94 



HERPETOLOGY OF MICHIGAN. 



Ditmars, 1907, 297-298) writes of the food and breeding habits as 

 follows: ''The Fox Snake feeds largely upon small rodents, young 

 rats and mice. To procure the former it often haunts the vicinity 

 of barns and sheds where hay or grain is stored. From this habit 



vV DOMINION OF CANADA 



I L L I N IS 



f'itl 



^7 C/t/y/(^/* 





Fig. 33. Distribution of Elaphe vulpinus. 

 Horizontal ruling, specimens examined; vertical ruling, reports only. 



it is sometimes called the house snake. The fully adult individuals 

 eat mammals as large as half-grown rabbits. They occasionally 

 prey upon birds and will eat their eggs, swallowing them entire 

 and breaking the shell in the throat by the contraction of the 

 muscles. The good this species does in destroying the smaller, in- 

 jurious creatures of the fields, should cause it to be the recognized 



