Sunbury American and Shamokin journal. [volume] (Sunbury, Northumberland Co., Pa.) 1840-1848, 1843-10-21
From the PhI Legdcr.
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the end, and inserted short and slender chip, to
this 10 the reptile, it struck the chip with force and
displaced il, instantly the split ends closed, with
the sn 'ke's head firmly graspcd between them, anl
the operator played with the writhing thing as if it
had hcen a whip.lash.
Hogs love to es, snakes. When PIG cspies one.
he walks up to it ard begins 10 chew it up very
compo'ed'y, nj any spot that first presents itself
head, tail, or middle. The snake does not arpear
to resist. When dog attacks snake. he is very
guarded; having eyed it cautiously, he srasps it in
his mouth and shakes it forcibly AMI quickly till il
nies into pieces.
A gentleman noar Pine Grove Gagged ncs, of
rl',lc-snakcs last spring he caught a large black
snake few weeks ago, and pu, 1t into tho same
cage, TO see the result The raIte-snakes attacked
the intruder at once; he returned their blows with
interest, ard soon cowed them. He has ever since
played the bully among them.
Wild pigeons and wild ducks have begun their
autumnal flights.
Beans are numerous on the mountains above
Polsville this autumn, and the usual signs in lic,e
plenty Of deer The frosts of June destroyed the
acorns and other fores, iruit large extent of
country. Here and thcle bel, Of tn" forest was
unharmei In such places these animals collect for
food To those who love the gun, can promise
rare and exciting sport, if they will go up now into
the mountains
A deer is a soft eyed delicate looking animal
and should you come suddenly upon one in the
woods you would have no hesitation in throwing
your arms about its neck to capture it alive You
would catch a tartar Mr. Lndcnmuth, of Potts.
ville found young deer some years ago, sunk in
the deep snow on the Broad Mountain being
little "green,' he approached and put his arm gently
around it, and called j, his pretty prisoner The
animal attacked him with its fore feet which, though
slender, are very sinevy and very strong; and
plying them with great rnpidity it soon dvsstel
him Of his clothing, and took clever share out of
his hide
Hunting in the mountains is occasionally diver.
sifel Ivy tragic Notwithstanding a panther, for
instance, is not always so anu sing as g novel wri>
ter would make il. Some few wears ago my friend
Mr.. Riffer, now living in Reading. resided on the
Locust Mountain, on the Sunbury turnpike; he
good shot, and loved to hunt deer. There
field Of huckwheat stuhhIr, in an isolated spo,
in tie woods mile from his house. to which the
deer resorted here he was always sure of shot
One frosty evening in October he slipped down to
this place with his rife He watched till night.fsll,
md was surprised that not deer appeared.
Just in the gray Of The evening, rs he was return.
ins homo, he was startled by low howl which was
near 10 his Terror crept over him aud chilled
his blood. He felt conscious that some dangerous
monster near. Presently he saw tw, fiery eyes
fixed upon him, and in istincl body, Of large
size, appelrel creeping towards him. Without
having the least idea What it actually was, fear
prompted him to spring upon the fence, and thence
to climb tree within his reach. He hal Just
placed his rife in the forks of the tree, as high as
he could reach, when an enormous panther sprung
at him. He never had been verv clever at climb.
ing bu, on tins occasion the most active gymnas-
tic night have taken lesson from him. He mount
ed for his life, the paws Of the panther being with.
in span Of him. Knowing that ponther climbs
tree like cat, he did not stop til he reached the
topmos, branches taking his rife with him.
The animal made savage efforts to follow him
bu. being uncommonly heavy and probably old, it
could not succeed 1t raved however, at the foot o
the tree, tore up the roots, and seemed swear that
'be he alive, he he dead he'd grind his bones to
make him bread"
1t was quite dark before my friends ideas were in
a state 10 be collected for reasoning upon his awk,
ward position. 1t was very cold, by Fahrenheit :.
thermometer but /, was still colder by the frigij
admoasurcment Of his feelings. His teeth chatter
| ed, his body t'emblol his soul shulderel, The
comforts Of a warm lire and the condolements of
sympa,h2ing wife, would be particularly grateful
could he manage to reach his home.
Guided by the low howls Of the disapponte,
panther, he pointed his rife and shot in the dark
the neighhors. They heard him, but it being III
period of husking frolics, and whisAey being then
fashion they suspected nothing unusual
You should have heard tho story from his ow
lips, as did day or two after his adventure,
conceive an idea OF the horrors oflha, long night
the afighted and haf-frozen prisoner,
He had inconsiderately expended all his amuni
ton in random shots through the night. At earl
morning, having, os he thought, heard the animal
footsteps retiring, and looking around without sec
ing him, be prepared to descend from the tree, br
scarcely had he placed his foot on the ton rail Of II