AN UNWELCOME VISITOR. 117 



button-wood a family of redheaded woodpeckers were 

 busily at work, making the wood echo with the violence 

 of their tapping. Watching the sprightly movements 

 of these active little beauties, I became totally absorbed 

 in their energetic pursuits, when a half snort and 

 uneasy movement on the part of my horse caused me 

 to look round ; and well I did so, for about forty yards 

 off, leisurely feeding, were about thirty full-grown wild 

 turkeys. My smooth-bore had ball in each barrel, but 

 as I had two or three loads of buck-shot in my pouch, 

 I determined to substitute it. To the shelter of a 

 log like a snake I glided to perform the change of 

 missiles, and was about to draw the last fragment of 

 myself out of sight, when the confounded warning oi' 

 a rattlesnake sounded so close, that I involuntarily 

 gave a jump to avoid the threatening danger, thus 

 exposing myself to the turkeys, who took wing, 

 without affording me a chance of a shot, so turkey- 

 less I was compelled to remain; but you may bet 

 that snake never scared anyone afterwards. He was 

 one of the largest and most venomous of his family, 

 being quite five feet long, as yellow as gold along the 

 abdomen, and possessed of sixteen rattles. He be- 

 longed to the variety which generally goes by the name 

 of timber-snake, much larger and totally different in 

 colour from the prairie rattlesnake or massasauga, 

 which is always black, and never exceeds eighteen 

 or twenty inches in length. 



Having found no game in the timber, I struck out 

 for the open land, and riding several miles I saw two 

 small droves of antelopes. This beautiful animal is 

 very difficult to stalk ; but as there appeared to be no 

 other means of getting on intimate terms with them, 



