THE RATTLESNAKE. 



507 



Fortunately for the human dwellers in the land which it inhabits, the 

 Uattlesnake is slow and torpid in its movements, and seldom attempts 

 to bite unless it is provoked, even suffering itself to be handled without 

 avenging itself. Mr. Waterton tells me, in connection with these rep- 

 tiles, " I never feared the bite of a snake, relying entirely on my own 

 movements. Tlius, in the presence of several professional gentlemen, 

 I once transferred twenty-seven Rattlesnakes from one apartment to 

 another with my hand alone. They hissed and rattled when I med- 

 dled with them, but they did not offer to bite me." When about to 

 inflict the fatal blow the reptile seems to swell with anger, its throat 

 dilating, and its whole body rising and sinking as if inflated by bellows. 



The Rattlesnake {Ura^ 



The tail is agitated with increasing vehemence, the rattle sounds its 

 threatening war-note with sharper ruffle, the head becomes flattened as 

 it is drawn back ready for the stroke, and the whole creature seems a 

 very incarnation of deadly rage. Yet even in such moments, if the in- 

 truder withdraw, the reptile will gradually lay aside its angry aspect, 

 the coils settle down in their place, the flashing eyes lose their lustre, 

 the rattle become stationary, and the serjient sink back into its previous 

 state of lethargy. 



The g!»neral color of the Rattlesnake is pale brown. A dark streak 

 runs along the temples from the back of the eye, and expands at the 

 corner of the mouth into a large spot. A series of irregular dark- 

 brown bauds are drawn across the back ; a number of round spots of the 



