of the ^^ Birds of America. ^^ 19 



Bay, on tlie western coast of Florida, a mile from the 

 sliore. This was also witnessed by Dr. Randolph and 

 ]\Ir. Hackley who were in company. 



How long this reptile can subsist without food I am 

 unable to say. I have seen a rattle snake eat in confine- 

 ment ; but of four or five that were kept in the Charleston 

 Museum durino; the whole of the last summer, not one of 

 them tasted a morsel of food, although rats and other 

 living animals were placed in their cage. That the rattle 

 snake in its native woods feeds on squirrels as well as on 



fi* 



(Lepus Americanusy Gmel..) 



) 



(Si 



as well as a Florida rat (Arvicola Floridana, Ord) 



occasio 



(a circumstance not generally known) 

 :1s on trees as well as the former. In 



manner 



by stratagem, or by being seized In their nests at night, or 

 by being run down in the manner of the black snake, no 

 one is able positively to state or to contradict. Possibly, 

 rattle snakes may yet be discovered to be nocturnal 

 in their habits, possessing a degree of activity at night 

 which is not exhibited by day, unless hard pressed by 

 hunger. The hunters of Carolina who go in pursuit of 

 deer by torch-light, speak of their frequently meeting the 

 rattle snake in their nightly walks, actively engaged in 

 search of prey. On a subject, then, where there exists 

 such a diversity of opinion, let us not too hastily condemn 

 a man who describes what he asserts he has seen, since 

 30 many of his statements which at first appeared some- 

 what incredible, have been corroborated by the recent 

 observations of naturalists. 



With regard to the experiments of Audubon on the 

 power of smelling usually ascribed to the turkey buzzard. 



f 



