. Hunting and fishing in Florida, including a key to the water birds known to occur in the state . ing dogswhile swimming > - - ^ streams and pondswere often killedor badly bitten bythese animals ; butat present so fewof the large onesare left, and theyhave become s oshy, that it is arare thing to hearof dogs being in-jured by them. The alligator isoften found on landsome distance fromwater ; in suchcases it is well tokeep away from its tail, as it strikes with great power and is capable of doing con-siderable injury. The danger from this is probably exaggerated. One method of hunting allig
. Hunting and fishing in Florida, including a key to the water birds known to occur in the state . ing dogswhile swimming > - - ^ streams and pondswere often killedor badly bitten bythese animals ; butat present so fewof the large onesare left, and theyhave become s oshy, that it is arare thing to hearof dogs being in-jured by them. The alligator isoften found on landsome distance fromwater ; in suchcases it is well tokeep away from its tail, as it strikes with great power and is capable of doing con-siderable injury. The danger from this is probably exaggerated. One method of hunting alligators which is quite commonly prac-tised is to pull them out of their holes under the banks of the riversand on the borders of the ponds. When the water gets low enoughat certain seasons of the year these holes may be found, and by in-vestigating them with the aid of a long pole, if the alligator is athome he will soon give signs of life, usually grunting and movingabout. Oftentimes he will savagely bite the end of the pole whenit touches him. A large hook, resembling a shark hook, is attached. ALLIGATOR. ,68 HUNTING AND FISHING IN FLORIDA. to the end of the pole, and a rope fastened to the hook in case thepole should break. The alligator may then be hooked, pulled outof the hole, and shot; but it frequently requires two or three men toaccomplish this if it be a large one. While being drawn to theentrance of the hole he roars and bellows in a lively manner. Ihave taken several alligators in this manner which measured overeleven feet in length. When alligators fight with each other they attempt to seize theupper jaw. I once saw two large alligators fighting in a very shal-low pond ; each made severalineffectual attempts to obtainthe jaw hold without last the larger one suc-ceeded in seizing his oppo-nent by the upper jaw andimmediately rolled over andover, breaking his opponentsjaw close to the head, killinghim instantly. This is, I amtold, the usual method em-ployed
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