104 Of the fascinating FACULTY 



ally in wet fituations. It is faid that this reptile is often 

 feen, curled round a tree, darting terrible glances at a 

 fquirrel, which after feme time is fo much influenced 

 by thefe glances, or by fome fubtile emanation from the 

 body of the ferpent, that the poor animal falls into the 

 jaws of its enemy. This ftory is, I believe, deftitute of 

 foundation, though it is related by the good Cotton 

 Mather*. The rattle-fnake is, indeed, fometimes feen 

 at the root of a tree, upon the lower branches of which, 

 at the height of a few feet from the ground, a bird or 

 fquirrel has been feen exhibiting fymptoms of fear and 

 diftrefs. Is this a matter of any wonder? Nature has 

 taught different animals what animals are their enemies ; 

 and although, as will be afterwards fhewn, the principal 

 food of the rattle-fnake is the great frog, yet as he oc- 

 cafionally devours birds and fquirrels, to thefe animals 

 he muft neceffarily be an objed: of fear. When the rep- 

 tile, therefore, lies at the foot of a tree, the bird or the 

 fquirrel will feel itfelf uneafy. That it will fometimes run 



on the ground. The black-fnake I have often feen upon trees. I ought 

 not, however, to conceal that in the fummer of the laft year, a Choktah- 

 Indian told me, that the rattle-fnake does climb trees and bufties, to a fmall 

 hi'ight. He faid, that he had once feen one of thefe fnakes upon a reed. 

 [ am not very willing to deny this Indian's ftory : yet it is oppofed to every 

 information I have been able to procure from perfons well acquainted with 

 the reptile of which I am fpeuking. However, it is not impofllble that 

 where trees and bufhes grow very clofe together, the fnake may climb them 

 to a -very fmall height. Moft fpecies of ferpents move in a fpiral manner : 

 the rattle-fnake moves ftraight on ; and this is the reafon why he cannot 

 climb trees. In the quotation which I have made from Mr. de la Cepede, 

 another miftake is involved. He fpeaks of the agility with which the rattle- 

 fnake moves. This is not, however, merely the millake of Mr. de la 

 Cepede. We find it in Pifo. Speaking of this icptlle, our author fays : 

 *' In triviis ju.xta ac deviis locis cernitur, tarn celcriter prorcptans ut volare 

 videatur, idque velocias per loca faxofa, quam terreftria." De India: ntrl- 

 ^fque re nnturali et met/icn. p. 274. Now the truth is that the rattle-fn.ake is 

 one of the rnoll: fluggifh of all our ferpents. LinncEUs was well informed, 

 •when he afferted that Providence had given " the Cro'talus a very flow 

 motion." See Jiejlci^iciis, &c. quoted p. 84 of this memoir. 

 * Philofojihical Tianfii<f\ioas of the Royal Society, No. 339. 



towards- 



