\ 

 180 RATTLE SNAKES. 



or the soil which produces It may be a question. 

 White oak land is preferred by them. The small 

 species generally live in open swamps, and their 

 bite is not considered so dangerous. 



Some negroes killed 315 rattle snakes a lew 

 springs ago, by smoking them out of a den at the 

 south end of Canandaigua Lake. There are ma- 

 ny about Eighteen-mile creek, in Genesee coun- 

 ty, where they inhabit the open ledges and fissures 

 in the rocks, and there are dens in the mountains 

 on the south side of the Mohawk river, at a place 

 called the Nore, in Montgomery county. A great 

 den exists on the east side cf Genesee river, near 

 Rochester. In the spring they travel west, (as 

 their heads are then found in that direction) ten 

 or twelve miles, and scatter themselves over the 

 low lands ; and for this purpose they swim across 

 the river. In autumn their heads are pointed to 

 the east, as they then return to their den. In Au- 

 gust 18 16, a monstrous rattle snake was killed at 

 New-Mills, New-Jersey, which had eleven rattles, 

 and was five feet long, and which was the only 

 one seen for several years within many miles of 

 diat place : and some years ago, in the vicinity of 

 Lake George, a whole den of rattle snakes migra- 

 ted from one mountain to another. This was in 

 T,he autumn, and was unquestionably done for ti 

 more secure and comfortable residence. 



