250 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [P. D. 4. 



top of a window frame, draw its body up and so reach a rafter 

 of the roof, where it caught a rat hiding there. 



The diagrams show the proportions of the different kinds of 

 food found in fifty-two stomachs of this species examined by 

 Professor H. A. Surface. 



The so-called spreading adder or blowing viper {Heteredon 

 platirhinos) , a non-venomous snake common in parts of Massa- 

 chusetts, resembling in appearance a viper, destroys birds and 

 eggs to some extent, but like the rattlesnake {Crotalus horridus), 

 which also kills birds, is rather slow and not a good climber. 



Diagram showing the percentages of food items of house snake (Lampropeltis doliaius triangulus) 

 foundduring July and August only: SS]-^ per cent field mice ; 33}^ percent mice; 13 per cent 

 birds; 7 per cent unidentified mammals; 7 per cent snakes; 6 per cent slugs. (After Sur- 

 face.) Apparently this snake eats mice enough to more than pay for the birds that it de- 

 stroys, for mice also eat eggs and young birds. 



Both these snakes, as well as the different forms of garter 

 snakes or striped snakes (Thamnophis), feed to a limited extent 

 on the eggs and young of birds that nest on the ground or in 

 low shrubbery, as also does the copperhead (Agkistrodon con- 

 tortrix). This venomous and dangerous reptile has the habit 

 of lying concealed beneath the dead leaves of the forest floor, 

 with only its reddish head visible, looking like an acorn amid 

 the leaves, thus no doubt luring many a bird or squirrel to its 

 death. Like the rattlesnake it is rare now in New England, 

 but may still be found in the Blue Hills region near Boston. 



