CREATURES OF MYSTERY 
23 
forming a natural shelter against excessive sunshine or rain. 
Neither would the average passerby take notice of the fact that 
an enemy was utilizing the spot as an incubator. The fire had 
killed the roots of the wiregrass within the top soil. Such fact, 
together with a liberal accumulation of pulverized ashes, pro¬ 
vided Mrs. Rattler with an ideal nesting place. The soil was 
dry and brittle as well as being free from roots and grass. 
With her hard nose as her only weapon she had drilled a large 
round hole into this firm but brittle earth, and had deposited 
her eggs therein, again filling the hole and pounding sand and 
ashes around her eggs. The eggs were encased in a soft shell. 
When they had been well prepared for the final process she 
coiled herself upon them, and with her body had ironed the 
place over as smoothly as if it had been done by a Chinese 
laundryman. 
“But wait a minute, Uncle Dave,” we interrupted. “You 
are telling me something directly opposed to the contentions 
of men who claim to be well informed about the life of the 
diamond-back. I have read much of what they have to say 
on the subject and I never saw it admitted that they lay eggs 
as non-poisonous snakes do. They claim that they give birth 
to their young like other animals. What do you have to say 
to that?” Looking off across the timbered lands as he ran his 
fingers through his long gray hair, he said: “Wall, seein’s be¬ 
lievin’, ain’t it?” His query carried its own answer with it. 
The very circumstances suggested to him that there was 
something going on there concerning which he would like to 
know more. So, after disposing of the female rattler, he 
scratched into the soft soil where she had made such a cozy 
nest and uncovered twenty or more soft-shell eggs. To make 
sure that he was not in error he broke some of them and ex¬ 
amined the contents. They contained rattlers, all right. That 
he might have his testimony substantiated by others, he took 
many of the eggs home where they were broken in the presence 
of other members of the family. 
Once during the late summer he was engaged in the task of 
following the trail of a large one through an oak thicket along 
the river. Laying aside his tools with which he had been work- 
