THE MOCCASIN 113 



tow does not make it look any worse. It has a piggish ap- 

 petite for fish, but if no fish or frogs are handy, it eats other 

 snakes. It is quite as ready to bite a friend as an enemy, 

 and when Mr. Percy Selous was bitten by his "pet" Moc- 

 casin, he died in fifty hours, despite medical treatment. 



The Moccasin is a southern snake, and it is a pity the 

 species is not confined to Tierra del Fuego. It lives along 

 the grassy margins of bayous and , swamps, and is most fre- 

 quently found lying at the shore line, with its head and a 

 small portion of its body out of the water. It is also much 

 in the habit of lying upon logs, on bushes overhanging water, 

 or in the vicinity of dried-up pools. When disturbed, it 

 starts up, opens its mouth very wide, holds it open, moves its 

 tail in slow vibrations, and stares wickedly at the intruder. 

 It is the whiteness of the interior of the mouth that has given 

 rise to the name of "Cotton-Mouth Moccasin." 



This serpent does not coil itself in a round, tight coil, like 

 a rattlesnake. As a rule, it holds its ground tenaciously, and 

 does not retreat unless deep water is near. The fangs are 

 shorter in proportion than in the rattlesnake, and the action 

 of the poison is not so quick and violent as that of the rattler. 

 But the bite must be taken seriously, and treated with the 

 utmost vigor, if a fatal result is to be avoided. 



This serpent attains an extreme length of about 5 feet, 

 and a diameter of 3 inches. Usually, however, specimens are 

 about 3 J^2 feet by 2 inches. When adult, it is a snake abso- 

 lutely devoid of bright colors, its scales being the color of dried 

 mud, and very rough. The head is flat, the body thick and 

 puffed out, and the tail is very blunt. 



