EXPLANATORY INDEX. 466 



R. 



Rattlesnake (Uropsophus durissus). — This is so familiar 

 a reptile, that I shall not occupy valuable space by describing 

 it. 



I have already mentioned that when the sloth arrived in 

 England, Waterton was able to point to it as a proof that he 

 had been right in his description of that animal. Similarly, 

 when a box of live Rattlesnakes, twenty-seven in number, 

 were exhibited at Leeds, he had an opportunity of proving 

 that he was not romancing when he described his encounters 

 with deadly snakes. 



He invited a large party of friends and scientific men to 

 meet him at Leeds, whither he had sent a large glass case, so 

 that the smakes might be properly seen. After cautioning 

 the visitors to- refrain from moving or speaking, he, with his 

 bare hands, transfen-ed the snakes from the box to the glass 

 case and back again. 



He explained his mode of handling a venomous serpent by 

 the following illustration. He assumed my hand, wrist, and 

 arm to be part of a Rattlesnake, the hand being the head, the 

 wrist the neck, and the arm part of the body. He then 

 approached his hand silently, slowly, and quietly to my 

 wrist, which he by degrees clasped, but did not press. He 

 next lifted the arm gently from the table on which it was 

 resting, and put it down again in the same slow and cautious 

 manner. He trusted for his immunity to the sluggish nature 

 of the serpents generally, which if disturbed, will glide gently 

 away, but if they are trodden upon or hurt, will, in self- 

 defence, strike at their assailant. 



He said that after that lesson, I should be as able to carry 

 living Rattlesnakes as he was. Perhaps so, but I should 

 feel rather nervous about trying it. 



Red HowLEE. /^ee " Howler, Red." 



H H 



