The Rattlesnakes 



hostile movements. If the enemy retreats but a few steps the 

 reptile endeavours to glide for cover, but at close quarters the 

 attitude spells one word Beware! As the argument is backed 

 by a pair of deadly fangs, this serpent must be considered, so it 

 seems, as man's very dangerous enemy, and the destruction has 

 long since begun. Of the tens of thousands of these reptiles 

 slaughtered, there may be said to be barely one accident to man 

 in the killing of ten thousand Rattlesnakes. To illustrate this, 

 it might be explained that a death from the bite of a Rattlesnake 

 in the United States is so rare a thing the occurrence appears as 

 a first page paragraph in nearly every newspaper of the Union. 



The scarcity of accidents from these reptiles, which inhabit 

 all portions of the United States, may be accounted for by the 

 fact that Rattlesnakes inhabit ground not generally serviceable 

 to man. Moreover, when these snakes are approached, the 

 rattle usually gives ample warning of their presence. On several 

 occasions, as the writer has been hunting for Rattlesnakes, he 

 has heard the rattle from among tumbled masses of rocks 

 the snake thus disclosing its presence when it might easily have 

 remained concealed. 



Although those species of Rattlesnakes that inhabit the 

 open prairies and fertile farming country of the Central and West- 

 ern States have decreased in number almost to the point of ex- 

 tinction, in many large areas under cultivation, other species 

 that have for a time suifered to a similar extent have of late years 

 become abundant, owing to conditions offering almost complete 

 protection. Large mountain areas in our Eastern States have been 

 bought up as private game preserves. The owners of such estates 

 have a natural desire to preserve their forests and exclude tres- 

 passers from their lands, that the deer and pheasants may thrive. 

 The cutting of timber ceases; the old wood trails disappear in a 

 tangle of undergrowth and the wandering of numerous pot- 

 hunters, who kill every creature that crosses their path, stops 

 altogether in these domains. Some of the most charming country 

 in. the East has thus been effectually preserved. It is quite 

 refreshing to the nature-lover to visit one of these great tracts 

 and observe the undisturbed stretches of fine forests in regions 

 that are being devasted by the sawmill. In these great, fenced- 

 in areas, conditions have returned, from the standing of the 

 Rattlesnakes, to what they were when this country was in its 



427 



