136 TEXAS NATURE OBSERVATIONS AND REMINISCENCES. 



rathole. At first I intended shoot- 

 ing it, but at the same moment I 

 noticed a prairie rat between some 

 of the cactus leaves, unable to move, 

 and, believing the snake would 



spot. The snake undoubtedly had 

 the rat "hypnotized," but after 

 we came close to it, it gradually 

 gained its former vitality and ran 

 into the same opening into which 



Twenty-Six Rattles, the "Warning Signal" of a Very Old Rattler; Slightly Enlarged 

 (Souvenir From a Texas Farm House) 



soon appear again, I called my 

 friend, Mr. F. Hensel, nearby, 

 and showed him the rat, which 

 still was unable to move from the 



the rattlesnake had retreated. 

 What there happened, can easily 

 be imagined. 



Several v/ecks afterward there 



