72 BULLETIN 61, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Wortman's skill. Upon opening the snakes one was found to contain six fishes. The 

 headwaters of the Smoky Hill and Big Horn rivers abound in this aquatic Eutaenia 

 radix. 



Doctor Coues (1878, 278) has also observed the habits of radix in 

 North Dakota and Montana: 



In the more fertile portions of the Red River Valley itself, throughout the Red River 

 region, from Pembina to where the Coteau de Missouri crosses the line, it is the charac- 

 teristic Ophidian, the principal and almost only representative of its order, outnum- 

 bering all the others put together. * * * 



In the more fertile portions of the Red River Valley itself this snake may be found 

 almost anywhere in the brush and herbage. Out on the drier prairie lieyond it is 

 chiefly confined to the pools and streams, or their immediate vicinity. Numbers are 

 found basking together on the muddy borders of the sloughs or among the masses of 

 aquatic vegetation where they find ample siibsistence during the summer months in 



Fin. 23.— Habitat OF Th.\mnophis RADIX and T. sirtalis parietalis. Slough (outlet to Elbow 

 Lake), Clay County, Iowa. The margin op these grassy swamps is apparently the most 

 favorable habitat for T. radix in the prairie-plains region, and with it is found associ- 

 ated T. .sirtalis parietalis. 



tadpoles, young frogs, and various water insects. They are themselves preyed upon 

 by hawks, especially the Marsh Harrier {Circus cyaneris hudsonius) and Swainson's 

 Buzzard {Buteo sivainsoni). They are less active than some of the slender species, 

 are readily caught, and when captured make little or no resistance. Only the largest 

 individuals assume for the moment a defensive attitude and attempt to bite; most 

 may be at once handled wit.li impunity. 



My own observations on the habits of radix in northwestern Iowa 

 agree in the main witli those of Doctor Cones. The topograph}- of 

 this region is characteristically glacial, and consists principally of 

 moraines with intervening lakes, ponds, or swamps, according to 

 the depth of the depressions. The swamps, locally known as 

 ''sloughs" (fig. 23), are characteristic of the prairie region. The 



