S8 Mr Audubon's Notes on the Rattlesnake. 



and have, on the contrary, remarked that hogs were shy of these 

 reptiles ; but if this were not the case, the ease with which rat- 

 tlesnakes can either make their escape, or defend themselves, is 

 such, that the hog would, in preference, I think, avoid the dan- 

 ger, and without risk, feed on congenial food, which is ever un- 

 der his nose, and in great abundance throughout all our woods, 

 unless, indeed, the hog were endowed with the power of fascina- 

 tion, a thing not yet communicated by those writers. But why, 

 I would ask those closet naturalists, do not the rattlesnakes 

 fascinate their opponents the hogs as well as birds ? 



The flesh of rattlesnakes was considered a dainty by the 

 Spaniards, whilst in possession of Louisiana. Mr James Perry, 

 a principal Alcaide in the parish of St Francis at that period, 

 has assured me, that the officers garrisoned on the heights of Fort 

 Adam, were in the habit of giving premiums to the soldiers and 

 Indians who brought them the largest and fattest. The head 

 being cut off, the snake was suspendcd_, so as to become entirely 

 drained of its blood, and the flesh cooked as that of chickens, 

 which it much resembles. Their skins were tanned, and beauti- 

 ful shoes are still made with them, which retain all the variega- 

 ted marks exhibited on the scales of the animal when alive. 



Perhaps one of the most wonderful faculties possessed by this 

 and many other species of snakes, is that of being able to live 

 without any food whatever for years ; and quite as remarkable, 

 that, during the lapse of this astonishing fast, their appearance 

 and condition scarcely exhibit their being in any want. Their 

 movements, the power of rattling, and that of inflicting mortal 

 wounds, are perfectly kept up. One which I confined in a cage 

 for three years had frequently rats, young rabbits and birds of 

 various kinds put in, sometimes alive, and at other times dead, 

 without their ever being touched ; not even a movement would 

 be made by the snake to approach them ; while, on the contrary, . 

 the live quadrupeds and birds shewed great symptoms of fear, and 

 threw themselves violently in all directions about the cage, to ef- 

 fect their escape from an enemy well known to them. The 

 operation of throwing off" its skin annually was, however, aban- 

 doned, after the first spring of confinement ; and as the indivi- 

 dual was small, and I did not consider it as arrived at its mid- 

 dle age, I measured its length with accuracy, and discovered, 



