FORAGING HABITS OF RATTLESNAKES. 



95 



HEAD OF THE COPPERHEAD — UPPER AND 

 UNDER VIEWS. 



and round them. Their plan in food-getting, then, is not to pursue their 

 prey, but to lie in wait for it and strike before their presence is suspected. 

 Protected by his colors, that assimilate him to the haunts he most fre- 

 quents, whether woods and rocks, as in the Eastern crotali, or the bare 

 uplands chosen by the far "West- 

 ern species ; the shaded morasses 

 threaded by the dark-skinned mas- 

 sasauga; the lush meadows where 

 the copperhead lurks; the stream- 

 bank or rice-ridge whence the cot- 

 tonmouth plunges into the water; 

 or the yellow weeds under whose 

 mottled shadows the little ground- 

 rattler becomes invisible — hidden 

 and motionless for hours together 

 in one or another of these resorts, 

 the crotalus coils in patient vigil- 

 ance. " Though aware of the pas- 

 senger's presence, he either lies quiet or glides away to a more retired 

 spot." His course is that of the darkey who was urged to follow one 

 into a thicket and kill it: "Massa, I nebber bodders nuffin' wot don' 

 bodder me ; I makes dat a rule !" Here again, nevertheless, an excep- 

 tion must be noted for the copperhead, and more especially for the moc- 

 casin — vicious reptiles, asking little provocation before inflicting their 



deadly wound. Hoi- 



brook says the mocca- 

 sin "attacks everything 

 that comes within its 

 reach, erecting its head 

 and opening its mouth 

 for some seconds before 

 it bites." All other snakes put in a cage with it show the keenest 

 terror. No species of crotalus, however, will follow the object of its 

 ra^e as do some of the non-venomous serpents; and, as a rule, the eastern 

 rattlesnake would rather run than fight, unless hard pressed. 



Such are the facts respecting the food -getting of the rattlesnakes, 

 while those of other serpents would furnish an equally prosaic explana- 

 tion; yet the notion that the small, bead -like eye-, and tongue darting 

 forked flame from black lips, exerted a charm or fascination upon smaller 

 animals, luring them within reach of the fatal stroke, is as old as the fa- 



HEAD OP THE COPPERHEAD— SIDE AND PACE VD2WS. 



