The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1883-04-21

| thus hatched out very successfully. One
rnother thousand last season. The
young will eat Immediately after coming
out of the shell, but they thrive best if
given no food for at least three mouths.
The cry of a full-grown gator is not
unlike the believing of bull, except
that it is of more volume since the voice
of a male can, on calm day, be heard a
distance of five miles; and they may be
said to be sun worshippers, since they
seldom "resolve themselves into song"
save at the rising of the sun; in fact, the
only exception to this morning melody is
when storm is approaching. The aver
age Florida 81 cracker needs no other
barometer than the alligator in the
neighboring creek or swamp.
One ceases to be astonished at the
volume of sound which comes from these
monsters when he sees full-grown one
put forth all his strength to produce the
effect He stretches his body to its full
length, inhaling sufficient air to puff
him up nearly twice his natural size;
then, holding his breath, as it were fo.'
an instant, he raises both his head and
tail until he forms the segment of Cir
cle When all is thus complete, the
roar comes with sufficient force to
startle one, even though he be prepared
for it.
Since, in order to guard his head, the
alligator is obliged to turn his body some
what. and since, when his jaws are once
closed he is unable to open them if only
moderate amount of strength on the
part of man be used, the hunter selects
this point for attack when it is possible
for him to steal upon his game unawares
If the intending captor gets firm hold
upon the jaws of his game in this way,
the monster becomes reasonably easy
prey; one rope soon secures his jaws,
another is tied around his neck and fast
ened to tree, while third secures his
tail in the same way, thus stretching the
captive on straight line; his fore
paws are tied over his back, a stout pole
is dashed from the end of his snout to
the tip of his tail, and the 'gater is help
less.
1t is seldom, however, that the hunter
gets game at disadvantage, and to Sc
cure him alive he must set about the
work much as boys do when they snare
rabbits. A tall, stout sap'ing near the
waters edge is the first requisite, and
directly in front of that, in the water, a
narrow lane or pen is made with stakes
the two outer ones being notched, as in
the spindle of box-trap. At the end of
this pen, and nearer the shore, stake
is driven into the mud, and on the top of
it is fastened piece of tainted beef. A
tout rope, at one end of which is larges
moose is fastened to the top of the sap
ling and to the upper part of the moose
is attached a cross-bar, or trigger, which
when the tree is bent, catches i'll the
notches on the outer stakes just below
the surface of the water, the moose hang
ing around the entire opening. To get
at the meat the alligator attempts to
swim under the bar, but his back dis
places the trigger. and he is captive,
with the rope fastened Just back of his
fore legs.
1t is necessary to bind the captive
while he is in the water, and then to car
ry him to the shore in boat for, am
phibious as he is, he can be drowned if
dragged even short distance through
the water. When once properly secured
and on land, the alligator can do moth
ing i'll the hope of effecting release,
save to roll over and this he does by a
mighty effort with his sholders, frequent
ly working himself over quarter of a
mile in distance in a single night.
Those who are most familiar with the
habits of the alligator, as seen in the
Southern States, believe his partiality for
decayed food does not arise from any
particular flavor it may possess, but
simply because in putrid state any larg:
amount of flesh is more easily torn apart
and masticated than when fresh. AL
though the possessor of so much ivory in
Jaws with so much power, it is an ex-
tremely difficult matter for an alligator
to dismember pig, even after the flesh
is decayed. While the meat is yet firm
and the muscles intact, it is an impossi-
bility for him to do other than swallow
it nearly whole, as he sometimes does
has killed his prey. That alligators, do
like fresh food when it is possible for
them to eat it is shown by the fact that
fresh fish and small turtles are their ia
vorite diet. In the stomach of 12 foot
alligator there have been found six cat
fish, none of them mutilated, weighing
altogether "a pounds.
If one believes implicitly the positive
| assertion of the alligator hunters, he
must perforce say no man knows the
span of life allotted these saurians. The
native Foridian, as well as the hunter,
will insist that the largest of the gators
are more than hundred years old, point
ing to the fact of his slow growth in proof
of the assertion. \ newly Matched alli-
gator is eleven inches long: at the age of
six years he is very slim and but three
feet il length; at ten years of age he has
gained considerably in breadth and but
twelve inc hes in length, while during the
next two years he has grown hardly
more than one one inch longer. An alli-
gator fifteen feet in length, caught near
the mouth of the st. Johns river, was so
covered with barnacles and other marine
growth as to make it almost certain that
he must have been in existence seventy
five years.
The Logic of "Tresting.'
1t is said that while party of friends
were making the rounds, few days ago
of establishments where creature COM
forts are kept in bottles and sold by the
glass, one man whose turn it was to
treat led the crowd into furnishing
store and asked them what they would