THE RATTLESNAKE. 



lot 



immediately after it changes its skin and before it goes into winter quarters. There 

 is, however, another opinion prevalent among the less educated, which gives to the 

 Rattlesnake the vindictive spirit of the North American Indian, and asserts that it adds 

 a new joint to its rattle whenever it has slain a human being, thus bearing on its 

 tail the fearful trophies of its prowess, just as the Indians wear the scalps of their 

 slain foes. 



The joints of this remarkable apparatus are arranged in a very curious manner, each 

 being of a somewhat pyramidal shape, but rounded at the edges, and being slipped 

 within its predecessor as far as a protuberant ring which runs round the edge. In 

 fact, a very good idea of the structure of the rattle may be formed by slipping a 

 number of thimbles loosely into each other. The last joint is smaller than the rest, 



RATTLESNAKE. Uropsophus durissus. 



and rounded. As was lately mentioned, the number of these joints is variable, but 

 the average number is from five or six to fourteen or fifteen. There are occasional 

 specimens found that possess more than twenty joints in the rattle, but such examples 

 are very rare. 



When in repose, the Rattlesnake usually lies coiled in some suitable spot, with its 

 head lying flat, and the tip of its tail elevated in the middle of the coil. Should it be 

 irritated by a passenger, or feel annoyed or alarmed, it instantly communicates a quiv- 

 ering movement to the tail, which causes the joints of the rattle to shake against each 

 other, with a peculiar skirring ruffle, not easily described but never to be forgotten 

 when once heard. All animals, even those which have never seen a Rattlesnake, 

 tremble at this sound, and try to get out of the way. Even a horse newly brought 

 from Europe is just as frightened as the animal that has been bred in the same coun- 

 try with this dread Serpent, and at the sound of the rattle will prance, plunge, and 



