202 A COLLECTOR'S EXPERIENCES 



will reveal many specimens. But such is not gener- 

 ally tlie case. In tlie northeastern United States a 

 collector may pass an entire day searching for rep- 

 tiles and see not a single specimen. It is usually by 

 accident that one meets the larger snakes. Often 

 the collector returns wearily from a tramp through 

 seemingly the most favorable country without the 

 sign of a specimen, unless it be a crushed and battered 

 one on the roadside. 



In spring the reptiles issue from their places of 

 hibernation, and, possessed with a spirit of sociability, 

 sun themselves in little colonies. As the season grows 

 older they scatter. Some glide into the long grass 

 of the meadows, others go searching through rocky 

 ground, and a locality previously teeming with rep- 

 tile life becomes depopulated, so that the collector 

 can expect little luck during the summer months. 

 Those first warm days, always heralded by a chorus 

 of frogs and toads, afford the reptile hunter's most 

 favorable time. Along old stone walls and hedge- 

 rows the reptiles venture forth, and the sparse vege- 

 tation of the season makes their discovery and cap- 

 ture easy. 



The poisonous snakes may be hunted during the 

 summer months along quiet roads, at dusk. When a 

 long spell of heat and drought has been broken by a 

 refreshing shower they also venture forth to hunt 

 their prey. 



It is surprising to note the seeming rarity of the 

 local poisonous snakes compared with the harmless 

 species. Many times has the writer tramped through 



