Daily evening bulletin. [volume] (Maysville [Ky.]) 1883-1887, 1883-04-11
CR0C0DILES IN FLORIDA.

toners.
Alligator, you mean,' said by
stander.
"No; crocodile"
Never heard of one i'm florida -
We'll" was The reply, 81 won't 90
into the particulars OF yolr ignorance,
rs you re perhaps eXcusable. Crocod les
in Florida certa My are late discover,
and to-day lne'G is not one man in II
thousand that knows they can be found
there.
"How is it they have never been
scrn?" asked one Of the group o. listen
ers.
I'm the first place" said the croco-
die hunter, "they amt so common;
and in the second place, when the aver
age sporting man sees an ugly crittcr
before him ten OF fifteen feet lone, he
ain apt to examine into specific differ
ences. The first crocodile brought from
Flor da is in the Smithsonian Institution
at Washington. Any one can see /,
and there's a big difference between
them and allisators. T. en- the Indians
and Crackers know the d ference.
They call the crocodles 'lOng-noscd
/ gators and that's just where the
difference comes in. The scientific
name is Cr0cOdjipS dcU'US, from their
sharp nose. Their habits are unlike he
gators. These lie around up the r.v-
ers in fresh water, but the crOcodiles
live in the salt marshes. The way we
came across them was all by accident.
We'd been spOnging on the reef.
and 1t coming Oh 10 blow from the
north ard, we put INTO Kew Bscayne,
and Law IN the lee of the KEY. 1t blew
for three days, and then we went ashore
Tor water, and put the dingy up "A creek
or kind OF bay that set IN. The place
grew narrower as we pulled in, and was
overLrown with bay cedars and man
groves. ! was ,u>t thinking lbout iumD,
ing overheard to haul The dingv ashore
when we ran into something The
shock Knocked me over ONO the bow,
and before | could yet ND | heard "a
splash, an my nae yelled Down
bridge" he usel 10 be skipper OF
canal boat-and a hands duckod,
dropping oars and ever> thing, and thc
tail Il "a er came over the boat and
knocked out the roW-lockN, and would
have Knocked Il mans head of. We
lay close, tell YOU. Tn, boat half
filed. The creature made three or our
h + al uS with Is tai. and then made
Oh u ten W look ! o.er the rail
there was the b Ge,l gator ever saw.
y! ne boat was oi4ht .ect long. and the
crea IRE WIS longer tnan the boat. As
50, II rs we recovered we
followed HIM mp. ch?"
"No." replied the story teller, 1--WE
pulled Tor the shore in short meier The
gator 90 OF into deeD water but tire
next day we anne back and had shot
al him. He got OF and up The creek
ST II further. but put II bullet into this
one | have here. AS soon a. we picked
him up al hands noticed the diAeren, G,
but most OF us ddn think il was a
crOcodi G. II was. however and there :
Il heap OF them rgh' there wa ting To be
cangh. But ~ more crocOd les Tor me;
J m salts cd with gators. They amt
So ugly, and there S . savage look about
crocodile that Il mt pleasant. Now n
gator viii come up, lay her eggs and
walk OF. but wHh 4 Gro Qdile it's an
other story. She says right near the
nest. and pays tia visit four o. i've times
II day TO see if things are going on all
r chit She sort ~ stands bv to see f,i'
play, while the sun does the hard work.
Wien they do come out, the old one
will scratch around in clumsy way,
and try to help them out, all the time
making kind of barking sound as if
she was encouraging them to break
through, and it does have that effect"
IL never heard of the voice of a croc-
odile," broke in the obiectionist.
"Well. voice they have" continued
the speaker A man that lives on the
Miami River told me that he heard
yelping and barking one day on the key.
and thinking pack of fox hounds hal
got lost he followed it up, to find it was
n big she crocodile; and that s the sound
they make, a kind of yelping bark.
When the young come out. she gives the
word and of they 60 after her ! Ike
chickens after hen. The young croc-
odiles are even fed by the old one by
food disgorged. The males show a
great taste Tor their own kin. and some
BIG fights are seen between he male and !
female over the young Anybody to |
see one on land wouldn't think they
could get around, but that S their strong
hold. They don't lie around like Il
gator, but stand erect on their legs and |
jump bodily, and in doing so, they
crook up their backs in curious posi-
ton.
The crocodile from Florida is similar |