Connecticut western news., 1898-08-18
ALLIGATORS AT PLAY.

How the UngAinly Creatures Conduct .
 Game of Pyramid.
 Did you, ever see the ZOO alligators play pyramid or any other of their famous games? They wrestle like old time Greco Roman boys and strain and struggle in all sorts of ways at 1t. When finally one wins by getting the ot1sr on his back. funnfer thing oc- CUTS. The victor makes a sound like es- caping steam, then the others make sounds like escaping steam-alligators' applause, if you please. Then they all become still and watch the vanquished brother squirm to get of of his back and on to his legs again. If he's longer in doing it than the gang think is prop CT, they move up in single file and give him a jab with their jaw in his up- turned belly. When finally he gets him self riglsted, all hands again set up the sseam escaping racket, cheering him long and as loud as they did his victor. Their meaning no fight is shown by their never hurting each other.
 Another of the great midsummer pastimes of these zoo alligators is play ing pyramid. The gators play pyramid several times day. To see it done you'd declare that the ugly things had been trained to 1t But no It's just one of the ways of de sporty side of kbeir life The game comes on by one of the bigger alligators uttering the steam hissing noise. This calls the oth- ars to attention. Then the big one says of alI to1l ond stretches himself full length in the cen ter of the pen. No sooner Is this done than little bit smaller alligator crawls on top of the other and stretches out lengthwise, but head to tail with the other. The second one being settled, he lets of little steam talk. and a third, a little smaller alligator, climbs up on top of the seoond and settles. down as the seoond did They keep this up un- til hx of seven have builded themselves into as strange and wonderful pyra- mid as ever an eye beheld- After each one has settled on top of the other he lies perfectly motionless, so that when the pyramid is completed it appears as some marvellous carving
 But this effect lasts only about two minutes after the pyramid is finished Then comes a new chapter of the act The Sandow gator underneath all starts to crawling. He heads for up and down places in the pen, the game clearly be- ing to see how long it will take him to jolt his strange pyramid load to pieces. And right here develops what appears to be strict rule of the game. Say there are seven in the pyramid and the sixth from the bottom jostles of first, taking, of course. the seventh one with him. You'd naturally think the game done for that sixth and seventh alliga- tor. But not at all. It seems that the sixth one is in disgrace for having been shaken of before the seventh ona who was top of the heap. Therefore, what does the seventh do. but cling to the back of the sixth after they've fallen of and proceeds to ride MT. Alligator No around the pen until MT. Sandow Alligator has succeeded in dumping the whole shooting match. If the fourth is shaken of before the fifth, the fifth, like the seventh, proceeds to ride his disgraced ''next" until Sandow gets rid of all his load. and another game is started d--Cincinnat Enquirer.