56 NEW-YORK FAUNA. 
Rattles varying in number, in general varying from five to twelve.* The rattle, as it is called, 
is composed of several horny enlargements loosely attached to each other, and resounding 
against each other when shaken. 
Color. Usually yellowish brown, and occasionally bright chesnut red. I have seen some 
individuals in this State, of nearly a uniform brownish black. On the upper part of the head 
and neck, it is frequently of a lighter color, margined on each side with dusky. A series of 
black rhomboidal blotches, disposed in an angular form, extends along the back and over the 
sides ; often a distinct reddish vertebral line. Caudal portion uniform dusky, and occasionally 
deep black. Beneath dull yellowish, with glossy reflections, and minutely and irregularly 
dotted and blotched with brownish black. 
Abdominal plates,.... 170 - 177. Total length,...... 36°0 - 48:0. 
Caudal plates, -....- 20 -— 25. Length of tail, .... 2°5- 3°5. 
As this species is found farther north than any other of the genus, I have ventured to desig- 
nate it by the name of the Northern Rattlesnake, although it is found as far south as the 
Gulf of Mexico, and throughout the Western States, and to the base of the Rocky Moun- 
tains. Although furnished with such deadly weapons, the rattlesnake can scarcely be termed 
a vicious animal; for he rarely strikes, unless almost trodden upon. When suddenly dis- 
turbed, he throws himself into a coil, and warns the aggressor by rapidly vibrating his rattles; 
these can scarcely be heard beyond the distance of a few yards.t This is most usually the 
case, but they occasionally strike without the slightest warning. Some years since, I was at an 
Indian settlement in the western part of the State, when, as we passed through a thick under- 
growth of bushes, one of the Indians was struck in this sudden manner ; but as his legs were 
enveloped in thick leggings, the stroke was harmless. The other Indians immediately hunted 
down and killed the reptile. They assured me, that whenever a rattlesnake sprung his rattle, 
it was a sign that he himself was alarmed, and that in such cases they invariably spared his 
life. It is a popular but erroneous belief, that a rattle is added each year. This is contro- 
verted by Dr. Holbrook, who has known two rattles added in one year, and Dr. Bachman has 
observed four produced in the same period. ‘The upper jaw is furnished with long curved 
acute and hollowed fangs, which are replaced by others in the rear when broken off. A poison 
bag, which occupies the whole length of the jaw beneath the skin, communicates with these 
fangs at their bases. At the moment the snake strikes, he ejects the venom forcibly into the 
_ * Inthe Columbian Magazine or Monthly Miscellany for November, 1786, is figured and deséribed the tail of a rattlesnake, 
with an almost incredible number of rattles. ‘The common number of fibulz seldom exceeds fourteen or fifteen in a rattle; but 
the one given (fig. 4) is certainly a very great curiosity, even to a person who has seen a great number of this genus of snakes. 
The fibula are forty-four in number. The snake from which this rattle was taken, was not, as might be expected, of a size pro- 
portionate to the prodigious length of its rattle, but rather a middling sized snake. It was killed some time in the summer of this 
year, at Fort Allen.” The greatest number ever seen by Dr. Holbrook, as he has assured me in conversation, was twenty-one. 
,, t At the commencement of the War of Independence, the naval flag of Massachusetts displayed a Pine Tree, at the root of 
which was a coiled Rattlesnake, with the words ‘Don’t tread on me!” or sometimes “Caveant moniti!” Let those who are 
warned beware! This was rather more appropriate than the ornithological monster who brandishes arrows and olive branches 
on our present armorial bearings. 
