1883. ] The Copperhead, 1237 
copperhead. It was with the utmost care and exertion that his 
life was saved. 
Other instances of “ copperhead bites” I could cite from the 
“snake columns” of the New York Sun, where death even re- 
sulted in consequence of the injury received. But the locality 
of the bite not being mentioned, it would not serve the purpose 
of showing where such injuries are generally inflicted. 
It has been said by Mr. J. A. Graves, a veteran showman, who 
may be found at Bunnell’s Museum, of this city, that a snake 
stretched out in a nearly straight line could not bite. As, for in- 
stance, in such a position as this: 
And if a copperhead should place himself in this shape, 
alla man would have to do, would be to throw him out of posi- 
tion with his cane, and then he could not bite him. 
The copperhead I found at Matawan, N. J., did not place him- 
self in such an aggressive attitude, if it may be so called. The 
head and tail were in one line, as it were, with the intermediate 
Parts lying in easy curves, just as we observe it in the gliding 
Movements of such a serpent. oie 
Since the foregoing was written I met a brother physician, who 
was born and raised in Dutchess county, N. Y., and he told me 
that in his boyhood he frequently found and teased the copper- 
head or pilot, so-called, only a few miles south of Poughkeep- 
sie, and what is now known as Milton Ferry, on the Hudson 
River Railroad. A little above that place, and what was known 
as Spachen Kill, a creek connecting with Gill’s millpond, was a 
swampy neighborhood infested with copperheads. They we E 
Plentiful that many of the laborers employed in building the 
Hudson River R, R. at that place were bitten by those reptiles, 
