THE SIDEWINDER 249 



heightens greatly his danger to man; for he is 

 always ready to attack the moment he is ap- 

 proached. 



The average length of an adult sidewinder is 

 about fifteen inches. His girth is about equal 

 to that of a man's middle finger but may be 

 greater if food has recently been taken. The 

 dorsal ground color of white and the bands of 

 brownish on his body give him a high degree of 

 protection on the gray granitic sands on which 

 Nature intended he should live. 



As briefly stated before, sidewinders are 

 almost wholly a night-roving species, doing 

 most of their hunting under cover of darkness 

 — the time when the kangaroo rats and wild 

 mice, their chief fare, are most active and most 

 plentifully found. During the day, especially 

 in summer, they generally seek the shelter of 

 rock crevices or hide under bushes where they 

 can avoid the fierce heat. To expose themselves 

 long to the sun on a desert day, when it is hot 

 enough to cook eggs in the sand, would be to 

 invite death. Five to ten minutes' exposure on 

 the superheated sand in the glaring sun rays 

 of midsummer is sufficient to kill. Generally, 



