The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1883-04-13

the believing of bull, except that it is of
more volume, since the voice of male can,
on calm day, be heard distance of five
miles; and they may be said to be survivor
shippers, since they seldom "resolye them
selves into song" save at the rising of the
sun IN TACT, the only exception to this morn
ing melody Is when u storm is approaching.
The average Florida "cracker" needs no other
barometer than the alligator in the neighbor-
| ing creek or swamp
one ceases to be astonished at the volume
OF sound Which comes from these monsters
When he sees fullgrown 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 for an instant, he raises both his both
mead and tail until he forms the segment of
circle. 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 ALI
gator is obliged to turn his body somewhat,
and since, when his jaws are once closed he
Is unable to open them if only a moderate
amount OF strength ON the part of man be
USED, the hunter selects this point for attack
when II IS possible for him to steal upon his
game unawares. If the intending captor gets
a 1lrm hold upon the jaws ofhis game in this
way, the monster becomes reasonably easy
prey one rope soon secures his Jaws, another
is tied around his neck and fastened 10 a tree,
while third secures his tail in the same way,
thus stretching the captive on straight line !;
MS lore paws are tied over his back, stout
pole is lashed from the end of his snout to the
UP OF his tail, and the 'gater is helpless.
III Is seldom, however that the hunter gets
game ut disadvantage, and to secure him
of n1p,,
boys do when they snare rabbits. A tall.
stout sapling near the waters edge is the first
requisite, and directly in front of that, in the
water, narrow lane or pen is made with
stakes, the two outer ones being notched, as
IS the spindle of a boX-trap At the end of
this pen, and nearer the shore, a stake is
driven into the mud, and on the top of il is
fastened piece of tainted beef A stout
rope, at one end of which is large moose, is
fastened to the top of the sapling and to the
upper part of the moose is attached n cross
bar, or trigger, which, when the tree is bent,
catches in the notchcs on the outer stakes
just below the surface OF the water, the moose
hanging around the entire opening. To get
at the meat the alligator attempts to swim
under the bar, but his back displaces the trig-
ger, ana ne Is captive, with the rope fls-
tened just back of his fore legs.
1t is necessary to bind the captive Willie he
is in the water, and then to carry him to tbe
shore in boat; for, amphibious as he is he,
can be drowned if dragged even n short dis
lance through the water When once pro-
perry secured and on land, the alligator can
do nothing in the hope Of ctfecting a release,
save to roll over, and this he does by n nigh
ty effort with his shoulders. frequently work
ing himself over n quarter of Il mile in dis
lance in single night.
Those who are most familiar with the
habits OF the alligator, as seen in the Southern
States, believe his Partially for decayed food
docs not arise from any particular flavor it
may possess, but simply because in putrid
stale any large amount of flesh is more easily
torn apart and masticated than when fresh.
Although the possessor of so much ivory in
the shape of teeth, and able TO use its laws
with so much power, it is an extremely diff
cult matter for an alligator to dismembcr a
pig, even after the flesh is decayed While
the meat is yet firm and the muscles intact, it
Is an impossibilty for him to do other than
swallow it nearly whole, as he sometimes
docs when he is interrupted shortly after he
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 fhvorite diet. In the
stomach Ola IL foot alligator there have been
lonnu SIX cas- 1lsh, none of them mulintcd
weighing altogether "a pounds
If one believes implicitly the positive asscr-
lion OF The alligator hunters, he must per
force say no man knows the span of life
allotted these saurians. The native Flori.
dian, as well as the hunter, will insist that the
largest of the gators are more than hundred
years old, pointing to the fact of bis slow
growth in proof of the assertion. a newly
Matched alligator is eleven inches long at the
age of six years he is very slim and but three
feet IN length; at ten years of age he has gain.
ed considerably in breadth and but twelve
inches in length, while during the next two
years he has grown hardly more than one
inch longer. An alligator fifteen feet in
length, caught near the mouth of the St
Johns river, was so covered with barnaclcs
and other marine growth as to make it almost
certain that he must have been in existence
seventyiive years.