24 Mr Audubon's Notes on the Rattlesnake. 



amongst the dead leaves or grass, as a vulture or forked- tail fal- 

 con was passing over the place in search of food, and by close 

 investigation discovered that some snake had made away to hide 

 under a log, root, or stone, from its winged enemy ; for, after 

 being satisfied that the noise thus heard was produced by snakes 

 labouring to escape through fear, I have remained snug and si- 

 lent, and have seen them issue from their covert, when the vul- 

 ture had gone by. But, further, I have frequently seen them 

 move their heads sidewise, looking up to the trees, and disco- 

 vered that they were then in search of birds' nests ; and so 

 watchful of the parents' motions, that, as if afraid to suffer by the 

 encounter with a bird of size and power, they made choice of 

 the time when both parents were absent, to ascend and rob 

 them either of the young or the eggs if not fully laid and feady 

 for incubation. Should the snake, in such attempts, be per- 

 ceived by the owners of the nest, their cries of alarm and attack 

 are heard through the woods, and so many other birds assemble 

 and pour in from all sides, that it becomes nearly impossible for 

 the snakes to make good their retreat. I shall merely add that 

 those battles and defeats are corroborated by one of our most 

 eminent naturalists in America. 



That almost all snakes can swim, and do swim well, too, and 

 can remain under water a considerable time, is a fact sufficiently 

 ascertained ; but that, in this element, they have the power of 

 pursuing fish, and of catching either them or frogs, is a fact 

 which, though equally true, is not so well known. I shall there- 

 fore present to you some proofs of this from my own observation. 

 Whilst fishing on the banks of the Schuillkill river, not very 

 far from Philadelphia, about twenty years ago, I saw a snake 

 issue out of the water close to me, and slide up a large stone to 

 receive the benefit of the sun. I perceived it to be swelled about 

 its middle, and shot it to ascertain its contents, when I discover- 

 ed in the stomach a cat-fish scarcely dead, so fresh indeed that 

 I made it my prize, and felt no ways alarmed at eating it when 

 dressed. Since that time I have had opportunities to see snakes 

 chasing bull-frogs, follow them after they had leaped into the 

 water, and return with them in their mouths. Several other 

 species, indeed, make the water their almost constant place of 

 abode, one of which, the Congo (C, nigrajy an extremely veno- 



