642 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1723. 



An Account of the Rattlesnake. By the Hon. Paul Dudley, F. R. S. 



N° 376, p. 292. 



The rattlesnake is reckoned by the aborigines, to be the most terrible of all 

 snakes, and the master of the serpent-kind ; and it is most certain, that both 

 men and beasts are more afraid of them, than of other snakes; and while the 

 common snake avoids a man, this will never turn out of the way. 



There are three sorts of this snake, distinguished by their colour, viz. a yel- 

 lowish green, a deep ash colour, and a black satin. 



The eye of this creature has something so singular and terrible, that there is no 

 looking stedfastly on him ; one is apt, almost, to think they are possessed by some 

 demon. A rattlesnake creeps with his head close to the ground, and is very slow in 

 moving, so that a man may easily get out of his way. His leaping and jumping 

 to do mischief, is no more than extending, or uncoiling himself; for they do 

 not remove their whole body, as other creatures do, when they leap; so that a 

 man is in no danger from them, if his distance be more than their length ; neither 

 can they do any harm when they are in their ordinary motion, till they first coil 

 and then extend or uncoil themselves ; but they both are done in a moment's time. 

 When a rattlesnake rests, or sleeps, he is coiled, and they are observed to be 

 exceedingly sleepy. The tail is composed of joints, that overlap each other, some- 

 what like a lobster's tail; and their striking against each other, forms that 

 noise which is so terrible to man and beast. The fiercest noise is observed to 

 be in clear fair weather, for when it is rainy, they make none at all. One other 

 circumstance of their rattling has been observed, viz. that if a single snake be 

 surprised and rattles, and there happen to be others near him, they all take the 

 alarm, and rattle in like manner. 



I dare not answer for the truth of every story I have heard, of their charm- 

 ing, or power of fascination ; yet I am abundantly satisfied from many wit- 

 nesses, both English and Indian, that a rattlesnake will charm both squirrels 

 and birds from a tree into his mouth.* A man of undoubted probity sometime 

 since told me, that as he was in the woods, he observed a squirrel in great 

 distress, dancing from one bough to another, and making a lamentable noise, 

 till at last he came down the tree, and ran behind a log: the person going to 

 see what was become of him, spied a great snake, that had swallowed him. 

 And I am the rather confirmed in this relation, because my own brother, being 

 in the woods, opened one of these snakes, and found 2 stripped squirrels in his 



* Respecting the supposed fascinating power of the rattlesnake and other serpents, see a memoir 

 by Professor Barton, inserted in the Trans, of the Phil. Society at Philadelphia. 



