Iron County register., 1892-08-04
AEOUT ALLIGA3o oRS.
one Bad Habit Which the Reptile Has IN.
herited-Hunting In Florida.

1ua, and L was anxious to shoot an alIi-
gator; so snatched up my gun before
the camp was half made and wandered
along the bank of the Indian river
looking for one. Although / wanted
big game, did not despise the small.
and Sc CARRIED a doubie-barreled breech.
loader, one barrel of which threw ball
and the other shot. / had splendid
retriever, too, for which / had paid a
pretty sum, and / expected him to earn
his price.
1t was not long before 1 came upon
little flock of coots, a curious water
FOWL, looking like cross between a
duck and hen. / fired into the
Hook and killed two. My dog dashed
III alter them, and retrieving
one, brought it ashore. When he turned
to go after the other it was gone. !
thought 1T strange, and so did the dog,
evidently, for he swan all about look-
ing for it. Suddenly he give a yelp,
struggling violently for a moment in
the water and then disappeared beneath
the surface.
Il had found my alligator That
thought struck me all at once And he
mad found my expensive dog. and did
not like the meeting one little bit Not
knowing how big the brute might be-
and having had no experience of alli-
gators anyway, L felt genuinely afraid
to tackle this unseen noiseless foe and
go to my dogs rescue. Wading eau
tlously in. leaped upon a fallen tree
which lay half in and half out of the
water a few yards from shore. On
the other side of it the river be-
came suddenly deep. and here / could
see my poor dog, held under water in
the jaws of a good-sized alligator. and
slowly drowning. The alligator was
taking things coolly. He was in no
hurry. Nature had fitted him on pur-
pose 20 drown animals in his Jaws,
while he breathed freely in the air
above His nostrils We're on top of his
upper jaw at the end, and he was thus
able to keep them just above surface of
the water, while my dog was wholly
immersed
Quick as flash / fired both barrels
at him. The bullet struck the water
Just above his head and recocheted rods
and rods away. and the shot kicked up
little ripple above him and that was
all He dived deeper and moved off
with my dog and L never saw either of
them again. That was my first expert
ence with an alligator.
The next one i met was lying bask-
ing in the sun on a mud flat Icrawled
cautiously up within gunshot and be-
fore firing watched the curious creature
i was astonished to see little plover
settle on his ugly head and began to
pick, pick. pick among the big brutes'
scales. Thought i, My little fellow,
You will be snapped up by those cruel
jaws for your impertinence.' Presently
the plover got around to the alligator's
nose, still picking, picking. and the big
jaws began to open slowly. They
opened about foot and to my surprise
the little plover walked right inside
and began to pick more vigorously than
ever among the horrid teeth / laughed
so that the alligator took alarm and
waded into deep water; not without
holding his jaws open long enough,
however. for the plover to come out of
mis- mouth and fly away.
Il afterward learned that this species
of plover greedily eats the water leeches
which fasten on the alligater's gums
and other pests which burrow under
his scales, and the big lizard will not
hurt the bird SO useful to- him.
My third alligator shot dead and
had the pleasure of skinning him. /
learned then how the brute can hold his
mouth wide open Under water without
letting anything go down his throat or
windpipe. There is valve in the back
of its mouth which can be made to shut
off the mouth completely from the
throat. and as the upper jaws lift up
ward and the nostrils are on top, as
said before, the creature can breathe
without showing anything above water,
but the tip of his nose.
Everybody knows that an alligator
is well supplied with teeth, but few
know that the baby alligator is born
with all its teeth in place. They are
conical on top and hollow at the base.
The new ones come up and shove their
cdnic al tops into the hollow base of the
old ones, gradually forcing them out
This shedding and renewing of teeth
goes on all it's life. Moreover baby
alligator probably grows more. in pro-
portion, than any other animal. 1t
comes out of shell no bigger than a
goose egg. From the start it has TO
fear the cannibalistic appetite of its
father 1t is a curious fact that his
ancient ancestors had the same trick,
for in the fossilized bodies of the male
pieSlOS<furuS nave Detn thC ioS-
silized fragments of baby plesiosauri.
My fourth and last alligator / cap
tured alive with the aid of a daring ne
gro hunter. BY means of a squealing,
hungry little pig tied to tree short
way from the river bank we enticed a
fine. metium-sized alligator to crawlup
the hank and little way into the grass
after the succulent porker. Then we
got between him and the river, and
with a singular boldness and agility my
hunting companion jumped astride the
back of the scaly beast and, bending
down, grasped one of its short forelcgs
in each hand, and by main strength
dragged them back and yanked them
upon the alligator's back; for all the
world like crossing a mans arms behind
him In this undignified position the
alligator fell forward on its belly and
throat. and could only lash its tail about
in impotent rage 1t was not hard to
tie it up after that, but it seemed To Inc
q dangerous way to monkey with o
-pator.--N. y. Tribune.
A Fayorite.
Father-Why haven't you been pro- /
noted to a higher grade long before
this?
Little Tommy guess it's cause tn