1923] POPE, HUNTING WISCONSIN RATTLESNAKES 17 



asylum. Later, during our return to Milwaukee with the actual live 

 goods in the box, we found that this attitude of mere curiosity was re- 

 placed by a violent desire to keep at a respectful distance from us. 



On our arrival at Prairie Du Sac, we were welcomed by Mr. Ochs- 

 ner, a true naturalist, and a good friend of the Museum, who aided us 

 in every way. That evening Mr. Keitel called and we arranged to 

 begin the snake-hunt, on the following morning. Mr. Keitel has, for 

 many years, achieved a considerable local reputation as a rattlesnake 

 hunter and dealer. His experience proved invaluable to us. 



The next morning we proceeded with our host, in his trusty Ford, 

 to Merrimac, some eight miles northeast of Prairie Du Sac (which is 

 located upon the west bank of the Wisconsin River in one of the most 

 picturesque locations of the state) and there were joined by Messrs. 

 Keitel, Gastrow and Huber, who occupied another Ford and were sim- 

 ilarly equipped with tongs, sticks and snake-box. A drive of a few miles 

 soon brought us to the foot of the East Bluff at Devil's Lake, a portion 

 of the Baraboo Range. This was the location of our first day's snake 

 hunt. 



A word here as to the character of the country and haunts of the 

 Banded Rattlesnake. This species is widely distributed throughout 

 the eastern portions of the United States from Vermont to northern 

 Florida and westward into the Great Plains. In the northern states 

 its special haunts are rocky, waste land, principally hill}^ and gener- 

 ally inaccessible or unfrequented by man. So, in Wisconsin, it is 

 especially abundant in the Devil's Lake region. The Baraboo Bluffs 

 and also the region known locally as Baxter's Hollow, and, which we 

 later found very productive, were of this character. These hills are 

 of quartzite protruding through sandstone, and are about 300 feet 

 high. They are covered with a growth of mixed deciduous trees and 

 shrubs and abound in rough outcrops, boulders and ledges of rock with 

 immense accumulations of talus; small, jagged fragments of rock 

 broken off the larger boulders and cliffs by the action of frost and ice. 

 Such localities are now unoccupied by man and are practically worth- 

 less agriculturally. 



Within a few minutes after our arrival at the base of the ridge, all 

 had started the upward climb through the brush on the talus slopes. 

 In ten minutes Mr. Keitel had located the first snake safely ensconsed 

 below a small rock and, as usual, at the opening of one of the myriad of 

 crevices into which they crawl for protection and hibernation. While 

 the writer was in the act of setting up the camera to secure a photo of 

 it before it was disturbed, (by no means a simple task because of the 



