RATTLE-SNAKE. 567 



I lie neck, run two or three longitudinal stripes of the same colour; 

 the head is large, flat, and covered with small scales; the rest of the 

 upper parts with moderately large oval ones, all strongly carinated or 

 furnished with a prominent line down the middle: the under parts 

 are of a dingy yellowish brown colour, marked here and there with 

 numerous dusky variegations and freckles : at the extremity of the 

 tail is situated the rattle, consisting of several hard, dry, horny pro- 

 cesses, the peculiar structure of which will be more amply described 

 hereafter, and which, on the least disturbance or irritation, is ele- 

 vated and shaken in such a manner as to cause a strong or brisk rat- 

 tling sound. 



" The largest rattle-snake," says Catesby, " which I ever saw, was 

 about eight feet in length, and weighing between eight and nine 

 pounds. This monster was sliding into the house of Colonel Blake, 

 of Carolina, and had certainly taken up his abode there undisturbed, 

 had not the domestic animals alarmed the family with their repeated 

 outcries : the hogs *, dogs, and poultry, united in their hatred to 

 him, shewing the greatest consternation, by erecting their bristles 

 and feathers, and expressing their wrath and indignation, sur. 

 rounded him, but carefully kept their distance ; while he, regard- 

 less of their threats, glided slowly along." " It is not uncommon," 

 adds Mr. Catesby, " to have them come into houses ; a very extra- 

 ordinary instance of which happened to myself in the same gentle- 

 man's house, in the month of February, 1723; the servant in 

 making the bed in a ground room, (but a few minutes after 1 left it) 

 on turning down the sheets, discovered a rattle-snake coiled between 

 the sheets in the middle of the bed." " They are the most inactive 

 and slow moving snake," adds this author, " of all others, and are 

 never the aggressors, except in what they prey upon ; for unless they 

 are disturbed they will not bite, and when provoked they give warn- 

 ing by shaking their rattles. These are commonly believed to be the 

 most deadly serpent of any in these parts of America. I believe 

 they are so, as being generally the largest, and making a deeper 

 wound, and injecting a greater quantity of poison. The most suc- 

 cessful remedy the Indians seem to have, is to suck the wound, 

 which in a slight bite has sometimes a good effect ; though the re- 



Hogs, however, are, in general, said to be so little afraid of the rattle- 

 snake, that they prey on it occasionally with great eagerness; seizing it in such 

 a manner as to prevent it from doing them any injury, and devouring it* 



204 



