CHAPTER XYIH. 



KATTLESNAKE8 AND THEIEHABITS 



Having always lived where rattle-snakes were 

 numerous, I have taken particular notice of their 

 habits. It was only after ten years observation that 

 I learned the manner in which they travel when they 

 emerge from their holes, how they propogate, and 

 how they live at different seasons. It is a common 

 error to suppose that a new rattle is added every 

 year to their tail. I had two rattle-snakes which 

 were taken when about three years old, and both 

 had by some accident, lost all but one of their 

 rattles. In three months three new rattles had grown 

 upon one and one upon the other. Eattle-snakes 

 shed their skin in June. It first begins to loosen at 

 the tail, and gradually approaches the head, coming 

 off entire a day or two after it is loose at the head. 

 About this time they collect together in large num- 

 bers, upon rocks near the water, I have seen forty 

 of them sunning themselves upon one rock, and have 

 heard others tell of seeing three hundred together. 

 When they have remained at these places a few 

 weeks, they mate and disperse. Many suppose that 

 the black ones are males and the yellow are females. 

 This is a mistake ; as I have seen two of each color 



