232 Pboiogmphy for the Sportsman Naturalist 



and Minnesota, I was anxious to know more 

 of them, and accepted an invitation to a fa- 

 mous den at Fortification Rock, in Routt County, 

 Colorado. . . . Here a trachyte dike several 

 miles in length extends westward from Fortifica- 

 tion Creek, standing fifty feet above the ridge on 

 the north side and fully one hundred and fifty on 

 the south. Much of the wall has fallen over to the 

 lower side, making great piles of debris and loose 

 rocks, at the foot of which thousands of rattle- 

 snakes make their winter home. The land is 

 still 'public land' and offered to any citizen of 

 the United States complying with the laws relat- 

 ing thereto, but as yet the nearest ranch is two 

 miles below and that deserted because the snakes 

 would insist upon coming in at the open door or 

 through knot holes in the floor and were always 

 to be found in the boot box." In this den Mr. 

 Matteson with some companions, one of whom 

 was a little girl, spent the greater part of a day, 

 securing not only some excellent photographs, but 

 some valuable specimens. 



Mr. W. H. Backus, in " Country Life in 

 America," gives some exciting accounts of rattle- 

 snake hunting with a camera. It seems that 

 once, while on a grizzly hunt in California, he 

 came literally face to face with a big rattler, for it 

 was coiled on a rock at a level with his head and 

 but about a foot away. He says : " One of the 



