RATTLESNAKES 



197 



expansion of the larynx. It was curious to watch the 

 animal whilst venting its hollow cavernous roar, and ob- 

 serve how small was the muscular exertion employed. 

 When howlers are seen in the forest there are generally 

 three or four of them mounted on the topmost branches 

 of a tree. It does not appear that their harrowing roar 

 is emitted from sudden alarm ; at least, it was not so 

 in captive individuals. It is probable, however, that the 

 noise serves to intimidate their enemies. I did not meet 

 with the Mycetes stramineus in any other part of the 

 Amazons region ; in the neighbourhood of Para a reddish- 

 coloured species prevails (M. Belzebuth) ; in the narrow 

 channels near Breves I shot a large, entirely black kind ; 

 another yellow-handed species, according to the report 

 of the natives, inhabits the island of Macajo, which is 

 probably the M. fiavimanus of Kuhl ; some distance up 

 the Tapajos the only howler found is a brownish-black 

 species ; and on the Upper Amazons the sole species 

 seen was the Mycetes ursinus, whose fur is of a shining 

 yellowish-red colour. 



In the dry forests of Villa Nova I saw a rattlesnake 

 for the first time. I was returning home one day through 

 a narrow alley, when I heard a pattering noise close to 

 me. Hard by was a tall palm tree, whose head was 

 heavily weighted with parasitic plants, and I thought 

 the noise was a warning that it was about to fall. The 

 wind lulled for a few moments, and then there was no 

 doubt that the noise proceeded from the ground. On 

 turning my head in that direction, a sudden plunge 

 startled me, and a heavy gliding motion betrayed a large 

 serpent making off almost from beneath my feet. The 

 ground is always so encumbered with rotting leaves and 

 branches that one only discovers snakes when they are 

 in the act of moving away. The residents of Villa Nova 

 would not believe that I had seen a rattlesnake in their 

 neighbourhood ; in fact, it is not known to occur in the 

 forests at all, its place being the open campos, where, 

 near Santarem, I killed several. On my second visit to 

 Villa Nova I saw another. I had then a favourite little 

 dog, named Diamante, who used to accompany me in 

 my rambles. One day he rushed into the thicket, and 

 made a dead set at a large snake, whose head I saw 

 raised above the herbage. The foolish little brute ap- 

 proached quite close, and then the serpent reared its 



