CHAPTER XLV: THE RATTLESNAKES 



Poisonous Snakes of Two Genera SISTRURUS and CROTALUS 

 That are Unique Among Serpents in the Possession of the 

 Rattle 



FROM the popular point of view the Rattlesnakes are the 

 most interesting of the American serpents. From an actual 

 standpoint, they are the most important of all the reptiles in- 

 habiting the United States, for among them we find by far the 

 greater number of our poisonous snakes, and species that are 

 next to none in point of deadliness, of the dangerous family of 

 Vipers the thick-bodied poisonous serpents that inhabit most 

 of the warmer portions of the globe. Thus the Rattlesnakes 

 are well worthy of detailed consideration. 



Aside from their deadliness, the Rattlesnakes possess a 

 strange fascination that attracts scientist and novice alike. Their 

 rich, velvety colours, sinster form and sullen demeanour, com- 

 bined with the ominous, warning sound of the rattle, are phases 

 of character that produce a lasting impression upon the observer. 

 The writer has studied living examples of many species of deadly 

 snakes the South American bushmaster and the fer-de-lance, 

 the African puff adder and the berg adder, and such East Indian 

 species as the king cobra, the spectacled cobra and Russell's 

 viper, and although there is indelibly stamped upon his mind the 

 bloated body, the glassy stare and the rhythmic hissing of the 

 berg adder, the rearing, uncanny pose of an infuriated cobra, 

 there is one image vivid above all the Rattlesnake.* Thrown 

 into a gracefully symmetrical coil, the body inflated, the neck 

 arched in an oblique bow in support of the heart-shaped head, 

 the slowly waving tongue with spread and tremulous tips, and 

 above all, the incessant, monotonous whir of the rattle. One 

 stroke a flash of that flat head would inject a virus bringing 

 speedy death. Yet the attitude of the snake is to be admired. 

 It denotes a creature attacked by a powerful enemy and bravely 

 defending its life. The snake never advances, nor makes actually 



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