140 NOTES TO THE 



this curious musical instrument (for so it may be called) is given 

 to the snake in order to enable him to get close to his prey. 

 Imagine a blazing hot day on the desolate prairie, no noise, 

 everything is silence itself. We all know what curious noises 

 are heard on occasions like this. The whirr- whirr of a rattle- 

 snake's rattle would, under these circumstances, attract the 

 notice of a bird or small mammal, who could easily escape from 

 his enemy by flight if he knew where his enemy was. He 

 remains perfectly still, however, to listen to the unwonted noise, 

 and gives the snake time to glide noiselessly up to him and strike 

 him with his deadly fangs. Some time since, an American 

 gentleman happened to be talking with me in my museum, when 

 I suddenly played up a rattlesnake's tail. My friend, a traveller, 

 who knew the sound well, immediately jumped suddenly aside 

 in great alarm, thinking that I might have a rattlesnake loose in 

 the room. I hear that pigs will eat rattlesnakes, and that the 

 poison does not seem to affect them. I think that this may be 

 possible if the venom strikes into the fatty portion of the pig's 

 face. 



I know that rattlesnakes cannot play up their rattles in 

 wet weather. The horn of the rattle becomes more or less 

 saturated with water, and no sound can then be produced from 

 it. By placing a rattle in a glass of water, and letting it soak 

 a while, I find this is the case. When it is dried the sound 

 can again be produced. 



WOURALI POISON. Gilbert White probably never heard of the 

 existence of Wourali poison ; it is one of the most fearful poisons 



POT OF WOUKALI POISON. 



known. It is made by the Indians in Demerara, and when made 

 is kept in little gourds, as represented in the engraving. I have two 



