The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1898-10-07
ALLIGATOR MIMICS.-
HOW SWAMP RANGERS CALL AND
CAPTURE THE REPTILES,

The Believing Season and the Fights
Of the Unmated Bulls-How Nests
Are Built ana Bggs Hntched-Ps-
culiar Habits of Feeding.
The alligator Is rapidly disappearing in
the settled regions Of Florida and beoom-
Ing soarcer every day even in such remote
regions as tho Everglades, owing to the
war Of determination wagcd against 1t by
hide hunters, taxidermists and dealers in
curiosities. These pursue 1t night and day
year In and year out. The little ginger
lings just out Of the nest are In great dc.
Inand. as they are worth from % to %
per hundred In the local markets. The
''curio" dealers who purchase them often
resell them at 81 each to northern visitors,
or else they kill and stuff them into card
plates, cigar holders or whatever else their
fancy suggests and dispose Of them at
good prices. The young are frequently
lured from their lurking places by poor
imitation Of tho grunts Of their mother,
and men expert In milnioking her may
capture largo number In day, as they
respond promptly to the calls and pour out
Of cavities In hot haste to see the caller
The most expert 'gator callers" I ever
knew were swamp rangers, both white
and black, who were born and bred within
a short distance Of an alligator swamp,
and therefore knew every information Of
tho saurian's voice. These men could make
o matron charge wildly at them across a
broad stream by initiating the frightened
cries Of her young or lure decrepit old
bull by mimioking the grunts Of tho fe.
Tbox, To- IA Mt l,nxI, rll
and young and often earned good sums
by their art.
The "bellowing season" begins in May
and lasts until the middle Of July, and
during that time the uAmated bulls make
night hideous In fighting each other they
us, jaw and tail with the utmost fury.
They must deliver exceedingly heavy
blows with the latter, for tho sounds can
bo heard at considerable distance When
one gets good mouth hold on tho other,
1t olings like bulldog, but as the body
armor Is generally toothproof, except in
special places, little damage can be done
even in protraoted conflict.
As the reptiles can only deliver blows at
objects little to one side Of the head, 1t Ia
amusing to see them try to get directly In
front of each other and make circular
sweeps with the tail in the blind hope that
some may prove effective. have known
them to fight for hours at intervals with
great fury and have again seen huge
bull retreat in most demoralized manner
after receiving few blows.
When the female Ia ready to lay her
eggs, she retires to some secluded wet or
swampy place and builds out Of mud, de-
H.,
three feet high and having large, firm
base. II she builds on tidewater, she car
ries her nest farther baok-some years
more than others-as II she knew when
tides would be unusually high, and the
strangest part Of 1t Is that, as rule, "high
nests and high tides" go together. The
receptacle for tho eggs is deep and spacious
and well made. She lays from 30 to 100
eggs In this, usually In July covering
them with light, loose material to give
the young when Matched plenty of room,
and makes tho upper part solid by beating
with her head and walking over it several
times to trample it down. She frequently
walks over it while the eggs are incubat.
ing, In order to keep 1t packed for II it be-
came loose the rain would enter and pre-.
vent the eggs from Matching.
1t usually takes 80 days for the young |
to appear, and she evidently knows the
hour they should announce their presence,
for she keeps passing around the nest the |
day when they are expected, becomes nerv-
GUS, usually irritable, and so pugnacious
that she is ready to fight anything from
On hearing the young give their first faint
croak she begins tearing away the covering
with claws and jaws, and on reaching
them give several endearing grunts, then
proudly leads them to her cave In the
swamp, stream or lake close by. From
that moment forward she must vigilantly
watch her progeny to prevent them from
being destroyed by enemies, for everything
that eats flesh seems to prey upon them.
Fishes, snakes, owls, hawks, polecats and
turtles devour them whenever they can,
but their worst foes are the bull alligators,
for they destroy them out of mere wanton.
ness.
One Of the pocullarities of the eggs of
IN alligator is that they are generally Of
liferent shapes, although the ends are al
ways alike. They are about l u inches in
and the ordinary length Of the
1ewly Matched youngsters is four inches.
These do not cat any food for several days
liter leaving the nest and make begin
hing on larvae, water insects and frogs,
gradually advancing to snakes, fishes and
inally to anything edible. They cannot
vat food that requires tearing apart, owing
10 the bluntness and irregularity Of their
eeth. An adult saurian possesses 80
eeth, II it has not lost any by accident,
md no two are of the same size and shape
Except those opposite each other. That is
Why it cannot tear fresh flesh and must
llow it to putrcfy before 1t can be eaten.
The teeth are hollow, yet strong, and are
he'd every year, SO that the loss Of few
n contest produces no permanent in
ury. Both old and young catch their prey
y lying In wait for 1t and striking it sud
emily with the tail when 1t approaches
ear enough to be hit. Mouth and tail
york automatically together, for the caudal
low promptly knocks the prey into the
istended, awaiting jaws. That given, the
aurian backs off into deep water and be-
ms rolling over and over like O barrel,
r spinning round and round in circle
,r tho purpose Of suffocating Its captive
S speedily as possible. 1t then takes its
rey to some favorite retreat and buries 1t
ntil it becomes tender enough, through
to be easily torn apart
ohm Mortimer Murphy in Popular
cience News