86 THE RATTLE OF THE RATTLESNAKE. 
Pennsylvania. In the last week of June, 1869, I was on the Mis- 
souri flood plain in a dense timber in Cedar County, Nebraska. At 
the time there were many Cicade and multitudes of birds in the 
timber. One day I was sitting on a lôg, classifying a collection 
of flowers and plants. Suddenly I heard the well-known rattle- 
snake rattle. The snake was not more than forty feet from me. 
I could not have been the cause of its alarm as a large log lay 
between us and I had been quiet for nearly an hour. Even the 
Cicadæ were alarmed and disappeared, and soon not a bird was to 
be seen, but the rattling’continued. Unfortunately, on the impulse 
of the moment, I killed the snake without waiting to see or learn 
the purpose of its rattling. Again I have noticed that the Mas- 
sasauga, at least in Nebraska, is by far the most abundant far 
away from the timber, where the Cicadæ are rarely if ever seen. 
These observations seem to me to point to the theory that the 
rattle calls the sexes together. In July, 1871, I was in the timber 
on the Missouri in Dakota County, Nebraska. I got sight of a 
Baltimore oriole (rare in Nebraska) which I was following as it 
flitted from twig to twig. As it swept near the ground a rattle- 
snake struck his highest notes and seemed to paralyze the oriole 
with fear. This snake was a Crotalus. The poor bird hovered 
near the snake and fearing that it might fall into its jaws I shot 
the reptile. This experience suggested the theory that perhaps 
an additional purpose of the rattle was to frighten its victims 
into submission and to protect itself by the terror it inspires from 
its natural enemies. However that may be, is it not a mistake to 
limit such a peculiar organ to any one single purpose? What is 
needed to determine definitely the natural history of the rattle- 
snake is closer and more accurate observation over a wide area, 
and by persons who are fitted by nature and education for such 
work. Unfortunately for science, the almost universal custom has. 
been to kill the rattlesnake as soon as found, without waiting to 
learn its disposition and habits of life. 
Once in the Dakota Nebraska timber I saw an attack of hogs on 
a rattlesnake. Ina few minutes after the snake commenced rat- 
tling, three others made their appearance. ‘They apparently came 
to the assistance of the first one, but all were killed by the hogs 
in a few minutes. Seven hogs were more than a match for four 
rattlesnakes. Here evidently the rattle was used to call for help. 
[hese belonged to the genus Crotalophorus. 
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