290 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



wall. Darling up from the ground, the 

 mother would flutter and scold a few 

 inches from the snake's head, and so 

 bewildered was he that he did not 

 know whether to climb farther up or 

 slip down to the ground. Two young 

 wrens were huddled together in 

 another corner of the basement, too 

 frightened to escape. The snake was 

 not near them, but the parents knew 

 ldm for an enemy and — did they expect 

 us to bring out the rifle? They cer- 

 tainly expected assistance of some sort, 

 for as soon as we began trying to dis- 

 lodge the snake they left the basement, 

 perched upon the garden fence, and the 

 male began to sing, probably to reas- 

 sure the young ones. 



The snake appeared at first glance 

 to be what we have always called a 

 "gopher snake," — harmless, really 

 beneficial, and worthy of protection. 

 He was brown and tan, marked with 

 squares across the back, and had a small 

 head without the protruding jowls of 

 the rattler. His tail was smooth and 

 slender, running out to a sharp point. 

 Not wishing to kill him, we took the 

 hoe and attempted to drag him from 

 his position, when much to our sur- 

 prise, we were greeted with a rattle. 



That slender tail was vibrating rat- 

 tler-fashion against the wall. Of course 

 it did not sound like a real rattlesnake, 

 but it was somewhat startling, never- 

 theless ; and when he crawded over up- 

 on the shelf and used some empty cans 

 for his "sounding board," it became 

 really formidable. As we continued 

 to grope with the hoe, he showed us 

 another of his intimidating tricks. 

 Rearing the fore part of his body, — al- 

 most half his length, I judged — he 

 drew it back into lateral folds and held 

 himself stiffly in an attitude of defense, 

 ready to strike. He did not carry out 

 hi.:, threat, however. Though the hoe 

 was thrust at him repeatedly, it elicited 

 only hisses. At last he ignominiously 

 lowered his head, slid from the shelf, 

 and escaped through a crack. 



Of course we were anxious to learn 

 what kind of snake we had seen, but 

 we seem to be the only persons in this 

 vicinity who ever saw a "fake rattler." 

 This was not our first acquaintance 



with his kind. We have seen several 

 small ones, ten to twelve inches long. 

 They always raise the head in that pe- 

 culiar striking attitude and hiss and 

 strike viciously, but they do not vibrate 

 the tail. This large one was about 

 thirty inches long. The only other 

 adult which we have seen was out in 

 the field. It vibrated its tail amongst 

 the dry grass, making quite a buzz, 

 but did not threaten to strike, though 

 it turned its head about so as always 

 to face us. Can it be that we have 

 just discovered some interesting tricks 

 of our common "gopher snake?" It 

 does not seem possible, for hitherto our 

 experience has shown him to be rather 

 timid — anxious to get out of the way 

 as soon as disturbed, and never show- 

 ing an inclination to fight. We should 

 like to know if our "gopher snake" and 

 the fox snake are the same. A picture 

 of the fox snake published in the "Na- 

 tional Geographic Magazine" in July 

 resembles the "gopher snake" very 

 closely. 



Phoebe Lowrie. 

 * * * * 



The species of reptile involved was 

 undoubtedly a representative of what 

 is technically known as Pituofhis cat- 

 enifer, a harmless and really beneficial 

 creature. The members of the genus 

 to which this species belong, also the 

 snakes of the genus Coluber, Zamcnis 

 and Ophiholus — namely, the rat snakes, 

 the racers and the members of the king 

 snake genus, have a common habit of 

 rapidly vibrating the tail when alarm- 

 ed. So rapid is the motion that the 

 tail appears as a mere blur, and if the 

 reptile is among dry leaves, the sound 

 produced is very much like that of a 

 small rattlesnake. Snakes of the genus 

 Pituophis, commonly known as the 

 gopher snakes or bull snakes, are char- 

 acterized by a fleshy appendage on the 

 lower jaw, situated immediately in front 

 of the breathing passage. They take 

 a long breath and then by injecting 

 the air against this appendage, produce 

 the same sound effect as if one were 

 to take a visiting card and hold it in 

 front of the lips and blow upon it — a 

 sharp hissing sound. — Raymond L. Dit- 

 mars, New York Zoological Park. 



