ASCRIBED TO THE R ATTLE-SN AK t, 28 I 



It Bas given me pleafure to find, that the enchariltttg feailty Refpeftable 

 of the rattle-fnake is doubted by fome very refpedable Euro- tmSrdoubt 

 pean naturalifts. " It is difficult," fays my excellent friend it. 

 Mr. Pennanf, ** to fpeak of its fafcinating powers : authors * 

 of credit defcribe the efFefts. Birds have been feen to drop 

 into its mouth, fquirrels defcend from their trees, and leverets 

 run into its jaws. Terror and amazement feem to lay hold on 

 thefe little animals : they make violent efforts to get away, ilill 

 keeping their eyes fixed on thofe of the fnake; at length, 

 wearied with their movements, and frightened out of all 

 capacity of knowing the courfe they ought to take, become at 

 length the prey of the expe6ling devourer, probably in their 

 laft convulfive motion f." 



My friend Mr. de la C^p^de, one of the moll: eloquent na- The fubjeft 

 turalifts of the age, has devoted a good deal of attention to the cepede. ^ 

 fubjed, in his Hifioire Naturelle des Serpens, a work of extenfive 

 and fuperior merit. I regret, however, that this ingenious author 

 was not in pofleffion of a few fa6ls, well known in this coun- 

 try, which could not have failed to condudl a mind, like his, 

 firengthened by the enlarged contemplation of the objeds of 

 nature, to the fiilnefs and certainty of truth. As it is, how- 

 ever, Mr. de la C^pede deferves our thanks for reviving, and 

 giving a new turn to, the fpeculations of naturalifts on this 

 fubjed. 



Bartram fays : ** They are fuppofed to have the power of fafcina- 

 tionin an eminent degree, fo as to inthral their prey. It is generally 

 believed that they charm birds, rabbits, fquirrels, and other animals, 

 and by ftedfaftly looking at them, poflefs them with infatuation j be 

 the caufe what it may, the miferable creatures undoubtedly ftrive by 

 every poifible means to efcape, hut alas ! their endeavours are in ' 



vain, they at laft lofe the power of refiftance, and flutter or move 

 flowly, but reluftantly towards the yawning jaws of their devourers, 

 and creep into their mouths, or lay down and fuffer themfelves to 

 be taken and Iwallowed." Travels through North and South 

 Cardinia, Georgia, Eaft and Weft Florida, &c. p. 267. Phila- 

 delphia: 1791. 



* « Lawfon— Catefby— Ph. Tr. abridg. ix. 56, &c. vii. 410.— 

 Brickel's Hift, Carolina, 144.— Beverley Virginia, 260.— Golden, 

 i. 12. Dr. Brickel is an author of no credit. His Hijiory of North' 

 Carolina, here quoted is one of the moft daring and fcandalous in- 

 ftances of plagiarifm I am acquainted with. 



t Arflic Zoology, vol. ii. p. 338. , London : 1792. 



I beg 



