The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-08-11
iS NEW RATTLERS IN TOWN
THE RESULT or 4 RECENT RAID
IN THE TACONTCS.
R~atsIcunake Hunting Best IN the Berk-
shIres Just ow-keeDer snyder " the
Bronx Zoo Tells How 20 Catch Them
while They Are D0,nN Their COurtlRE.

NIMVtlfNuMhe hhtttttttN rtF ~ wv h'e'm
shIrcs Ju1t Now Keeper snyder u the
bronx Zoo Tells How 20 Catch Them
while they Are DO,nN Their COurtiRg.
If Won are keen after snakes-milky
eyed. venomOus rattlesnakes-an find
that even an advertisement in the paIers
does not bring you any IL Ia to be recon-
mended that you go snake hunting yoGS-
self-if you know now. Al least that n
the way they do IL up Mt the BroSs -.
where eighteen OF the sleekest, wickedest
~rattlers in captivity are nov on exhibition
as the result Of a recent foray across tvs
Massachusetts border.
The lodges Of Sullivan county used to he
considered the prime place for snakes.
Now IL ia asserted that the hunting is better
no in the Tsconics in southwestern Berk-
shire county, Massachusetts. just az far
southwest as you can get without nibblin'
into New York or Connecticut.
This discovery must he credited 10 Delos
Hicok. a civil engineer OF this city who IL
interested in serpents. Three years ago
he appeared at the reptile house in the
Bronx Zoo and told Curator Raymond L..
Ditmars that the rocks up there were full
of rattlers-so full that a party Of surveyors
working along the State line had been
compelled TO lead a chamois's own life TO
escape them ms they Kissed among tho
crags.
II happened that the reptile rouse needed
some timber rattlesnakes to complete ito
exhibit Of local poisonous serpcnts. SO
Hicok and Head Keeper Charley Snyder
Snyder being way up on snake catching
went out and got eleven, This year, adj
vertising meanwhile having proved fruit
less. they went again. stayed three days
and bagged eighteen.
They nae to go pretty late because OF tho
cold spring. The time to gather snakes is
when they're mating. and they don't do
that until the sun makes the rocks a COM
Portable place in which to gossip and get
acquainted.
Snyder and Hickok went up to Copske.
Columbia county. There they got a rig
and drove six miles TO the foot OF Mount
Everatt. in Massachusetts,. Then they
climbed half an hour and were in the snake
country, which is broken rock and scrub oak.
And now that you're there the main
thing is to keep as quiet as o can" a
Charley Snyder. First you cut two sticks.
one with short, widely separated prongs.
careful to see that the ends are blunt,
for IL won't do to hurt the snake-the
straight and four feet long. with a
wire n Dose at the epd-wire because the
will bite through vim In your
you ave a canvas sack, with a
fish basket somewhere around doubly to
jail your catch when you've got him..
when you have reached the snakes
you know it. Some are lying quiet on a
ledge, some scamper away, some are coiled.
some are huddled Town among the shrub
berry. looking 30 much like the leaves and
things that maybe you don't see them.
will all be buzzing.
when you've found your group Of snakes
it's best to stop and look round There
may be another bunch just where You
want to walk. Then pick out your snake
forked stick in each hand-and pin him
mot by the head. or Just back-of it. mind
you, but somewhere about the middle OF.
the body. He'll raise his head then and
stick out his tongue at you, but that only
gives you a fine chance to slip the moose
over, just as you would snare a ,pickerel
and draw IL light just back OF where his
ears might be II he had any.
Now watch your chance and press the
stick down against the back oNhia
Iswbones. YOU snake 10 down now.
Grab his throat between our thumb
md forefnger, slip the moose OF over hia
he bag Ssaet Of y oSr pocket 30 setu with sn yonr ETes
hand. and while the other fellow holds
10 open thrust the reptiles head in and
give him quick drop. Putting tho whole
into the trout basket helps, for there's
\ chance that the a might bite himself
out OF even the ~stouteet sack, which would
not be pleasant. maybe. -.
OF the eighteen snakes we got those
two days the biggest. WAS four feet, four
n ,ac me- h Iona s sir,t two and and 2 . half inches around
In these parts. Some were yellow. sulphur
colored-and some were brown and almost
black. IL is possible for snakes Of ali
these colors to be born OF the same mother.
up at the mouths Of deep clefts in the rock.
some OF these assures must be real caves,
for we could hear the rattle of the eecapins
make gradually grow fainter undl it could
barely. be heard. You can bet We didn's
try to follow him.
1One time l was getting after a little
black devil when / heard another one tuning
under the shadow OF a big rock.
put my hand on the rock and it came tum-
bling down on the snake and almost on me.
The snake was TUNED and I thought he
q goner. but he came around in ten
and found himself in the bottom
Of a sack.
Sometimes you step on a snake, but
always wear loose. thick khaki trousers
hose trousers is like driving a nail into q
suspended lath.
Neither Hickok nor myself was ever
bitten, But we always take along some
cure. though, in the shape OF q bottle Of
oermanganate OF potash and a hypo syringe.
! mask OF brandy may come in handy
If you're ever bitten by a rattlesnaks
ne a ligature around the upper arm or leg.
" the case may be. shoot some potash into
he nesh around the wound, slash the skin a
little with your knife and suck, or yet some
me to do it for yOu-for all you're worth
When Snyder and Hicok got back to Co
'ake and set about boxing their snakes in a
'acant lot near the hotel the natives sidled in
or the show. The Coyakers couldn't figure
'ut why anybody who ever came across a
attlesnake hould want to let it live at ALI
much less cart it of 10 the city.
Better snap their heads of, Perfessor =
vas one bit OF advice. They amt good for
lothln' only their skins. for belts Hike
IL was news TO tn EN- too when SNYDER
Old that scientists had learned how fslls.
ious was the old theory that a rattler is i,,st
10 many years old as he has rattles. n
make il born with a button and accumu.
ates rattles at the normal rate OF threa =
ear. But with use a rattle wears awav.
There are quiet snakes and noisy makes
nd IN the case OF the noisy one it's1ittIe von
tell of hia Are Inv COIpffpn th~ 49,