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Just before I moved to the country, I called up the Museum of
Natural History and asked a man there what poisonous snakes were
to be found in Rockland County. Unhesitatingly he replied, “The
copperhead and the rattlesnake.” Going through the woods, I never
see either (now and then a blacksnake or some other harmless
reptile down near the stream or even up in the hills). The children
across the road warned me that in our woods snakes hang from the
trees. A man who works for the Interstate Park and who lives just
north of us on Gate Hill told me he’d never seen any poisonous
snakes on our land. ¶ On a mushroom walk near Mianus Gorge in
Connecticut we came across thirty copperheads basking in the sun.
Mr. Fleming put one in a paper bag and carried it home attached to
his belt. He is, of course, a specialist with snakes, works for the
Bronx Zoo, and makes hunting expeditions in South America.
However, he told me once of another snake specialist who worked for
the Park his whole life without ever having any trouble, and then,
after getting his pension, went out tramping in the woods, was
bitten by a copperhead, didn’t take the bite seriously, and died
of it. ¶ Among those thirty copperheads at Mianus Gorge I noticed
three different colorations, so that I have lost faith in the
pictures in the books as far as snake identification goes. What you
have to do, it seems, is notice whether or not there is a pitlike
indentation in each of the snake’s cheeks, between the eye and the
nostril, in order to be certain whether it’s poisonous or not. That
is, of course, difficult unless one is already dangerously close.
¶ Over in New Jersey on Bare Fort Mountain and once up at Sam’s
Point we ran into rattlesnakes. They were larger and more noble in
action and appearance than the copperheads. There was only one on
each occasion, and each went through the business of coiling,
rattling, and spitting. Neither struck. ¶ My new room is one step
up from my old kitchen. One fall evening before the gap between the
two rooms was closed up, I was shaving at the sink and happened to
notice what seemed to be a copperhead making its way into the house
five feet away from where I was standing. Never having killed a
snake and feeling the urgency of that’s being done, I called,
“Paul! A copperhead’s in the house!” Paul Williams came running
over from his house and killed the snake with a bread board. After
he left, the snake was still writhing. I cut off its head with a
carving knife. With a pair of tongs, I picked up both parts and
flushed them down the toilet. ¶ When I told Daniel DeWees what had
happened, he said, “That’s what I thought. When I was working in
the dark under the house the other day putting in the insulation,
I had the feeling there was a snake there near me.” I said, “Was it
just a feeling? Did you imagine it? Or was there something made you
certain?” He said, “Well, I thought I heard some hissing.” |