ault. This was a flat-bottomed cavity, filled to the depth
of about three inches with clear spring water; and in this water were
packed away a great number of snakes, evenly laid side by side, so as to
take up as little room as possible. The majority of these creatures were
rattlesnakes; but there were black snakes among them, and one large
spotted snake. Besides these, there were, as the narrator expressed it,
at least a peck of spring frogs; these having probably crawled in to
fill up all corners and vacant places. All these reptiles were of
course dormant and insensible, and were easily destroyed.

There is another story which gives even a better idea of the abundance
of rattlesnakes in the new colony. In a quarry, from which the workmen
were engaged in getting out stone for the foundations of Princeton
College, a wide crack in the rocks was discovered, which led downward to
a large cavity; and in this cave were found about twenty bushels of
rattlesnake bones. There was no reason to believe that this was a snake
cemetery, to which these creatures retired when they supposed they were
approaching the end of their days; but it was, without doubt, a great
rattlesnake trap. The winding narrow passage leading to it must have
been very attractive to a snake seeking for retired quarters in which to
take his long winter nap. Although the cave at the bottom of the great
crack was easy enough to get into, it was so arranged that it was
difficult, if not impossible, for a snake to get out of it, especially
in the spring, when these creatures are very thin and weak, having been
nourished all winter by their own fat. Thus year after year the
rattlesnakes must have gone down into that cavity, without knowing that
they could never get out again.

The great rivals, in point of numbers, to the herring and other fish in
the rivers of New Jersey (and the snakes in their winter quarters
underground), were the wild pigeons in the air. Several times in the
year the settlers would be visited by vast flocks of these birds, which
came in such numbers as to shut out the light of the sun, as if they
had been clouds in the sky. They would remain in one place for a few
days, and then pass on. As it was unnecessary to use hooks and lines to
catch a few fish out of the multitudes which swarmed in the streams, so
it was hardly worth while to waste powder and shot on the vast flocks of
pigeons which visited New Jersey in those days. When they came to