CHAPTEE XXI 



COLLECTING EEPTILE8 HOW WATEE-SNAKES ARK 



OAtTGHT — DIFFICULTIES IN CAPTUEING LIZAED8 — 



HUNTING THE LOCAL EEPTILES "WHEEE EEPTILES 



MAT BE FOUND — THE TIME TO COLLECT — HUNTING 

 AT NIGHT 



As the writer begins this chapter a flood of remi- 

 niscences comes to his mind, and he recalls the balmy, 

 humid air of the South Carolina coast in spring ; the 

 graceful live-oaks, clad in the long, trailing moss; 

 a moonlit background with silhouettes of tall pal- 

 mettos, and many happy days which he has spent 

 among the savannas, for there reptilian life abounds. 



To one thoroughly interested, the collecting of 

 reptiles is comparatively easy. The necessary appli- 

 ances are few, and they may be carried in a gripsack 

 or in the pockets of a canvas coat. It might be inci- 

 dentally explained that these remarks exclude the big 

 reptiles of the tropics, which will be considered later. 



On a windy March day keeper Snyder, of the 

 reptile department of the Zoological Park, and the 

 writer left New York in a whirl of sleet, and arrived 

 three days later in a land where roses bloomed in pro- 

 fusion. Our collecting headquarters were on the Sa- 

 196 



