Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1896-12-04
THE ANCIENT CR0CO-
Ollie AT HOME.

AS a songsier the crocodile is not to
De compared to the oulbul, but he can,
without any exertion. hold his own in
tina. respect with the bull. Like the
latter, he bellows, but, unlike him, he
bellows at night, whereas the bull only
bellows during the day, except when he
is badly scared. With these exceptions,
there is nothing in common between
the crocodile and either the bulbul or
the ferocious bull. There is no def
mite information to be obtained regnrd
ing the exact lines upon which the first
crocodile was built. 1t is maintained by
those who have devoted lifetime to a
study of his interior, that the traces of
diaphragm which are to be found in
him today, show that his organization
must have at one time borne some re-
semblance to that of warm -bloode q
animals. Where the other traces that,
added to those which remain, would
have made a complete diaphragm have
gone. nobody knows. The fact that he
possesses sockets for his teeth and has
four chambered heart is by some con-
sidered evidence against him in this re-
spect. But whether or not the crocodile
was once a warm blooded animal, it is
only necessary to come in contact with
him once to perceive that he Is a cold
blooded reptile and no friend of man.
There is little in the animal kingdo
that can look so dead and be so much
alive as a crockodile. The number of
unsuspecting persons who have mis-
taken him for log and have failed to
discover their mistake until ii was too
late to be of any benefit to them will
never be known. In ancient times, sew
eral years prior to the British occuPa-
ton of Egypt, some of the people of hat
countryworshiped the crocodile as
god, there being nothing else Ike him.
They fed him on dainties, and logged
him out with jewelry. In other parts of
Egypt. however. the natives looked up
on him as a devil Having no firearms
they did not fill him with lead, but they
managed to immediate him successfully
with such weapons as were fashionable
at the time. The crocodile is not SO nu-
merous in the Nile as he was in the
days of the Rameses family; in fact, he
rather shuns the river now below the
Second Cataract, on account OF The an
noyances inseparable from tourist traffic.
1t seems impossible for a tourist to see
crockodile without trying to plug him
with a revolver, and to a reptile that is
fond of quiet life this sort of thing is
simply insufferable. He will not modest
a man unless he can take him at dis
advantage, and so long as a man does
not, unthinkingly. step on him, the
crocodile will go his own way and calm
ly await his opportunity. He feeds on
fish, but for a course dinner he would
rather have humanity, black preferred.
which shows there is no accounting for
taste, even among reptiles. His methods
of capturing large game are plural as
we'll as singular. Sometimes he will
lie on river bank, partly covered with
sand or mud, until an absent-minded
native wanders within reach. Having
grabbed his prey he will waddle into the
water and there drown the struggler.
He will then drag his victim ashore and
bury him in sand or mud, and wait for
DAYS before he gorges himself.
His favorite plan of providing food
for himself in the water is to depress
his head and tail and float with the cur
rent. While performing this act ne
looks like an old, blackened log. Though
he is perfectly happy on land and spends
much of his time there, he can stay
under water a long time and kill while
under water without suffering any in
convenience. On this account it may
be assumed that his breathing apparatus
is not arranged like that of man. It
is not; for his nostriIS open into the
pharynx instead of the mouth and the
aperture can be closed at will with a
valve. The crocodile is lavisnly pro-
vided with valves and lids. He has lids |
for his eyes and his ears and his Eostrils. /
tits not necessary for him 70 boast that
he can sleep with one eye open, because
he can 90 so. Before he was so well
known as ne now is, it was supposed
tina. he was unfinished with a tongue. }
This was simply due to reticence on his |
part. He did not, nor does he, even /
keep il between his teeth. That would
not satisfy him, so he keeps it close to
the under side of his mouth. His teeth
are numerous and sharp and strong, and
are arranged in a single row in each