FOREST AND STREAM 
857 
Our Harmless Snakes and Their Peculiarities 
How They may be Distinguished From the Venomous — Their 
Usefulness to the Agriculturist 
By William H. Spear. 
I N this nature study I purpose describing 
some of the more common and harmless 
snakes, after first touching upon the copper¬ 
head, Agkistrodon contortrix, which aside from 
the rattlesnake is practically the only other ven¬ 
omous snake commonly encountered in these lati¬ 
tudes. I am mentioning the copperhead from 
the fact that several of the harmless snakes in 
a general way so resemble it as often to be 
taken for the venomous snake by those unversed 
in snakeology. 
The copperhead is a very handsome snake. 
In the fall season its delicate colors closely re¬ 
semble the falling leaves and it is often hard 
to distinguish it from its immediate surround¬ 
ings on that account. 
Annoy the copperhead and you will note an 
odd peculiarity. Its tail will vibrate rapidly and 
if it chances to be among dried leaves, the sound 
produced is very similar to that of a rattlesnake 
and can be heard at a distance of several feet. 
Should you chance upon a copperhead and let it 
alone, rarely will it go out of its way to attack 
you. It would far rather get away; corner it, 
however, and it is wise to look out, for at such 
a time it is a brave fighter. It strikes from a 
partially coiled position with great vigor, and 
the bite of the snake is extremely dangerous. 
It produces its young, from six to nine, alive 
in August or early September. A young copper¬ 
head once seen is seldom forgotten. Its tail is a 
bright sulphur yellow, but as the snake becomes 
more mature it loses this color, which gradually 
fades out. It takes a large adult copperhead to 
measure three feet; most of them are less. 
You’ll find these snakes abundant in portions of 
Orange and Rockland counties and many have 
been killed among the Palisades of the Hudson 
River. 
The copperhead prefers for its haunts thick, 
damp woods. Often those unfamiliar with snake 
peculiarities tell of having killed a copperhead. 
Several people have told me so during the past 
year, yet invariably I have found their “deadly” 
copperhead nothing more deadly than a harm¬ 
less milk snake or a hog nose. In fact in most 
sections of the country you’ll find forty of these 
species to every copperhead you see. 
I am aware that many people detest snakes, 
in fact have a horror of them and will run a 
mile rather than encounter one unless they have 
a club or rock in hand and their first impulse 
is to kill it, yet in all the wonderful realm of 
nature study there is nothing more fascinating 
to the true naturalist than a sensible study of 
ophidia. I have specialized along these lines 
for a number of years in my nature studies and 
writings and have found much in the study and 
observation of reptiles that was not only inter¬ 
esting but wonderfully instructive, and I hope 
to interest others in them. 
How many people, think you, there are who 
can tell the species of a snake at sight? How 
many can distinguish the harmless from the ven¬ 
omous species among the snakes they may en¬ 
counter afield in country places. They are few. 
But it is not difficult if people will take a quiet, 
common sense view of the matter and give the 
subject a little study, they will be surprised how 
interesting they will find it. 
It is easy to distinguish the venomous copper¬ 
head, for instance, from the milk snake, from 
the fact that the copperhead has keeled scales 
while the milk snake has not. It can as readily 
be distinguished from the hog nose and the 
water snake by the arrangement of the plates 
under the tail. Bear this fact in mind, that the 
sub-caudal plates of all harmless snakes are in 
two rows and also that the eyes of all our harm¬ 
less snakes have round pupils, while the venom¬ 
ous snakes have the eye pupil eliptical. 
At first glance the. unitiated would not class 
the copperhead as venomous, but if they will 
observe the peculiarities mentioned they will 
have no such difficulty. Its body color is light 
chestnut brown, sometimes assuming a tinge of 
pink, crossed with dark reddish brown bands, 
which are narrow on the back and wide on the 
sides, resembling from above the outlines of a 
dumbell. The bands are darkest at the edges 
and especially so on the sides of the body, usu¬ 
ally showing a coppery tinge or a bright hazel 
brown. The sides of the head are a paler hue. 
The line of intersection of the lighter color with 
the coppery tints of the top begins beneath the 
eye and runs to the angle of the mouth. The 
body beneath is pinkish white with two rows 
of reddish brown blotches; the scales are 
keeled, the eye pupil eliptical. The head is tri¬ 
angular, much like that of the rattler, and is 
distinct from the neck. But above all else the 
pit between the eye and the nostril, which is a 
characteristic of the crotaline snakes shows 
plainly on the copperhead and by it the snake 
can be readily distinguished and classed. Like 
the rattlesnake the copperhead is provided with 
two poison fangs and they are long and sharp. 
They fold back against the roof of the snake’s 
mouth when in repose. They are hollow and 
at the very tip is a tiny opening through which 
their poison is ejected. In fact these teeth close¬ 
ly resemble the fine needle of a hypodermic sy¬ 
ringe. Behind each eye of the copperhead is a 
gland which secretes the poison, and the muscu¬ 
lar contraction of the act of biting forces the 
poison through the fangs and into the wound 
the fangs make when they strike. 
Now as to the harmless snakes. The most 
common is the garter snake, Thamnophis sir- 
talis. It is found all over the fields and along 
country highways, and often in dooryards, yet 
hundreds of people are scared at sight of this 
little garter snake should it chance to cross their 
pathway. Its color above is dark brown or black 
and three yellow stripes run lengthwise of its 
body; beneath it is greenish yellow along the 
sides; the sides, especially when distended show 
numerous white spots. Its scales are strongly 
keeled. There is much variation in color. Many 
times I have found them afield with the back 
stripe almost invisible and I have seen others 
that had numerous spots between stripes. I have 
raised them in captivity and have had a few so 
tame that they would take earth worms readily 
from the hand, but as a rule they are secretive 
and timid: Viviparous, they often bring forth 
young from 20 to 25 at a brood, and one season 
The Copperhead Snake (Venomous.) 
(Agkistrodon Contortrix.) 
The Water Snake. 
(Natrix Fasciata Sipedon.) 
The Hog-Nose Snake. 
(Heterodon Platyrhinus.) 
