134 



THE OREGON NATURALIST. 



what I named him, crawling around, in- 

 specting his new premises. When he saw 

 me he displayed all the characteristics 

 which have given his race the popular 

 names of "spreading adders," or "blowing 

 snakes." Drawing in his breath with an 

 audible wheeze he flattened out his head 

 and neck until they were wider than three 

 of my fingers and then raising his head 

 four or five inches from the ground he 

 uttered a sharp threatening hiss. Draw- 

 ing himself up in a close coil, a snake's 

 favorite posture for defense, he raised his 

 head still higher, hissing furiously and 

 writhing about in such a threatening 

 manner that he really looked like the 

 terrible East Indian cobras which 1 had 

 seen in pictures, and it was easy for me 

 to understand why so many people believe 

 that "spreading adders" are posionous. 

 It was wonderful how large the little snake 

 could make himself appear by drawing in 

 his breath, but then a snake's one useful 

 lung extends nearly the whole length of 

 his body and is merely a simple sack 

 capable of great distension. 



Finding that 1 was not scared away by 

 his display of mock valor Ted abandoned 

 his agressive tactics, dropped upon the 

 ground and tried to crawl away. Picking 

 him up I held him awhile in my hand, 

 writhing and struggling a little but 

 making no attempt to bite. His terrible 

 threats had been nothing but threats, for 

 he was perfectly harmless. 



When 1 put him down he crawled into 

 his box at once and did not com^^ out again 

 until that afternoon. As long as 1 kept 

 Ted he always greeted me with the same 

 demonstrationsof hostility though he soon 

 learned to submit to being handled and 

 when once quieted would lie peacefully 

 curled up in my hand or coiled around my 

 wrist until 1 would grow tired of him and 

 put him down. 



Ted was not nocturnal in his habits and 

 never ventured out of his box at night but 



he was a very early ris^r and every morn- 

 ing as soon as 1 would get up 1 would find 

 him burrowing in the sand at the bottom 

 of the barrel ^iuid turning up the earth in 

 a way that reminded me of the rooting of 

 a little pig. He enjoyed a bath and when 

 he became tired rooting he would crawl 

 into his little tub and come out all dripping 

 with water. Creeping around on the 

 ground again the fine dry sand would stick 

 to his wet scales and cover him so thickly 

 that you could scarcely tell which was 

 head and which was tail. Then he would 

 crawl back into his tub and wash the sand 

 off only to get as sandy as ever as soon 

 as he came out of his bath. He would re- 

 peat this performance so often that his 

 little tub would soon be filled with sand. 

 When he tired of this amusement he would 

 stretch himself out in the sun to dry. 

 When thoroughly dried he would twitch 

 his skin all over and the loose sand would 

 all shake off leaving him perfectly clean. 

 He would then go into his box and remain 

 there through the middle or the day to 

 come out again and hunt or play late in the 

 afternoon. Contrary to what most people 

 believe about snakes he did not enjoy the 

 full glare of the mid-day sun but sought a 

 shade during the heat of the day. 



1 tried in vain to find some account of 

 the food of the "spreading adder" and had 

 to experiment with Ted to find out what 

 he would eat. 1 thought from his rooting 

 in the sand that he might be hunting for 

 earthworms, so I offered him earthworms, 

 grubs and cutworms, and all the insects 

 that I could capture, but it was no use, 

 he never paid the slightest, attention to 

 any of them. 



1 then put three small cricket frogs in 

 his barrel, expecting him to make a hearty 

 meal off of them, but for some unknown 

 reason they did not suit his taste and he 

 never offered to touch them. 1 do not 

 know whether the frogs ate any of the 

 worms or insects or not, but after they 



