OBSERVATIONS OX SNAKES IN THE FIELD 



131 



Some of the rattlers observetl have been so 

 gentle and quiet in their behavior that had I 

 been willing to chance it, I believe I could 

 safely have handled them, although I gave 

 them free liberty of their heads. It is never 

 wise however to let confidence lead into any 

 recklessness. Other specimens on the other 

 hand, continually acted in an altogether 

 vicious manner and showed no signs of tam- 

 ing. 



Judging from a single specimen one can 

 never be sure just what to expect from another 

 snake of the same species. One young rattler 

 (about a year old) which I caught in Connecti- 

 cut was about the sauciest snake that I ever 

 met, while another of the same age captured 

 in Massachusetts by Mr. Charles Snjaler (of 

 the New York Zoological Park) and myself a 

 few davs earlier was its exact antithesis. A 



party of seven of us had been out to "look 

 over" a special den on top of one of the 

 mountains, but had had no success in finding 

 specimens as it was late in the season at that 

 spot and evidently all of the snakes had 

 crawled away to lower levels for food and 

 water. On our homeward way we had 

 wandered down nearly to the foot of the 

 mountain and were in fairly heavy timber 

 on an easy slope of land, when the youngest 

 member of our party tripped and fell full 

 length on the ground, throwing his hands 

 out ahead of him to break the force of his 

 tumble. Immediately there was a scream 

 from him of "Rattlesnake!" and with almost 

 as much speed as he had made in falling he 

 scrambled to his feet again. When his left 

 hand had hit the earth, he had seen that it was 

 within about four inches of a small rattler 



Forking a rattler preliminary to bagging it. After the rattler is thus secured so that it cannot strike (forked 

 stick about five feet long), the fork can be replaced by the fingers and th.; snake safely handled in the transfer 

 from the ground to the collecting bag. The tail should be grasped with the other hand to prevent the snake coiling 

 about the arm 



