92 CHARACTERISTICS OF VARIOUS SPECIES. 



married him; but, like Paul Bultitude in "Vice-Versa," though he had 

 the stature of a man he had the heart of a babe. The distracted Iowi 

 and her brother Kwina, the Eagle, searched day after day for the tsoavvnts 

 and her victim, and finally got the babe back, retransformed and as lovely 

 as before. The angry witch, however, was bent upon recovering her 

 husband; she said to herself, "Well I know Kwina the brother of 

 lowi, a great warrior and a terrible man. I will go to Togoa, the Rat- 

 tlesnake, my grandfather, who will protect me and kill my enemies." 



She found him asleep on a rock, and he. resented both her interrup- 

 tion and her request for aid. While they were parleying they heard 

 Kwina coming, and Togoa said, "Hide ! hide !" But she knew not where 

 to hide until the grandfather opened his month and bid. the tsoavwits 

 creep into' his stomach. This made Togoa very sick, however, and he 

 begged her to come out ; but she refused, for she was in great fear. '. Then 

 his retchings- became so great that he could endure them no longer, but 

 crawled out of his own skin. The witch, imprisoned there, rolled about 

 and hid in the rocks. When Kwina came near, he shouted, " Where 

 are you, old tsoavwits f Where are you, old tsoavwits?" only to hear 

 his words repeated by her in mockery. Ever since then witches have 

 lived in snake-skins among the rocks, and it is their mocking voices pass- 

 ers-by hear and call echoes. 



The young rattlers grow with rapidity, and attain pretty near their 

 adult size by the end of the year. This, in the horridus, rarely, if ever, 

 exceeds a length of five feet ; nor are the other species larger, but rather 

 the contrary, except the southern one {O. admanteus), examples of which, 

 eight feet long, have been seen ; while the miliaria and Kirtlandi are 

 less than three feet. All are thick in proportion to their. length, with a 

 small neck and the wide triangular head, like 'the barbed point of an 

 arrow, that gives as characteristic an appearance as does its inflated hood 

 to the cobra, and one equally frightful to human eyes. The amount, 

 pattern, and intensity of the coloring of the hide, made up of hues' of livid 

 gray, black and blue black, chestnut, copper red and sulphur yellow, for 

 the most part, vary widely in different species and under different con- 

 ditions ; thus, in dry and open districts, like the great plains, the colors 

 fade into an inconspicuous sameness, harmonizing closely with the dusty 

 ground and stunted herbage. 



In favorable localities rattlesnakes occur in amazing plenty, and the 

 stories, to be heard in every State, of " dens" where they writhe in count- 

 less numbers and dreadful intimacy, have some foundation. De Kay 

 cites an instance where two men, in Warren County, New York, about 



