The Sun.
London, England, 1827-08-08 00:00:00

THE RATTLESNAKE and the SQUIRREL.

Rattlesnakeshu»t and secure for their prey with
ease grey squirrels that abound in our woods ;

therefore they must be possessed of swiftness to
'obtain them. Having enjoyed the pleasure of
,beholding such a abase in full view in the year

1821, 1 ;hall detail its circumstances. Whilst

lying on the ground, to watch the habits of a
bird which was new to me, previous to shooting
it, I heard a smart rustling not far from me, and
turning my head that way, saw at the same
moment a grey squirrel full grown issuing
from the thicket, and bouncing off in a strait
direction, in leaps of several feet at a time, and
not more than twenty feet behind, a rattlesnake
of ordinary size pursuing, drawn apparently out
to its full length, and sliding over the ground so
;rapidly that, as they both moved away from me,
I was at no loss to observe the snake gain upon
[the squirrel. The squirrel made for a tree, and
ascended to its topmast branches as nimble as
!squirrels are known to do. The snake per-
formed the same task considerably more slowly,
yet so fast, that the squirrel never raised
kits tail nor barked, but eyed the enemy
lattentively as he mounted and approached.—
'hen within a few yards, the squirrel leaped
Ito another branch, and the snake followed
iby stretching out full two-thirds of its body,
whilst the remainder held it securely from falling,
Passing thus from branch to branch, with a '
ra-
.l
pidity that astonished me, the squirrel went in
and out of several holes but remained in none,
knowing well that, wherever its head could enter,
the body of its antagonist would follow ; and at
last, much exhausted and terrified, took a despe-
rate leap, and came to the earth with legs and
tail spread to the utmost to ease the fall. That
instant the snake dropt also, and was within a
few yards of the squirrel before it had begun
making off. The chace on land again took
place, and ere the squirrel could reach another
tree, the snake had seized it by the back near the
occiput, and soon rolled itself about in such a
way that, although I heard the cries of the vic-
tim,
I scarcely saw any portion of its body. So
full of its ultimate object was the snake, that it
paid no attention to me, and I approached it to
see in what manner it would dispose of its prey.
A few minutes elapsed, when I saw the reptile
loosening gradually, and opening its folded coils,
until the squirrel was left entirely disengaged,
;having been killed by suffocation. The snake
then raised a few inches of its body from the
ground, and passed its head over the dead ani-
mal in various ways to assure itself that life had
, departed ; it then took the end of the squirrel's
'tail, swallowed it gradually, bringing first one and
then the other of the hind legs parallel with it,
and sucked with difficulty, and for some time, at
them and the rump of the animal, until its jaws
became so expanded, that, after this, it swallowed
the whole remaining parts with apparent ease.
This mass of food was removed several
inches from the head in the stomach of the snake,
.and gave it the appearance of a rouleau of money
brought from both ends of a purse towards its
centre ; for, immediately after the operation of
swallowing was completed, the jaws and beck re-
sumed their former appearance. The snake then
attempted to move off, but this was next to im-
possible ; when having cut a twig;4-went up to
it, and tapped it on the head, which it raised, au
well as its tail, and began for the first time to
rattle. I wa3 satisfied that for some lapse of
(time it could not remove far, and that the woods
being here rather thin, it would soon become the
victim of a vulture. I then' killed it, and cut it
open to see how the squirrel lay within. I had
remarked, that, after the process of swallowing
was completed, singular movements of the whole
body had taken place,—a kind of going to and
fro for a while, not unlike the convulsive motions
of a sick animal, as a dog, for instance, about to
vomit. I concluded that some internal and ne-
cessary operation was going on. This was proved
when I found the squirrel lying perfectly smooth,
even as to its hair, from its nose to the tip of its
tail. I noted all this on the spot. This over, I
sought my game again, and felt a great satisfac-
tion ; but having met my friend Mr. James Perry,
on whose lands in the State of Louisiana I was
then hunting, and having related what had just
happened, he laughingly said, " Why, my dear
Sir, I could have told you this long ago, it being
Inothing new to me." These facts, I trust, are
Ignite sufficient to exemplify the faculties of swift-
ness, and the powers of extension and diminu-
tion, in the rattlesnake.—Edinburgh Philoso-
phical Journal.