REPTILIA—BLACK SNAKE...RATTLESNAKE. 703 
jaw, 11 two rows. The whole species is perfectly inoffensive, taking shelter 
in dunghills, and among bushes in moist places; whence they seldem 
remove, unless in the midst of the day, in summer, when they are invited 
out by the heat, to bask themselves in the sun. 
This snake preys upon frogs, insects, worms, mice, and young birds. 
THE BLACK SNK 
Or the United States, which is larger than the above, and generally grows 
to six feet long, takes a prey proportionable to its size—squirrels and 
small birds. It ts sometimes found in the neighborhood of the hen-roost, 
and will devour the eggs, even while the hen is sitting upon them. But its 
usual haunts are meadows and dry thickets. It may be often seen among 
whortleberry bushes, waiting to make a prey of the birds that are hopping 
among them. Its color is a glossy black, sometimes tinged with blue. It 
seizes its prey with great quickness, and kills it by ceiling round the body 
in the manner ef the boa constrictor. 
PE eA DDL Sea ee 
Is found in North and South America, and in no part of the old world. 
Some are as thick asa man’s arm, and six feet in length; but the most 
usual size is from four to five feet long. In most particulars it resembles 
the viper; it differs, however, in having a large scale, which hangs like a 
penthouse over each eye. They are of an orange tawny, and blackish color 
on the back; and of an ash color on the belly, inclining to lead. The male 
may be readily distinguished from the female, by a black velvet spot on the 
l Crotalus horridus, Lis. The genus Cretalus has the head broad, triangular, and 
flattened ; scales carinated ; tongue forked; a hollow behind the nostrils ; upper maxillary 
bones with isolated fangs; plates, or transverse bands under the body and tail; extremity 
of the tail with a rattle, formed of hollow, moveable and sonorous plates. 
AG* 
