28 
LORQUINIA 
When the rattlesnake wishes to eat a mouse he has found dead 
in his box^ he does not strike it as he does a Hving animal, but 
slowly and with great care, examines the body by protruding his deli- 
cate forked tongue and daintily touching the body here and there. 
Although it may have started from there, his examination almost 
invariably is completed at the snout, where the snake opens his mouth 
and, taking the head between his two jaws, begins the swallowing 
process. As a general rule, everything goes down head-first. I have, 
however, seen a Pacific Rattlesnake swallow a mouse tail first. 
In the case of a living rodent, the snake, after striking, often 
waits four or five minutes for the animal to become dead, or nearly so 
from the effects of the poison, before approaching and examining the 
prey. Frequently, after striking, the rattler retains a firm grip and 
holds his victim in his mouth until the struggles cease or the snake 
thinks it is time to swallow his meal. For the victim this is a far 
more speedy and merciful death than that brought about after hours 
of suffering in some human-made trap that is supposed to kill 
instantly. 
It is remarkable to see what enormous animals can be swallowed 
by a rattlesnake with a thin neck and a head no more than a quarter 
the size of the thing to be eaten. He is able to swallow such large 
morsels by means of the wonderful arrangement of the jaw bones and 
the extreme elasticity of the skin, the food being grasped and held by 
rows of small curved and fixed teeth set in the jaw bones^ which are 
alternately released and advanced until the grip includes the entire 
animal, or everything but the tail. The mouse, or whatever it may 
be, is then forced down the alimentary canal by anterior contraction 
and posterior expansion of the muscles and ribs in the vicinity of the 
lump that designates the position occupied by the mouse. After a 
few minutes, of twisting and pressing, the snake is ready either for 
another mouse, if another is forthcoming, or a warm secluded spot 
where he can coil up and ponder on the wonderfully satisfying 
effect of a good meal. 
If one moves quietly when about his captive snakes, it is sur- 
prising to see how quickly the Pacific Rattlesnakes become accustomed 
to visitors and how unconscious he is of one's proximity if there 
be food on the menu. One little rattler was so tame that I could hold 
a Fence Lizard in my fingers in front of him without his becoming 
