The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1877-06-22
FLORIDA SERPENTS.
The Deadly Rattier-Hs Habits and His
Enemies.

The Deadly Rattier-Its Habits and His
Enemies.
FLORIDA Cor. New York SUM-
The genuine rattlesnakes grow to mon
strous size, and their colors are more brill
liant than those of the Northern species.
They have been killed twelve feet long,
and as large around as q stovepipe. Capt.
Devall, of Palatka, AYERS that he saw one,
twenty-odd years ago, with forty-seven
attles. Incredible as this may seem,
Col. Pratt, of the Palatka Herald, de-
clares that he has seen one with fifty
two. These serpents frequent high,
sandy ridges, and occasionally Turk in the
gardens and in plowed fields. They have
even been known to make their way into
barns and houses. The larger rattlers
are said to follow herds of cattle. Cow
boys say that they smell the milk drop
ping from the udders of the COWS, and
take up the trail, with view to milking
them. This is done while the COWS are
lying on the ground chewing their cuds.
When the serpent takes the teat in its
mouth, the COW stops chewing, and be-
comes as still as death. Thus she re-
mains until the scaly thief is satisfied.
She seems to know that the least motion
would be fatal One snake has been
known to milk two cows successfully.
A remarkable story is that told con-
corning the wife of Judge Conner, of
Live Oak Hill. She is deaf and this
intensifies natural dread of rattle
snakes, as she cannot hear their notes of
warning. Some time ago her husband
and neighbor were doctering a sick
colt. She was standing in the path,
holding some camphor and a bottle of
liniment. She felt something cold and
scaly coiling around her leg. Drawing
aside her dress and looking down, she
saw rattlesnake enthusiastically in her
face, slipping out its red tongue, and
waving its head to and fro as high as her
hand. The blood rolled away from her
heart. She screamed, and jumped aside
so spasmodically that the snake lost its
hold and was left ON the ground. 1t is
possible that the serpent was trying to
fascinate her; but her deafness barred
out it's low musical sound.
The enemies of the rattlesnake include
the hog, the deer, and the eagle. The
hog thrusts his fat chops into the snakes
face, meekly receives its bite, SEXES the
reptile by the neck, places its hoofs on
its body, and tears it asunder. No blood
is drawn, the poison is harmless in the
fat, and the porker gets a fair meal. A
drove of hogs will clear the widest
country of rattlesnakes. When a buck
sees RATHER, he springs upon it like
lightning, bringing his feet together
upon its head and body, thus cutting it
to pieces for the hoofs of Floridian
deer are as hard and sharp as a razor
An eagle kills the snake while it summing
itself. The bird descends with the We
locity of an arrow, striking the reptile
with such force as to sever the vertebra
But the deadliest foe of the RATHER is
the common black snake. He grows very
long, and, unlike his Northern compeer,
never assails human being. The rattler
fears and shuns him and well he may,
for the black snake is as agile and quick
as the handspring of a watch, and as full
of fight as bulldog. Meeting his an
tagonist, he attacks without delay. After
coiling and sounding an alarm, the
rattler keenly watches its assailant. At
first the black snake slowly glides around
its spiral enemy, as though studying its
weak points He frequently misses and
increases his speed with each cycle, ever
keeping an eye on the rattler. The latter
twists its head with every revolution of
its assailant. Swifter sweeps the black
snake around the circle. At the full bent
of his speed the rattler grows dizzy. In
at winkling it is caught by the throat. and
the coils of the two snakes are inter-
mingled. The contest is decided by
main strength. AS they writhe in the
grass the superior prowess of the black
snake is manifest The RATHER is slowly
strangled Sometimes its body is swal-
lowed, but this does not always follow.
The coach whip, a long, clean-cut snake,
frequently assists the black snake, and
instances are given in which dozen
coach whips aud black snakes joined
forces and killed small regiment of
rattlers.
Vultures and buzzards, with all their
appetite for carrion, will never touch
anything bitten by a rattlesnake but
when his snakeship himself is killed, they
devour him with the greatest relish.