SNAKES OF THE GENUS PITUOPHIS 111 



and the accompanying vibration of the tail as like the noise made by 

 the rattle of Crotalus. 



Branson (1904, p. 359) adds birds to the hst of foods, and says: 

 "One three feet in length . . . swallowed three fully grown sparrows 

 for one meal and the next day it swallowed a pigeon egg." He gives 

 also some interesting notes on the life history of sayi, which may be 

 summarized as follows: Of 12 eggs found on August 15, one opened 

 immediately was found to contain a Uving embryo 8 inches long. 

 Ten of the others hatched on September 28 and 29, the young meas- 

 uring 15 to 15K inches. They were very irritable at first, becoming 

 gradually less so. On October 19 they molted. By that time their 

 length had increased to 18 inches, although they had eaten nothing. 

 Their first meal, egg and water, was eaten the following April. Five of 

 the young snakes were buried 2K feet deep in earth and rubbish on 

 December 5 and were found in good condition on March 10. 



Bailey gives the following note (1905, p. 47): "In a prairie-dog town 

 near Gail I killed an unusually large individual, measuring 7 feet 8 

 inches in length . . . Near Rock Springs, a smaller individual was 

 found in the act of swallowing a freshly killed squirrel." 



The following note is given by Ditmars (1907, p. 319): "The species 

 is fairly hardy as a captive, feeding upon rats, rabbits, and birds. It 

 is particularly fond of eggs, and consumes them entire, breaking the 

 shell in the throat by a contraction of the muscles . . . One of these 

 creatures . . . swallowed fourteen hen's eggs . . . The demonstra- 

 tion closed by the supply of eggs becoming exhausted and not from 

 indifference on the reptile's part." The same author (1912, p. 220) 

 comments on the value of sayi as an enemy "to several species of 

 highly destructive ground-squirrels." 



Strecker (190Sb, p. 74) describes "an aerial combat between a snake 

 of this species and a large hawk," in which the captured snake 

 "squirmed so vigorously and struck at its captor so furiously that the 

 bird was forced to relinguish its hold." In later papers (1909a, p. 7, 

 and 1910, p. 15) he states that the form is very common in prairie-dog 

 towns. 



Ellis and Henderson (1913, p. 94) report the form as "eating the 

 eggs of the Pin Tail Duck." 



Dice (1923, pp. 50 and 53) lists sayi as a member of both the "prairie 

 community" and the "edificarian community." 



Further notes on the usefulness of the bull snake as a destroyer of 

 harmful rodents on farms are given by Over (1923, p. 25), who also 

 says: "In a few instances Bull Snakes have been known to kill Rattle- 

 snakes." 



Force (1925, p. 27) reports finding sayi "in the gardens, golf course, 

 or open meadows." 



