30 THE ALLIGATOR'S LIFE HISTORY 



bank, it would tear the earth and roots loose with its mouth, 

 and back out with great mouthfuls of this soggy material 

 which it deposited clear of the bank in the water, and then 

 brushed it aside with strong side waves of its tail. When 

 large roots were encountered, they would be grasped with 

 the jaws and the entire body jerked back until the roots were 

 either bitten off or torn out. Such power was used in this 

 root-breaking operation, that we could see the trees whose 

 roots were being torn out shake to their very tops, and some 

 of them were a foot or more through at the base. In this 

 way roots eight or ten inches in circumference were re- 

 moved. As the hole got deeper the loose material would 

 be pushed back and out by the hind feet. I watched him 

 at his work for about four hours, and by the end of that 

 time only about two feet of his tail was sticking out from 

 under the bank. I visited this den the next April and 

 found the alligator had left, and I followed its trail to the 

 end of Saline Bayou, and although he has been seen a num- 

 ber of times since, we have not been able to catch him. He 

 is now in his old den located about two and a half miles 

 back in the heavy cypress swamp east of Avery Island; a 

 den so long and deep that it would require great effort to 

 get him out of it. I have known of this alligator in this 

 particular den for more than thirty years. He was a large 

 'gator when I first saw him. 



The location of alligator holes or dens in an ordinary 

 marsh or coastal prairie can be told from a considerable 

 distance by the height and vigor of the growth of grass 

 surrounding them. No matter whether it is bulrushes, 

 saw grass or other water-loving grasses, the growth 

 immediately around the alligator hole, especially near the 

 part of the bank that it uses for pulling out in the sun, is 

 very much more vigorous, and the grass greener and taller, 

 probably due to their roots being fed by the droppings. 



Sometimes large, old alligators have their dens in open 

 shallow lakes or ponds, and do not go under the land to 



