IX. 



RATTLESNAKES IN PACT AND FANCY. 



IF it were not for the traditionally repulsive idea connected with ser- 

 pents, the rattlesnake should take the place of the bald eagle as 

 our national emblem. This is not the first time the idea has been 

 suggested, however, since more than one of the colonial flags bore his 

 image. 



He is the most thoroughly characteristic of the larger animals of the 

 New World, and one whose behavior both in war and peace is " with- 

 out fear and without reproach." If any one objects that he is lazy, I 

 reply that lie does all that he is called upon to do with proper diligence, 

 and that it is better to be represented by his negative traits in this re- 

 spect than by the piratical habits of the eagle, who subsists chiefly through 

 plunder. I never yet have seen a man who did not bold the rattlesnake 

 in most thorough respect. 



The rattlesnakes belong to the family Crotalidos, and are confined to 

 the western hemisphere. Four genera, containing seventeen species, are 

 designated in the United States, of which the most strongly marked 

 genns is Crotalus, of Linne. (Crotalia were jingling ear-rings of pearls, 

 and the crotalum a castanet used as an accompaniment by dancing girls.) 

 In the present chapter the eastern Grotalus horridus (formerly 0. duris- 

 sus) is usually meant.' 



Young rattlers are born in broods of eight or a dozen, early in sum- 

 mer, and remain together until they have well got their growth. Dur- 

 ing this juvenescence they seem as viciously inclined, and as artful in 

 rattling, coiling, and striking as they ever afterwards become, exhibiting 

 these characteristic traits even when just escaped from the egg, and with 

 the yolk-sac still hanging to the abdomen. 



In dull, wet weather, all varieties of this serpent lie quiet and lethar- 

 gic, and are then most to be feared ; but when the sun shines, the 

 chilly rattlesnake climbs upon the warm rocks or stretches himself in a 



