THE 
AMERICAN NATURALIST. 
VoL. XXI. MARCH, 1887. No. 3. 
THE MASSASAUGA AND ITS HABITS. 
BY O. P. HAY, M.A. 
AJ OTWITHSTANDING the almost universal dislike enter- 
tained by people for snakes, the horror even that the sight 
of them excites in some minds, and the low value generally 
placed on ophidian intelligence, the more unprejudiced attention 
that has been bestowed by a few persons on these animals within 
recent years has shown that there is, after all, much to be said in 
their favor. Their lithe forms, their active and graceful move- 
ments, and their frequently brilliant and variegated colors, would 
at all times have rendered them attractive objects had not the 
possession of these qualities been more than offset by the actual 
or supposed possession of others of a disagreeable or dangerous 
nature. A closer acquaintance with snakes dispels many of our 
old prejudices against them, as being animals degraded in struc- 
ture, malicious in disposition, and as laboring under a special 
curse; and presents them to us as possessors of many singular 
adaptations to their environment, many sagacious habits relating 
to the preservation of themselves and of their young, and some- 
times of considerable conjugal and parental affection; and, by 
inference, enjoying as much of the favor of Heaven as most 
“animals. That very interesting work by Miss C. C. Hopley, 
entitled “Snakes; Curiosities and Wonders of Serpent Life,” 
will doubtless do much to remove unreasonable prepossessions 
against these persecuted animals, and to awaken greater interest 
in them and their ways. When we have learned more about 
VOL. XXI.—NO. 3. 15 
