A  newspaper  story  was  brought  to  me,  in  substance  as  fol¬
lows:  A  gentleman  with  two  or  three  small  children  had  his
attention  attracted  to  them,  seemingly  playing  a  game  of
“Ring  around  the  Rosie.”  They  were  running  in  a  circle,  and
at  a  certain  point  in  the  circle  would  leap  over  some  imaginary
object,  as  he  thought.  Their  behavior  was  so  unusual  that  he
went  to  look  into  matters.  He  found  them  playing  with  a  large
rattler,  the  latter  enjoying  the  game  as  much  as  they.
After  slaying  the  reptile  he  instituted  a  search  in  the  vicinity
and  found  four  others.  I  was  asked  if  I  had  any  faith  in  the
veracity  of  the  one  who  sent  in  the  story.  All  I  could  say  was
that  everything  was  strictly  in  line  with  the  known  habits  of
the  creature.  The  time  was  mid-September,  their  mating  sea¬
son.  The  one  with  which  the  children  were  playing  was  evi¬
dently  the  female,  who  was  taking  no  part  in  the  fight  going
on  inside  the  nearby,  “rough,”  but  crawled  forth  at  the  sight
of  the  little  children  for  a  little  innocent  pastime  with  them.
It  was  as  certain  that  the  other  four  were  males,  engaged  in  a
regular  love  tournament  to  determine  whose  bride  the  female
would  be.  The  female  rattler  is  utterly  devoid  of  any  sentiment
in  such  matters — her  love  goes  to  the  strong  man,  whoever  he
might  prove  to  be.
