On Snakes, their Fangs, and Habits. 663 



Art. II. On Snakes, their Fangs, and their Mode of procuring 

 Food. By Charles Waterton, Esq. 



Mr. Taylor, in his paper which appeared in p. 529 — 541., 

 says : " I have repeatedly endeavoured to verify Mr. Au- 

 dubon's account of the rattlesnake ascending trees, which has 

 been confirmed." [p. 541.] Now, a great part of that ac- 

 count by Audubon consists of the description of a rattlesnake 

 chasing a squirrel up and down a tree. Does Mr. Taylor 

 wish us to understand that this part of the account has been 

 confirmed by him ? I ask this necessary question, because I 

 cannot suppose that Mr. Taylor would spend his time in 

 repeatedly endeavouring to verify the simple fact that rattle- 

 snakes ascend trees. The fact is already as well established 

 as is the existence of the rattlesnake itself. The merest 

 novice in zoology must know that the muscular power in the 

 bodies of snakes enables them to ascend trees. I anxiously 

 wait for Mr. Taylor's reply. If he has actually seen a rattle- 

 snake chasing its prey up and down a tree, then I will own 

 that I have hitherto been completely in the dark with regard 

 to snakes ; and that all the time which I have spent in study- 

 ing of their habits, while I was in the forests of Guiana, has 

 been unprofitable and of no avail. If, on the contrary, Mr. 

 Taylor informs us that his experience goes no farther than to 

 verify the fact that snakes do get up into trees, then I take 

 the liberty to remark that he has told us nothing new. 



I have been in the midst of snakes for many years : I have 

 observed them on the ground, on trees, in bushes, on bed- 

 steads, and upon old mouldering walls ; but never in my life 

 have I seen a snake pursue a retreating prey. I am fully 

 satisfied, in my own mind, that it is not in a snake's nature to 

 do so. A snake would follow its retreating prey in a tree 

 with just about as much success as a greyhound would follow 

 a hare through the mazes of a thick wood. Snakes are 

 always in a quiescent state just before they seize their prey ; 

 and their mode of capturing it is by an instantaneous spring, 

 consisting of a bound which never exceeds two thirds of the 

 length of the reptile's body. 



As we are now on snakes, and as Mr. Taylor informs us that 

 the names of his birds and animals " are corrected from the 

 splendid work of Audubon," I beg leave to draw his particular 

 attention to plate 21. of that work. It represents a rattle- 

 snake attacking a mocking-bird's nest. Mr. Swainson, in his 

 critique upon it [AT. N. H., i. 48, 49.], seems lost in admira- 

 tion at its excellence. He says (after lauding plate 17.) " The 

 same poetic sentiment and masterly execution characterises 



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