For Christmas 1973 I received a copy of Roger Conant’s “Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians”, and thus discovered the Buttermilk Racer. The eighth printing of the original edition, first printed in my birth year of 1958. The illustrations were amazing, using photographs as a base and then lovingly rendered by Isabelle Hunt Conant to make them stand out and represent each species. I had my favorites, including the entire rat snake plate, and the so-called Buttermilk Snake (Coluber constrictor anthicus), tucked in with the other racers and coachwhips on Plate 23. I looked at the Buttermilk Snake many times, and I remember thinking I needed to find a way to see one. Birders talk about ‘spark birds’, and anthicus…