430 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1893. 



We have heen told that Rattlesnakes are still occasionally killed in Connecticnt 

 near the Rhode Island border. It is generally stated that the last Rattlesnake was 

 killed ill Rhode Island twenty years ago, but we are informed by Prof. Battey that 

 one was killed at Tiverton, R. I., within a period of fonr years. Its skin is now in 

 the niusenni of the Fricmds' School at Providence. Mr. Henry H. Bnxton, a member 

 of this school, from Peabody, Mass., gives ns the following statement regarding its 

 occurrence at that locality: 



"In South Peabody there is a rock called Rattlesnake Rock, surrounded by woods 

 in which there are a great many snakes, including the Rattlesnake. During the last 

 year three or four have been killed by different persons. They confine themselves 

 to the part of the town which is the most rocky and slightly elevated. In the winter 

 they get under this ro(;k and go to sleep." 



Rattlesnakes are still common in the Milton Hills, near Boston, and at Hyde Park. 



lu confirmation of the occurrence of the Rattlesnake in Connecticut, 

 my friend, Mr. John 11. Sage, sent nie two specimens in 1893 from Port- 

 land. He wrote me at the same time tliat quite a number are killed in 

 this immediate vicinity (Portland) each season. As early as 1842 

 Thompson (Hist. Vermont, i, p. 119) says that in Vermont they have 

 now nearly disappeared, but that formerly they were found in consid- 

 erable numbers, thou.!j;h mostly confined to a very few localities. 



In the same year De Kay speaks of the Rattlesnake in the State of 

 New York (Zool. N. Y., in, p. 57) as follows: 



The Rattlesnake is coiuniou in various parts of the State, and in the Northern States 

 generallj^ appears to prefer rocky situations. They abound in Clinton, Essex, and 

 Warren counties, along the shores of Lakes Champlain and George. Some idea 

 may be formed of their numbers in certain districts in this State by the following 

 extract from the Clairou newspaper, ])ublished in Warren Connty: 



"Twomen, in three days, killed 1,104 Rattlesnakeson the east side of Tongue Moun- 

 tain, in the town of Bolton. Some of the reptiles were very large, carrying from 

 15 to 20 rattles. They were killed for their oil, or grease, which is said to be very 

 valuable." 



Although numerous in the rocky, mountainous districts of this State, they are rare 

 or entirely wanting in those elevated regions which give rise to the Moose, the 

 Raqnet, and tlie Hudson rivers. They are found in the counties of Sullivan, Ulster, 

 Orange, and Greene. A few still linger in the swaiu]is of Suffolk County. 



This may be supplemented with the followinj;" statement from Prof. 

 Baird's "Serpents of Xew York," p. 10 (18"i4): 



In New York it seems to be most abundant on the shores of Lake George and Lake 

 Champlain; especially in Rattlesnake Mountain of the former and Rattlesnake den 

 of the latter, a rocky bluff between Westport and Essex. It is a little remarkable 

 that the rattlesnake does not occur in the Adirondack regions of New York ; at least, 

 an instance has never come t(j my knowledge. Such a region in Pennsylvania would 

 be infested by them. 



As indicated in the last sentence it is still fairly common in the 

 Alleghany Mountains, from Pennsylvania southwards, though by no 

 means confined to the high altitude, as we have specimens from Wil- 

 mington, iu North Carolina, Liberty County and Saint Simons Isle, 

 Georgia, while Dr. E. Cones quotes it as common in the vicinity of 

 Fort Macon, North Carolina, and certainly occurring on the islands 

 as well. 



