Allen, J.A. 1868. Reptiles and Batrachians found in the vicinity of Springfield, Massachusetts. Proc. Bost Soc. Nat. Hist. 12:171-209
Babcock, H.L. 1925. Rattlesnakes in Massachusetts. Bull Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. 35:5-10.
Bartlett, R.D. 1988. In Search of Reptiles and Amphibians. 363 pp. E.J. Brille, NY.
Brown, W.S. 1992. Biology, Status, and Conservation of the Timber Rattlesnake: A Guide for Conservation. Herp. Circ. SSAR
Conant, R. and J. Collins. 1991. Reptiles and Amphibians. 3rd Ed. Peterson Field Guide Series. 450 pp. Houghton Mifflin.
DeGraaf, R.M. and D.D. Rudis. 1983. Amphibians and Reptiles of New England. 85 pp. UMass Press.
Dunn, E.R. 1930. Reptiles and amphibians of Northampton and Vicinity. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist.57:3-8.
Ernst, C. H. and E. M. Ernst. 2011. Venomous Reptiles of the United States, Canada, and Northern Mexico. 2 vol. 352 pp. John Hopkins University Press.
Ernst, C.H. and G.R. Zug. Snakes in Question. 203 pp. Smithsonian Institution Press.
Furman, J. 2007. Timber Rattlesnakes in Vermont and New York: Biology, History, and the Fate of An Endangered Species. 209 pp. Univ. Press of New England.
Gibbs, J.P, A.R Breisch, P.K. Ducey, G. Johnson, J.L. Behler, and R.C. Bothner. 2007. The Amphibians and Reptiles of New York State. 422 pp. Oxford University Press.
Gibbons, J. W. and M. E. Dorcas. 2004. North American Watersnakes. 496 pp. Univ.Oklahoma Press.
Greene, H. 1997. Snakes. The Evolution of Mystery in Nature. 351 pp. Univ. Calif. Press.
Klemmens, M.W. 1993. Amphibians and Reptiles of Connecticut and Adjacent Regions. State Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey of Ct. Bull 112. 318 pp.
Krulikowski, L. 2004. Snakes of New England. LuvLife Publ. Old Lyme, Ct. 308 pp.
Mirick, P., ed. 2009. Field Guide to the Reptiles of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Wildlife (LIX) No.2. 45 pp. http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/dfw/. You may order this back-issue copy.
Mitchell, J.C., A.R.Breisch, and K.A. Buhlmann. 2006. Habitat Management Guidelines for Amphibians and Reptiles of the Northeastern United States. Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation. Tech. Publ HMG-3, Montgomery, AL. 108 pp.
Palmer, T. 1992. Landscape with Reptile. Ticknor & Fields. NY. 340 pp.
Petersen, R.C. and R.W. Fritsch. 1986. Connecticut's Venomous Snakes: the timber rattlesnake and northern copperhead. Geol. and Nat. Hist Survey of Ct., Bull. 111. 48 pp.
Pough, F. H., R.M. Andrews, J.E. Cadle, M.L. Crump, A.H. Savitsky, and K.D. Wells. 2004. Herpetology. 3rd Ed. 726 pp. Pearson/Prentice Hall.
Rossman, D.A., N.B. Ford, and R.A. Seigel.1996. The Garter Snakes. 332 pp. Univ, Oklahoma Press.
Rubio, M. 1998. Rattlesnake: Portrait of a Predator. 240 pp. Smithsonian Institution Press.
Schwenk, K. 2000. Feeding. Form and Function and evolution in Tetrapod Vertebrates. 537 pp. Academic Press.
Seigel, R.A., J.T. Collins, and S. Novak. 1987. Snakes, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Macmilian Publ Co. 529 pp.
Siegel, R.A. and J.T. Collins. 1993. Snakes, Ecology and Behavior. 414pp. McGraw-Hill, Inc.
Storer, D.H. 1840. A report on the Reptiles of Massachusetts. Bost. J Nat. Hist. 3(1-2):1-204.
Tennant, A. and R.D. Bartlett. 2000. Snakes of North America. Eastern and Central Regions. Gulf Publ. Houston, TX. 588 pp.
Tyning, T.F. 1990. A Guide to Amphibians and Reptiles. Stokes Nature Guides. 416 pp. Little, Brown and Co. Boston
Tyning, T.F., Ed. 1991. Conservation of the Timber Rattlesnake in the Northeast. A Symposium. 40 pp. MA. Audubon Soc. Lincoln, MA.
Weinstein, S. A., D. A. Warrell, J. White, and D. E Keyler. 2011. “Venomous” Bites from Non-Venomous Snakes: A Critical Analysis of Risk and Management of “Colubrid” Snake Bites. Elsevier, Inc.
CD’S
Rattlers, Peepers & Snappers. Peregrine Productions. http://www.peregrineproductions.com/home-alias/
WEB SITES
American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists. http://www.asih.org
Center For North American Herpetology. http://www.naherpetology.org
Herpetologists’ League. http://www.herpetologistsleague.org/en/
Mass Div of Fisheries and Wildlife. http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/dfw/nhesp/nhesp.htm
Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation. www.parcplace.org
Snakes of North America. http://www.pitt.edu/~mcs2/herp/SoNA.html
Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. http://www.ssarherps.org/default.php
The Orianne Society. http://www.oriannesociety.org/
Landscape History of Central New England. The Harvard Forest. http://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/diorama-series/landscape-history-central-new-england
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
It has been wonderful to see increasing positive interest in snakes in the last half century. Much of this is due to the foundation set by earlier field herpetologists, including Roger Conant, Raymond Ditmars, Albert and Anna Wright, Henry Fitch, Howard Gloyd, Hobart Smith, Lawrence Klauber, Sherman Minton, Karl Kauffeld, Carl Gans, Coleman Goin, D. Humphrey Storer, Harold Babcock, Emmett Reid Dunn, J. A. Allen, and many others. Current field herpetologists, who have also contributed greatly to our collective knowledge of snakes, are numerous and many are officers, past and present, of the above named professional Herpetological Societies. Foremost among them are Harry Greene, F. Harvey Pough, Kurt Schwenk, Al Savitsky, Rulon Clark, William S. Brown, Steve Beaupre, José Rosada, Howard Reinert, and Rick Shine. These, and hundreds of other biologists have produced a myriad of both research papers and students who continue to broaden our understanding of snakes and other wildlife.
A lot of people, both local and distant, have been especially helpful to me learn about wild snakes over the years. Including several people just named, I also thank the late Bill Tompkins, Dave Stickle, T.J. Andrews, Wendell Dodge, Alvah Sanborn, Jim Whitbeck, and Dave Klingener. Many extant field biologists, students, conservationists, and naturalists have also been helpful in many ways; they include Dick Bartlett, Bob Zappalorti, Dick Petersen, Skip Lazell, Matt Goode, Bob Hansen, John Sealy, Kim Andrews, Willy Bemis, Earl Possardt, Marty Martin, Randy Stechert, Al Breisch, Rick Lafontaine, Jesse Jaycox, John Green, Al Richmond, John Corey, Sandy Oldershaw, Jésus Rivas, Chuck Smith, Dan Keyler, Barney Oldfield, Bill Byrne, Don (Desert Rat) Reid, Anne Stengle, Ed Neid, Robie Hubley, Jim Cavanagh, Andrew Magee, Chuck Annicelli, and others.
For this particular project, I’m indebted to Kim Seward who took the time to edit pages of drivel and pointed out more errors than I care to think about. I took her advice most of the time, but the final errors, omissions, and gaffs are entirely my own. Additional editing was suffered by Mike Hitchcock and much appreciated by me. He also collected the winter snake temperatures. Tony Gola also provided excellent comments, and further thanks to Bill Brown, Steve Tilley, Al Breisch, Matt Kelly, Thom Smith, and Rene Wendell for their suggestions on early drafts. Final drafts were improved thanks to comments by George Pisani and Doug Fraser. Geographic data for Western Massachusetts were provided by Lauren Gaherty and Mark Maloy of the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission (here). Thanks to Bruce Winn and the Berkshire Environmental Action Team (BEAT) for Web site space and help with publishing.