FORfiST AN£> STREAM. 



[JUNE 2, 



DOES THE RATTLESNAKE SPIT? 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



In your issue of May 26, current series, you invite at- 

 tention to a statement' made by Professor E. D. Cope, in 

 a paper entitled "A Critical Review of the Characters 

 and Variations of the Snakes of North America," relating 

 to certain alleged habits of the genus Crotalus. 



I must confess that the remarks made by Professor 

 Cope, relating to our rattlesnakes, as far as they pertain 

 to the following quotations of bis in italics are entirely at 

 variance with my observations. 



"They throw the body into a coil and sound the rattle, 

 giving a sigmoid flexure to the anterior part of the body 

 on which the head is poised with open mouth ready for 

 action. At this time drops of poisonous saliva fall from 

 the fangs, and by a. violent expulsion of air from the lungs 

 are thrown at their enemy." 



As our rattlesnakes have already a far worse reputation 

 than they really deserve since I for one consider them 

 a very amiably disposed, if a dangerous reptile, I do not 

 propose to see them charged with further misdeeds, such 

 as lying with mouth wide open on the lookout for any- 

 thing approaching and spitting poison at an enemy, un- 

 less such statements are more fully substantiated. 



During a residence of more than twenty-five years in 

 the western portions of the United States, a considerable 

 part of this time having been spent in the field, where 

 rattlesnakes were and are still common, and during 

 which time I have seeu hundreds of these reptiles, I have 

 never yet observed one with its mouth open when coiled 

 and ready to strike, neither have I ever seen one attempt 

 to throw poison, even when teased and much provoked. 

 Such habits, if true with any of the Eastern species, of 

 which I admit I have had but slight knowledge in their 

 native haunts, differ greatly from all the Western rat- 

 tlers as far as I am aware. According to my observa- 

 tions a rattlesnake never opens its mouth unless to cap- 

 ture its prey and to eat it, or while in the act of striking 

 at an enemy; in the latter case this is generally done 80 

 quickly that the mouth is not even seen open till after 

 the blow has been delivered, when the much distended 

 jaws close slowly. 



As for their spitting venom I must personally see it to 

 be convinced of the fact. I have as yet never met a rat- 

 tlesnake educated up to such a point and simply cannot 

 believe it, and I have experimented with many a one. 



This venom-spitting trait is also attributed to the Gila 

 monster, found in southern Arizona, the Heloderma sus- 

 peeticm (Cope), where all the Indians and native Mexi- 

 lcans believe it, but mere say — so does not prove anything, 

 and it sinrply is not true. Their bite may be poisonous 

 but otherwise they are perfectly harmless. 



Knowing how widely Forest and Stream is read I 

 hope that others of its many readers will let us hear from 

 them on this subject; and if it turns out that Professor 

 Cope is right in this matter and I am wrong, I will at 

 least have the satisfaction of having learned something 

 more about a genus of reptiles with which I considered 

 myself well acquainted heretofore. 



Some years ago a correspondent in Forest and Stream 

 ridiculed Audubon's statem ent that the rattlesnake is able 

 to climb. That they do climb bushes and even fair-sized 

 trees I was able to corroborate from personal observations, 

 but I shall be very much surprised if in this case Pro- 

 fessor Cope's statements are confirmed by satisfactory 

 evidence. 



These so-called habits of the rattlesnake would not 

 have surprised me if they had appeared in certain papers 

 given to "Bnake stories," but they seem out of place in 

 a scientific publication, and should not be allowed to 

 stand unchallenged. Chas. E. Bendire, 



Washington, D. C, May 27. 



Editor Forest and Streawi: 



Under ordinary circumstances the testimony of one 

 man who has seen is of more value than the negative 

 evidence of a dozen who have not, but the statement of 

 Prof. Cope concerning the genus Crotalus, quoted in 

 your issue of May 26, is so altogether at variance with 

 preconceived ideas that I question whether he ever Raw 

 "the poisonous saliva fall front the fangs" while a rattler 

 was coiled with head poised ready for action. 



I have had experience with captive snakes, having 

 handled them daily for months at a time, and during two 

 seasons on the plains of Montana and Wyoming captured 

 and dissected nearly a hundred specimens. 



In not one single instance have I ever seen anything 

 that would justify the description given by Prof. Cope, 

 which reads more like a city reporter's account of what 

 he thought had happened or ought to happen than the 

 utterance of a trained observer. 



While living in southern Illinois I had a captive nearly 

 •5ft. long — a vicious fighter who would strike at any 

 object thrust toward him, and often caught his curved 

 fangs in the fine wire netting covering the cage, thus 

 holding his open mouth in position for a fraction of a 

 minute. The venom from each fang, a light amber- 

 colored fluid in drops about about the size of No. 6 shot, 

 could be seen on the gauze where it collected when he 

 struck, but there was nothing more, no saliva, no spit- 

 ting nor hissing, nor have I even seen these manifesta- 

 tions in any of the many individuals that have come 

 under my immediate notice. Nor have I ever seen a 

 snake's mouth open, with fangs exposed, while waiting a 

 chance to strike. When they strike the jaws open at an 

 angle of nearly 180% but not until the final moment. 



East Otjange, N. J., May 29. T. M. W. 



Black Chipmunks. 



Proctorsville, Vt., May 23. — I have here a curiosity 

 in the shape of three black chipmunks. There were four 

 in the family, but one was of the natural color and the 

 other three as black as anything can be. They are one 

 year old and I see them nearly every day. Can you ac- 

 count for it in any way? — C. E. F. [Such freaks occur in 

 most spectes of animals. ] 



Caught by the Tail. 1 



.Richmond, Kj.— Editor Forest and Stream: Our yard 

 seems to be a place of refuge for quite a number of gray 

 squirrels that stay here and raise their young. A den of 

 them live in an old walnut not three rods from the door, 

 and they jump from that into a large sycamore, then to a 

 grove of cedars, thence over the roof of an old building 



into a cluster of grape vines. Last February I saw one 

 of them swinging by its tail from a limb on the sycamore 

 tree, and seeing me it reached with its forefeet and caught 

 hold of an elm limb remaining there helpless until freed. 

 In some way its tail had become wrapped around a syc- 

 amore ball or fruit which held it fast. The little fellow 

 had probably been there several days, as when released 

 he was very weak and could hardly climb.— W. L. Y. 



}*g mid 



MAINE LARGE GAME. 



Farmtngton, Maine.— .Editor Forest and Stream: Some 

 time ago a very interesting article appeared in the Boston 

 Globe, issued Jan. 4, 1892, entitled "Maine's Game," con- 

 sisting mainly of the opinions of many well-known 

 sportsmen and game officials of this State in regard to the 

 quantity of large game now roaming at will in our forests, 

 and the causes that regulate its increase or decrease. 



In brief, it states that deer are increasing, caribou 

 about holding their own, and moose decreasing. If that 

 statement applies to the whole State taken as a unit, it 

 may be true, but if claimed to be equally applicable to 

 any of its parts, independent of other localities, there 

 certainly exist reasonable grounds for dissent. 



Personal observation made while hunting and fishing in 

 that strip of country lying north of Eustis in the Spencer 

 and Kibbey valleys, and facts of experience elicited from 

 the most practical hunters snd guides in our State— men 

 thoroughly schooled in all manner of woodcraft, and life 

 students of the habits and peculiarities of our game — are 

 sufficient to convince any intelligent person that, if 

 caribou are only holding their own and moose are decreas- 

 ing, no confidence can exist in the testimony of human 

 eyes. 



It is true that deer are increasing yearly, and the in- 

 crease is bo marked, so self-evident, that all persons who 

 have visited their haunts for any purpose whatsoever, 

 have necessarily noticed it; on the other hand a correct 

 knowledge of the habits and numerical existence of 

 caribou and moose, is not so easily obtained, although 

 those that know where to go have no difficulty in finding 

 indications of their existence sufficient to warrant the 

 belief that their number continues to hold good, the 

 statements of others to the contrary notwithstanding. 

 Game officials and sportsmen may be good authority for 

 what they know, but very few have had the opportunity 

 of judging for themselves what changes, if any, are 

 actually taking place among such game. 



A game official who takes occasional trips to fishing 

 hamlets and lumbering camps, and spends his tim« in 

 dogging the erratic footsteps of a surmised poacher, or in 

 searching under old sleeping bunks for indications of 

 illegal catching or killing, is none the wiser as a judge 

 of the quantity of game in his precinct. 



The average sportsman, too, is wiser only in his own 

 conceit after a successful hunting trip to our wild forests. 

 It is not generally known, but remains true nevertheless, 

 that about every visiting sportsman that returns to his 

 home in triumph, bearing the spoils of a successful hunt- 

 ing trip with which to awe and surprise his friends, de- 

 serves but very little, if any, of the laurels of the capture. 

 If the game be moose, presumably one or more experi- 

 enced and trusted guides are engaged to follow his trail 

 day after until the noble fellow, exhausted and footsore, 

 shall cease his flight and hope for safety in battle. 



It is now that the experience of the sportsman com- 

 mences; if he be within an easy journey he is informed 

 of the surrender of the moose and urged to forego the 

 pleasures of his warm camp-fire for a few hours that he 

 may see the moose alive and afterward shoot it. 



Another method of capture is for the sportsman to be 

 stationed upon some well known runway, while guides, 

 taking a circuitous route, beat up the woods, as it is 

 termed, and drive the game before them in all directions. 

 Should any take the desired* direction the y necessarily 

 present their bodies as targets with varying degrees of 

 success to the hunter. 



Facts pertaining to our large game, obtained from such 

 officials and sportsmen, must be very meagre and of very 

 little worth to those desiring accuracy. 



The party who will strap his well laden bag or pack 

 upon his back and with rifle in hand share with his guide 

 the difficulties and hardships of the tramp, will travel 

 day after day through the forest in search of "signs" or 

 "works," and when found if those of moose, will have 

 the courage to search for their whereabouts until found, 

 and will then persevere in following the trail of a chosen 

 bull, will camp on his track at night and arise to renew 

 the chase in the morning until the noble animal is brought 

 to bay, will be rewarded with opportunities from which 

 to form an accurate and practical knowledge of the rela- 

 tive scarcity and plentifulness of their number as well as 

 other species of game, too valuable to be compared with 

 that obtained from many other sources, 



Again, very few people know the habits of the moose, 

 and where to find them during the open season ; and this 

 ignorance has been the cause that has blighted the hopes 

 and expectations of many hunting expeditions, and given 

 rise to windy exhortations upon the practical extermina- 

 tion of these monarchs of the forest. 



Perhaps it would not be amiss to state here briefly a 

 few facts that may throw a little light upon this matter, 

 Moose yard quite early in the fall; usually on the north- 

 erly cant of the highest mountains, as the instinct of their 

 race seems to apprise them that such localities are free 

 from the intermittent thaws and freezes of winter, and 

 consequently void of all hard frozen snow and crust so 

 damaging to their sensitive and tender feet. When once 

 settled in their winter quarters, they remain there until 

 spring, unless frightened away; and as they seldom or 

 never wander away from the limits of their chosen feed- 

 ing ground, it is possible for a hunter who is ignorant of 

 these facts to travel for days without finding indications 

 of their existence, especially as the usual sportsman is 

 loath to climb, actuated by no special hope of reward, to 

 the summits of lofty mountains. 



When the denizens of any yard are frightened and 

 startled by the approach of hunters, they usually take dif- 

 ferent courses: the bulls in one general direction, the 

 cows in another; but very seldom do any two or more, 

 unless it be a cow and her calf, take exactly the same 

 course. This statement has its exceptions. Usually they 

 head for yards occupied by other moose, and he who fol- 



lows in the wake of a choice bull will soon have abundant 

 opportunities of judging for himself, accurately and crit- 

 ically, from the indications of their "works" and the 

 number of their trails, their whole number in, the local- 

 ities through which the chase leads him. 



It takes a continual tramp of five consecutive days to 

 run or walk down a moose; and in all cases, if your 

 guide be well schooled and skilled in following the trail, 

 so as to be able to tell the footprints of his moose from 

 others, and be able to follow them without mistake 

 through other yards, where they become to the inexpe- 

 rienced eye confusedly mixed with other trails, he will 

 always be rewarded with success. 



The best moose of the forest can be walked down in 

 that time, unless the traveling be such as to greatly im- 

 pede the progress of the hunter, in which case the time 

 may be lengthened a day or so. The failures of others 

 to accomplish this feat within the prescribed time is no 

 proof of the incorrectness of my statement, but shows 

 rather that they were unable to follow the same moose 

 continually. Very few guides are able to do it with any 

 degree of certainty, and as success depends primarily 

 upon their skill, the very best, at almost any price, are 

 the least expensive in the end. Probably none in the 

 State of Maine are better skilled in this work than the 

 veteran guides, Andrew S. Douglass and Joseph St. Ober, 

 of Eustis, the former being the first man that ever walked 

 down a moose in the Dead River region. After the first 

 moose is started on one of such hunts (and I refer especi- 

 ally to the strip of country above referred to) moose 

 tracks will be found in sufficient abundance to astonish 

 all unbelievers. They will be found going in all direc- 

 tions, and their "works," carried on for years in rubbing 

 trees and breaking branches, can be observed for many 

 square miles around. 



The nature of the country is such that it is especially 

 adapted for the home of the moose and other wild game 

 exclusively, and as it is unfit for ptirposes of agriculture 

 will probably remain so for many years to come; the 

 hunter, fisherman and lumberman are the only parties 

 that can disturb its wildness. 



Caribou are found in abundant numbers in the Spencer 

 Valley and the country contiguous thereto; their tracks, 

 crossing and recrossing each other in confused numbers, 

 their many beds and places of frolic, give the surface of 

 the snow an appearance not unlike that of a field having 

 been occupied by a large flock of sheep after a first snow. 

 As they depend upon the moss of the trees for their food 

 in winter, they could hardly exist in greater numbers 

 and find means of sustenance. 



The modest recitals of past events by the guides that I 

 have mentioned, of their many years of living in the 

 forests, and my knowledge of their honorable course as 

 guides in the woods, have taught me to believe that in 

 that part of Maine, at least, both caribou and moose are 

 increasing, and that under our present benefice.it laws 

 regarding their killing, they will be as plentiful at some 

 short period in the future as the extent of then- feeding 

 grounds will permit. The guides as a rule are a law- 

 abiding class, who look upon the preservation of their 

 game as capital invested for their benefit and, in the case 

 of moose especially, studiously endeavor to comply with 

 the wishes of the law. They may wink at acts of illegal 

 shooting, if the game be deer, for they recognize their 

 abundance and the injustice of our law in making Sep- 

 tember a close month for such. It must be granted, too, 

 that more or less unlawful meat finds its way to the 

 many lumbering camps, but the killing is confined to 

 deer, and generally sanctioned by all parties interested 

 as not all derogatory to the interests of sportsmen or the 

 number of deer. Few moose are destroyed out of season, 

 and individual caees or exceptions exist only to prove 

 the rule. This last fall was the first hunting season 

 under the recent law, making it close time through the 

 year for the cow moose; as a result, only two moose 

 were killed in that country directly north of Eustis, both 

 bulls, thus leaving all the cows to throw calves this 

 spring. 



Commissioner Stilwell, of Maine, says that they are so 

 timid that they do not breed if disturbed, and therein 

 fortifies his belief that they are decreasing; btit he is 

 hardly accurate in so stating. Facts of experience and 

 observation in the woods directed toward their habits 

 does not verify his assertion. During the rutting season 

 moose are especially amorous, and the cows' plaintiff bel- 

 lowings, which no temporary fright can suspend, can be 

 heard for days calling for mates; the bulls become bold 

 and ferocious, and the experience of many a Derson has 

 warned him never to care for a second meeting with tbem 

 while engaged in their affairs d' amour; even dogs often 

 fail at such times to drive them, and this boldness and 

 ferocity is one of the wise provisions of nature in insuring 

 the future preservation of the race through the number of 

 their offspring. 



The advancing tide of civilization alone may in time 

 threaten their extermination, for their nature is such that 

 the wilds of the forests only can furnish for them a home. 

 But until the arrival of that distant day, when our woods 

 shall be reclaimed from its state of wildness for the pur- 

 poses of settlement, we will, under our present wise laws, 

 find moose in abundance in certain parts, at least, of our 

 Maine wilderness. E. W. Whitcomb. 



Mongolian Pheasants for New York. 



Mt. Morris, Livingston Co., N. Y. — Secretary C. W. 

 Gamble of the Mt. Morris Gun Club has received the 

 good news from S. S. Howland, Esq., who has been pass- 

 ing the winter in Washington, that Mr. W. A. Wads- 

 worth and himself have recently purchased in Oregon 

 some of the celebrated Chinese pheasants which have 

 been so successfully introduced there and live so well 

 in a climate much like ours, and that they intend to 

 make a strong effort to introduce them in the beautiful 

 and romantic Valley of the Genesee. Mr. Howland says 

 if they breed as rapidly here as in Oregon, we Bhall in 

 three or four years have them in numbers large enough 

 to make superb shooting. — G. S. E. 



Geneseo Association. 



Geneseo. N. Y., May 24. — I wish you had more readers 

 of Forest and Stream in Geneseo, and perhaps the sen- 

 timent regarding game matters woulc he in a more 

 healthful condition. The Game Protective Association 

 organized here last fall has not been able to accomplish 

 a great deal beyond planting wild rice in the ponds and 

 lake, and liberating some Chines© pheasants.— Geneseo, 



