to drink. He learns
id up o,Nience after having been eaten
resi- ,riHice. If the shore Is open, he
voted bv kail the alligators to one place
lat of son, ng, and then scamper off to
cloaE place where the coast Il
!, ,h;s snot twill creep down to moist
.linn pwn, body crouched, eyea
ears up, pushing his paws