1498 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 





WATER -MOCCASIN— "COTTON -MOUTH^' 

 This dangerous species abounds in the low grounds of the south-eastern United States. 



water^ and upon the slightest alarm, dive for 

 safety and swim away. There is but one meth- 

 od of capturing them alive, and that is to noose 

 them from the end of a slender bamboo pole, 

 about twelve feet long. The difficulty of mak- 

 ing one's way through a tangle of small trees 

 and bushes to a favorable water hole, while car- 

 rying a pole of this length, as well as several 

 snake bags, may be surmised. When the snake 

 is seen, a slender copper-wire noose is attached 

 to the end of the pole and a cautious endeavor 

 is made to stalk within noosing distance, settle 

 the wire over the reptile's head, work the noose 

 along the neck a sufficient distance, then swing 

 the serpent to firm ground. Several things may 

 happen. The snake may dive at the instant the 

 noose touches him, or in the endeavor to work 

 the noose along the body. It may take fright 

 at a trembling movement of the pole or note a 

 motion of the cautiously manoeuvered hands of 

 the operator. Some of our finest snakes were 

 noosed from a crude boat, and we propelled one 

 barbarously-constructed craft over a mile to 

 capture a huge pilot water snake* that had been 



*The Brown Water Snake, Tropidonotus taxispi- 

 lotus. 



reported — and brought him back. This snake 

 was thicker than a man's forearm and had been 

 seen as it stretched its heavy body on a long 

 branch over the water, sagging the bough al- 

 most to the water's edge. The operation of 

 guiding the boat through the muddy current and 

 steering it among cypress knees, was a difficult 

 feat in the face of the necessity of making no 

 quick motions to alarm the snake. Floating close 

 to the reptile, the writer noted that the prize 

 had recently swallowed a large fish which, from 

 the snake's distended outlines, must have been 

 over a foot in length. This condition of after- 

 dinner siesta enabled us to approach without 

 alarming the creature. The noose was success- 

 fully passed over the head and neck and pulled 

 taut, but the struggles of this reptile in the wa- 

 ter swung the boat completely around before 

 we hauled him in. After nearly capsizing, the 

 breaking of the wire and near-escape over the 

 side, we bagged the specimen. Work like this 

 resulted in the shipment for exhibition of over 

 a quarter of a ton's weight in snakes, not count- 

 ing our captures of lizards, turtles and am- 

 phibians. 



