It is true they will approach the spot where they hear the yelping of a dog; but some say that this is because it so much resembles the whining of their own young, and that it is these they are in search of." "But I have seen both the males and females make towards the dog." "Just so.

The males went to devour the young, as they thought, and the females followed to protect them.

Great battles are often fought between the males and females on this account." "But how is it, Luce," inquired Francois, "how is it they can catch fish that appear so much swifter than themselves ?" "Very few kinds of fish are swifter.

The alligator, by means of his webbed feet, and particularly his flat tail--which acts on the principle of a stern-oar to a boat, and a rudder as well--can pass through the water as swiftly as most of the finny tribe.

It is not by hunting it down, however, but by stratagem, that the alligator secures a fish for his maw." "By what stratagem ?" "You have often noticed them floating on the surface of the water, bent into a sort of semicircular shape, and without moving either body or limb ?" "Yes--yes; I have noticed it many a time." "Well, if you could have looked under the water then, you would have seen a fish somewhere upon the convex side of the semicircle.