108 
CREATURES OF MYSTERY 
when in a disurbed state of mind, or possibly when they are 
in the act of hypnotizing some small animal or bird. This 
being taken for granted the reader will very naturally inquire, 
“How, then, did he hear the gentleman whistling for him?” 
We have had occasion many times to observe rattlers about 
their winter quarters and have taken very careful note of how 
they behave. They keep their tongues in their mouths just as 
long as any hope remains that their presence has not been 
detected. We have found them lying perfectly open upon 
littered ground, and carefully concealed beneath tufts of wire- 
grass, with their heads and necks protruding, nerves tense, 
observing every single move of the intruder, but with head 
and neck absolutely motionless. It was, on every such occasion, 
perfectly evident that he had enlisted the aid of every single 
one of his senses which might be successfully invoked to the 
end that he might, if possible, avoid detection. If those to 
whose expressed opinions we refer were correct in their deduc¬ 
tions, then surely these rattlers, under the circumstances men¬ 
tioned, would have had their tongues protruding that they 
might not be denied the benefit of their hearing at a time when 
their very lives were hanging in the balance. Their tongues 
would never dart out at you until they were positive that they 
had lost in this game of hide-and-seek. 
There is no question but that their nerves are extremely sen¬ 
sitive. The claim has been made by responsible individuals 
that they can be driven from pastured land by placing a bell 
on one or members of a herd of cattle. Others have noted that 
the roar of airplane motors flying at low altitude over infested 
swamp areas influence them to commence crawling about aim¬ 
lessly, and that blasting in the vicinity of their hunting grounds 
causes them to transfer their activities to a more remote region. 
I have observed myself that they quickly abandon areas where 
logging activities are in operation by lumbermen. 
If, as the scientific world contends, they are not equipped 
with organs of hearing, it can be truthfully said that they pos¬ 
sess a substitute equally as good, or perhaps much better. They 
seem to experience no difficulty whatever in hearing, each 
other’s call for a distance of two miles or more, and the call 
uttered is neither loud nor harsh upon the human ear. 
