2/2 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



FIG. 6. A YOUNG COPPERHEAD. 

 Life size; seen from above. 



The resulting pictures, however, are 

 very unsatisfactory and equally un- 

 scientific if the exposure is made when 

 the little snake is all drawn up into a 

 coil, as it will be when the cover is re- 

 moved. To be seen to the best advan- 

 tage, it should be taken when moving 

 away ; but this is what takes skill and 

 patience on the part of the zoological 

 photographer. If he be lacking in 

 those qualities, he can never make such 

 pictures as are here reproduced in Figs. 

 4 and 5, — mark my word when I say 

 so. 



The young milk snake shown in Fig. 

 4, is undergoing the operation of shed- 

 ding, — probably for the first time, — 

 and the delicate bits of skin are plainly 

 seen along the line of its body. 



My young copperhead, as well as 

 the milk snake have both been con- 



signed to alcohol ; ere long they will 

 figure in the collection of some mu- 

 seum, which I think is a better dis- 

 position to make of them, than simply 

 to kill them and toss them out of the 

 window. 



When irritated, the adult blowing 

 viper flattens out the fore part of his 

 body in a most ferocious-appearing 

 style, at the same time giving vent to 

 a series of very aggressive hisses. This 

 is accompanied by his coiling and un- 

 coiling the end of his tail. These habits 

 have cost many a one its life, the slayer— 

 if a man and uninformed — invariably 

 boasting of having killed a specimen of 

 the most venomous reptile known, where- 

 as the species is a perfectly harmless 

 one. 



Be this as it may, the very young of 

 this snake have also the above describ- 

 ed habits, and it is very prettily shown 

 in Fig. 5 of this article. We note the 

 tail just about to coil. up, while the little 

 reptile's head and neck are both flat- 

 tened out, — and that with the hope 

 of frightening me away ! 



The young copperhead also coils it? 

 tail when irritated ; but instead of flat- 

 tening out its head and neck, as in the 

 case of the young blowing viper, it 

 seems to reduce the caliber of its neck, 

 and thus make the individualization 

 of the head of its venomous little self 

 all the more apparent. 



Note how beautifully these young 

 snakes are marked, and how different 

 the pattern is in the case of each. For 

 scientific illustrations, they are just 

 wdiat the naturalist needs ; and were 

 they properly colored, they would be 

 far ahead of anything that could be 

 accomplished by brush or pencil. It is 

 only by means of the photographic 

 camera that we can get the arrange- 

 ment of the skin pattern, the number 

 and disposition of the scales and other 

 characters so perfectly. 



FIG. 7. A YOUNG COPPERHEAD SNAKE. 

 Life size seen on lateral view. 



