AMONG THE ANIMALS OF THE YOSEMITE 209 



earthquake talus, a boulder in my way presented 

 a front so high that I could just reach the upper 

 edge of it while standing on the next below it. 

 Drawing myself up, as soon as my head was 

 above the flat top of it I caught sight of a coiled 

 rattler. My hands had alarmed him, and he 

 was ready for me j but even with this provoca- 

 tion, and when my head came in sight within a 

 foot of him, he did not strike. The last time I 

 sauntered through the big canon I saw about 

 two a day. One was not coiled, but neatly 

 folded in a narrow space between two cobble- 

 stones on the side of the river, his head below 

 the level of them, ready to shoot up like a Jack- 

 in-the-box for frogs or birds. My foot spanned 

 the space above within an inch or two of his 

 head, but he only held it lower. In making my 

 way through a particularly tedious tangle of 

 buckthorn, I parted the branches on the side of 

 an open spot and threw my bundle of bread into 

 it ; and when, with my arms free, I was pushing 

 through after it, I saw a small rattlesnake drag- 

 ging his tail from beneath my bundle. When 

 he caught sight of me he eyed me angrily, and 

 with an air of righteous indignation seemed to 

 be asking why I had thrown that stuff on him. 

 He was so small that I was inclined to slight 

 him, but he struck out so angrily that I drew 

 back, and approached the opening from the 

 other side. But he had been listening, and 



