EATTLESNAKE FEASTS. 319 



or beneath the roots of trees. Sonietimes on the plains 

 they are known to occupy the same domicile with 

 rabbits or the prairie dog. They retire to their holes 

 after castino: their skins, and before the autumnal 

 equinox; and there they- remain till spring cheers the 

 earth once more. During this time their bite is said to 

 be harmless, as it is most dangerous in thunder-storms, 

 when the air is much charged with electricity. 



The Indians, though they dread, and many tribes 

 reverence, the rattlesnake while living, will yet kill, 

 and even eat him if they have a chance. They watch 

 for one when asleep, and pin his head to the ground 

 with a forked stick. Thus secured, the snake is soon 

 killed, skinned, and cooked. 



The Americans sometimes assert that the English, 

 and in fact all nations where the climate is more tem- 

 perate, have no venomous snakes. Surely, the Ameri- 

 cans must forget that the adder is much dreaded in the 

 New Forest, and in fact all over the south coast of 

 England ; and that, although its bite seldom proves 

 fatal to man (cases of death are, however, not un- 

 known), numbers of sheep and cattle are every year 

 destroyed by these savage little vipers. 



It is, perhaps, the comparative freedom from ven- 

 omous reptiles — there being only one kind known 

 in England — that makes the Englishman shrink 

 from everything of a snaky appearance, when he 

 visits the jungles of India or the forests of America. 



