CROTALUS DURISSUS. 13 



approaching, he found it perched on the back of a large Black-snake, in the act of 

 swallowing a young bird. The snake was killed, and the old bird flew away." 



Thus it is the serpent seeks the nest, or young birds; it is seen by the parent, 

 who darts upon him in an agitated manner — makes a plaintive cry; it flies away, 

 and again returns to attack the robber, with beak and wings, until he is driven 

 off"; or, "what not unfrequently happens, she falls a victim to maternal solicitude" 

 — and thus ends the fascination. 



If the Rattlesnake has other "charming powers," they lay in the horror of its 

 appearance, or in the instinctive sense of danger that seizes a feeble animal fallen 

 suddenly into the presence of an enemy of such a threatening aspect — rather 

 than to any mysterious influence not possessed by all venomous or ferocious 

 animals upon their weak, timid, and defenceless prey. 



In Catesby's time, when the country was less settled. Rattlesnakes were 

 common enough; and he relates stories of their enterinor dwelling-houses, and of 



O ' O CD " 



one having even shared his bed, undiscovered; but his accounts are so strange at 

 the present day, that we must suppose him deceived by the servants of the house 

 where they are said to have occurred in February, a season at which the 

 Rattlesnake is never abroad. At present it is rarely met with, keeping far from 

 all settlements, where its greatest enemy, the hog, is to be found. Even 

 sportsmen are seldom under any apprehension on their account; yet I have more 

 than once known dogs killed by them when the hunters have penetrated into 

 woods at a distance from settlements. 



Geographical Distribution. The Crotalus durissus has the widest range of 

 all our Rattlesnakes, being found in nearly all parts of the United States. Kalm 

 saw it in lat. 45°, near Lake Champlain, and I have seen specimens from the 

 borders of the Gulf of Mexico, and as far west as Red river; and Dr. Pickering 

 informs me that Say met with it in lat. 40°, on the Mississippi. 



