56 NEW-YORK FAUNA. 



Rattles varying in number, in general varying from five to twelve.* The rattle, as it is called, 

 is composed of several horny enlargements loosely attached to each other, and resounding 

 against each other when shaken. 



Color. Usually yellowish brown, and occasionally bright chesnut red. I have seen some 

 individuals in this State, of nearly a uniform brownish black. On the upper part of the head 

 and neck, it is frequently of a lighter color, margined on each side with dusky. A series of 

 black rhomboidal blotches, disposed in an angular form, extends along the back and over the 

 sides ; often a distinct reddish vertebral line. Caudal portion uniform dusky, and occasionally 

 deep black. Beneath dull yellowish, with glossy reflections, and minutely and irregularly 

 dotted and blotched with brownish black. 



Abdominal plates, 170-177. Total length, 36-0-48-0. 



Caudal plates, 20- 25. Length of tail, 2-5- 3-5. 



As this species is found farther north than any other of the genus, I have ventured to desig- 

 nate it by tlie name of the Northern Rattlesnake, although it is found as far south as the 

 Gulf of Mexico, and throughout the Western States, and to the base of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains. Although furnished with such deadly weapons, the rattlesnake can scarcely be termed 

 a vicious animal ; for he rarely strikes, unless almost trodden upon. When suddenly dis- 

 turbed, he throws himself into a coil, and warns the aggressor by rapidly vibrating his rattles; 

 these can scarcely be heard beyond the distance of a few yards.t This is most usually the 

 case, but they occasionally strike without the slightest warning. Some years since, I was at an 

 Indian settlement in the western part of the State, when, as we passed through a thick under- 

 growtii of bushes, one of the Indians was struck in this sudden manner ; but as his legs were 

 enveloped in thick leggings, the stroke was harmless. The other Indians immediately hunted 

 down and killed the reptile. They assured me, that whenever a rattlesnake sprung his rattle, 

 it was a sign that he himself was alarmed, and that in such cases they invariably spared his 

 life. It is a popular but erroneous belief, that a rattle is added each year. This is contro- 

 verted by Dr. Holbrook, who has known two rattles added in one year, and Dr. Bachman has 

 observed four produced in the same period. The upper jaw is furnished with long curved 

 acute and hollowed fangs, which are replaced by others in the rear when broken off. A poison 

 bag, which occupies the whole length of the jaw beneath the skin, communicates with these 

 fangs at their bases. At the moment the snake strikes, he ejects the venom forcibly into the 



♦ In the Columbian Magazine or Monthly Miscellany for November, 1786, is figured and described the tail of a rattlesnake, 

 with an almost incredible number of rattles. "The common number of fibute seldom exceeds fourteen or fifteen in a rattle ; but 

 the one given (fig. 4) is certainly a very great curiosity, even to a person who has seen a great number of this genus of snakes. 

 The fibulse are forty-four in number. The snake from which this rattle was taken, was not, as might be expected, of a size pro- 

 portionate to the prodigious length of its rattle, but rather a middling sized snake. It was killed some time in the summer of this 

 year, at Fort Allen." The greatest number ever seen by Dr. Holbrook, as he has assured me in convei-sation, was twenty-one. 

 ^ t At the commencement of the War of Independence, the naval flag of Massachusetts displayed a Pine Tree, at the root of 

 which wasacoiled Rattlesnake, with the words "Don't tread on me !" or sometimes "Caveant moniti!" Let those who are 

 warned beware ! This was rather more appropriate than the ornithological monster who brandishes arrows and olive branches 

 on our present armorial bearings. 



