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New Zealand Tablet, Volume III, Issue 122, 27 August 1875, Page 9

Kattlesnakes. — The rattlesnake finds a superior foo in the deer and black snake. Whenever a buck discovers a rattlesnake in a situation which invites attack, he loses no time in preparing for battle. He maks up within ten or twelve feet of the snaked then leaps forward and aims to sever tho body of the snake Avith his bifurcated hoofs. The first onset is most commonly successful, "but if otherwise, the buck repeats the trial until he cuts "the snake in tAvain. Tho bl ick snake is also more than an equal competitor against tho rattlesnake. Such is its celerity, both in running and entwining itself around its victim, that the rattlesnake has no Avay of escaping from its fatal embrace. When the black and rattlesnakes are about to moeb for battle, the former darts forward at the height of his speed, and strikes at the back of the neck of the latter with unerring certainty, leaving a foot or two of the upper part of the body at liberty. In an instant he encircles him Avithin five or six folds ; he then stops and and looks the strangled foe in the face, to ascertain the effect produced upon his corseted body. If he slioavs signs of life, the coils are multiplied, and the screws . tightened, the operator all the time watching the countenance of the victim . Thus the two remain thirty or forty minutes ; the executioner then slackens one coil, noticing at the same time ■whether any signs of life appear ; if so, the coil is resumed and retained until the incarcerated wretch is completely dead; The mocasin-snake is killed the same way.