Mr Audubon's Notes on the Rattlesnake. 23 



vel was left entirely disengaged, having been killed by suffoca- 

 tion. The snake then raised a few inches of its body from the 

 ground, and passed its head over the dead animal in various 

 ways to assure itself that life had departed ; it then took the 

 end of the squirrel's tail, swallowed it gradually, bringing first 

 one, and then the other of the hind legs parallel with it, and 

 sucked with difficulty, and for some time, ^t them and the rump 

 of the animal, until its jaws became so expanded, that, after this, 

 it swallowed the whole remaining parts with apparent ease. 



This mass of food was removed several inches from the head 

 in the stomach of the snake, and gave it the appearance of a rou- 

 leau of money brought from both ends of a purse towards its 

 centre ; for, immediately after the operation of swallowing was 

 completed, the jaws and neck resumed their former appearance. 

 The snake then attempted to move off, but this was next to im- 

 possible ; when having cut a twig, I went up to it, and tapped 

 it on the head, which it raised, as well as its tail, and began for 

 the first time to rattle. I was satisfied that for some lapse of 

 time it could not remove far, and that the woods being here ra- 

 ther thin, it would soon become the victim of a vulture. I then 

 killed it, and cut it open to see how the squirrel lay within. I 

 had remarked, that, after the process of swallowing was complet- 

 ed, singular movements of the whole body had taken place, — 

 a kind of going to and fro for a while, not unlike the convulsive 

 motions of a sick animal, as a dog for instance, about to vomit. 

 I concluded that some internal and necessary operation was go- 

 ing on. This was proved when I found the squirrel lying per- 

 fectly smooth, even as to its hair, from its nose to the tip of its 

 tail. I noted all this on the spot. This over, I sought my 

 game again, and felt a great satisfaction ; but having met my 

 friend Mr James Perry, on whose lands in the State of Louisi- 

 ana I was then hunting, and having related what had just hap- 

 pened, he laughingly said, '•\ Why, my dear sir, I could have 

 told you this long ago, it being nothing new to me." These 

 facts, I trust, are quite sufficient to exemplify the faculties of 

 swiftness, and the powers of extension and diminution, in the 

 rattlesnake. 



In regard to quickness of sight. — I have several times disco- 

 vered a snake to be near me from a sudden and brisk rustling 



