92 SERPENTS 



are "Moccasins." The Red-Bellied is held to be very deadly, 

 and its bite is said to be "fatal" unless counteracted with 

 large doses of good whiskey! (R. L. Ditmars.) 



Water snakes feed chiefly upon small fishes and frogs. 

 From the stomach of one Red-Bellied Water Snake collected 

 in South Carolina, Mr. Ditmars took three sunfish, one cat- 



N. Y. Zoological Park. 



RED-BELLIED WATER SNAKE. 



fish, about a dozen tiny suckers and a crawfish. This inter- 

 esting fish collection had filled the serpent so full it could 

 hold no more. The species referred to is prominently marked 

 by its shiny red belly, and rusty -brown upper surface. It is 

 from 3^ to 4 feet long, and, like all Water Snakes, emits a dis- 

 agreeable odor when handled. It inhabits the southern states 

 generally, and extends northward into Illinois and Michigan. 

 THE COMMON WATER SNAKE 1 inhabits all of the Gulf 

 states and the Mississippi Valley up to Iowa. In the New 



1 Na'trix fas-ci-a'ta. 



