8 The Alligator and Its Allies 
According to Ditmars, the crocodile has, as a rule, 
larger and more exposed teeth than the alligator. 
Finally, as will be brought out later, the crocodile 
is usually more quick and active, and also more 
vicious, than the alligator. 
Very young alligators are nearly black, with 
distinct, yellow cross bands; as they grow older 
these markings become less distinct until in ma- 
turity the animals are of a uniform gray or dirty 
black color. 
Habitat. The American alligator is found in 
the rivers and swamps of the Southern States, 
from the southern part of North Carolina to the 
Rio Grande, though Florida is usually thought of as 
being the region in which they particularly abound. 
Years ago, before the rifle of the ubiquitous tourist 
and so-called sportsman had gotten in its deadly 
work, the alligators were probably very abundant 
in the Southern States; but they have been so 
ruthlessly destroyed by native hunters for their 
skins, and by others for mere wanton sport, that 
one may travel, perhaps, for days along the rivers 
of the South without seeing a single ’gator. 
The account quoted by Clarke from Bartram’s 
travels of more than one hundred years ago, while 
probably exaggerated, gives an idea of the abun- 
dance of the alligators at that time: ‘‘The rivers 
at this place from shore to shore, and perhaps 
near a half mile above and below me, appeared 
to be one solid bank of fish of various kinds, push- 
