286 RAMBLES ABOUT HOME. 



of the local histories any record of one having been seen 

 here. Perhaps the black-snakes, which until recently 

 were so numerous, succeeded in exterminating them, for 

 the two are deadly enemies. That this might readily 

 have been the case is very probable, particularly if such 

 occurrences as the following were ever very common : 



"In the middle of the road lay an ordinary black- 

 snake and quite a large rattlesnake, eying one another 

 fiercely, both ready for an attack. The party stood mo- 

 tionless to see the battle take place ; but he waited long, 

 and still the combatants did not move. At length, tired 

 of watching, he slightly shook the bar of the fence, which 

 caused the rattlesnake to look from its opponent to him- 

 self. Instantly, the black-snake sprang on the other, 

 twisted itself tightly around its neck, and then its body, 

 and glided off, and there lay the rattlesnake, dead. The 

 victim, we all know, was a powerful foe, the victor as 

 harmless a snake as there is in the land." 



I have several clippings from newspapers, recording 

 the capture of veritable copper-heads near here, but as the 

 harmless hog-nose snake and the gentle calico-snake have 

 often been mistaken for this venomous species, I am 

 inclined to look upon all such reports as cases of mistaken 

 identity. It would not please me to know that at any 

 time I might possibly chance upon one, but as I never 

 have in all these years been so unfortunate, I must con- 

 tinue to think that there is but little reason to fear them. 

 Harmless snakes have repeatedly been brought to me as 

 genuine copper-heads, and, to the horror of my friends, 

 1 have let these supposed dreaded serpents bite me, when 

 I succeeded in provoking them sufficiently to do so ; but 

 even this proof of their harmlessness was not always satis- 

 factory. 



I purposely omit any discussion of the often-asked 



