WHITE OF SELBORNE ON THE VIPER. 



ed by a soft glutinous substance, 

 and apparently ready to be laid ; 

 when he concluded with me that 

 they had all been deposited at 

 once, with a spiral or circular turn 

 of the animal, which would give 

 them the shape in which they were 

 found. The New Jersey and Illi- 

 nois gentlemen assert that the eggs 

 found by them (about three inches 

 below the surface in loose soil in 

 Illinois) were not so connected to- 

 gether but then they ploughed 

 them up.* Those from Long Island 

 and Illinois assert that different 

 kinds of snakes are found on the 

 same ground, although my experi- 

 ence, which was much less than 

 theirs, found it otherwise-! The 

 young of a snake from two to three 

 feet long, when born, they say, are 

 from four-and-a-half to six inches 



* The eggs found on Long Island had 

 evidently been deposited in a confined 

 space, which would make them bunch 

 or cluster, in place of being connected 

 by the ends, by the glutinous substance, 

 as when laid. 



f Some kinds of snakes are found on 

 the same ground, although they live 

 separately, except when they hybernate, 

 when several kinds are found together. 

 Some species not only make war upon 

 but devour others. Here is what Hun- 

 ter, to whom I will again refer, says on 

 the subject : 



" Both the rattle and black snakes 

 prey on them [the prairie dog] ; . . . . but 

 their destruction would be still more 

 considerable were it not for the perpetual 

 belligerency of these reptiles" (p. 177). 

 " The common black, copperhead, and 

 spotted swamp snakes never fail, I be- 

 lieve, to engage with and destroy them 

 [the rattlesnakes] whenever they meet, 

 which, together with the hostility that 

 exists between the two species [of rattle- 

 snakes, the black and parti coloured], 

 prevents an increase that would other- 

 wise render the country almost uninhabit- 

 able "(p. 179). "When the two species 

 [of rattlesnakes] fight, it is by coiling 

 and striking at each other ; they fre- 

 quently miss in their aim, or rather 

 avoid each other's fangs by darting 

 simultaneously in a direction different 

 from the approaching blow. When one 

 is bitten, it amounts to a defeat, and it 

 instantly retreats for a watering place, 

 at which, should it arrive in time, it 



in length, and, although helpless to 

 protect themselves, are exceedingly 

 nimble "sharp as needles," as 

 illustrated by their passing like a 

 " continuous glistening string" down 

 the mother's throat, when by her 

 peculiar " hiss " she calls them to 

 her on the approach of danger, al- 

 though they are always near her ; 

 and that very young snakes are 

 never seen by themselves, and sel- 

 dom even with the mother, for the 

 reason that she has already provid- 

 ed for their disappearance on the 

 approach of danger. The Long 

 Islander never saw snakes so dis- 

 appear, but one day he heard the 

 peculiar hiss, the meaning of which 

 he knew well from description, al- 

 though the snake was hidden from 

 view;* and he made a rush to where 

 it seemed to be, to see the phenom- 



slakes its thirst, swells, and dies. I have 

 witnessed the effects of the poison on 

 their own bodies, or on those of the an- 

 tagonist species, in several instances, 

 and have never known one that was 

 bitten to recover, notwithstanding the 

 generally prevailing opinion to the con- 

 trary, that such instinctively resort to 

 efficient antidotes" (p. 179). "In one 

 instance, I vexed a rattlesnake till it bit 

 itself, and subsequently saw it die from 

 the poison of its own fangs. I also saw 

 one strangled in the wreathed folds of 

 its inveterate enemy, the black-snake" 

 (p. 118). " The other hostile snakes 

 grasp their necks between their teeth, 

 wreathe round, and strangle them " (p. 



I79> 



" Rattlesnakes .... would infest the 

 country to a much greater extent, were it 

 not for the hostility that exists between 

 them and the deer. This animal, on dis- 

 covering a snake, as I have repeatedly 

 witnessed, retreats some distance from 

 it, then running with great rapidity 

 alights with its collected feet upon it, 

 and repeats this manoeuvre till it has de- 

 stroyed its enemy" (p. 116). 



Others state that the deer runs round 

 and round the snake, narrowing the 

 circle each time, till it lights upon it 

 with its feet, as described, and destroys 

 it. It is not mentioned that the deer 

 destroys any other species of snakes ; 

 and, if that is true, the curious question 

 would arise, how is the deer enabled to 

 make the distinction in the case of the 

 rattlesnake only? 



