The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1879-07-08
yersity oi Virginia Win be sbailed as Inn
portant and hopeful for the welfare OF the;
,. Save the King-sn 2

s g Save the KinH-Snakes.
-rhe following ID q snake story os Is 2
snake story 1t comes from the Southern
Hcme through the Greensboro. Patriot, our. !
friend DurrY. OF thaE paper. showing his ais
proper appreciation by copying the same
and marking ii, that we might see it; for
which we thank him.. sst'a II
The story isHone Of very great interest.
Mr.. MORRISON Ia IN educated gentleman,
and showed bis critical disposi'ioniby the
tests to which he resorted to find out what
the king-snake was about. He was graft
fed,c and we. venture to sayathat he Is
amongst the very few men, II not the only
man, who can say that he has seen the king
snaee swallow the copperhead. We, have
heard often OF the black snake and the
'king-snake killing the poisonous snakes
such as my lord With the rattles, the coz
perhead and the yipers; but never OF a
case OF swallowing OF either OF these by
the black or the king-snake. 1t was most
ingenious operation. The king-snake held
as with vice, the. mouth OF the copper:
head 80 that he could not bite until
entirely disabled by sufocation, and then
assisted bis passage down into the place OF
digestion. An admirable point in the de-
scription by Mr.. MORRISON is that OF the
tenacity,oi the kiDg-snake IN maintaining
his groundg The. lifting OF him and bis
victim together, and the conveying ofthem
some distance, and the impaIing OF the VIC
tim with fork, could not discomfort him or
break his bold upon his prey. The story,
we venture to say, Is one Of the most inter-
esting snake stories that have appeared Tor
long years in the public prints. We echo
the beading which we have given above,
which we suppose to be that adopted oy
Mr.. MORRISON. Aye, save the klng-snakc
and save the black snake. They are believed
to be OF the same family; arc both construct
ors, and the only ones. we believe, in Norm
America.
Persons often kill the black snake-mere-
IL, we suppose, because snake is asnockIhS
animal, and the rule OF most men Is 10 Xiii
all kinds Of snakes wherever they are found.
The black snake is famed as the enemy OF
those great pests OF society, rats and mice.
The king-snake is not so often seen as the
black snake, and it is matter not so clear
rs might be desired what relation exactly he
s,lstains towards the black. But we take
1t that he, too, is no stranger to rat-holes, and
would not hesitate to enler one that he
found convenient. Let us not be shocked
by these two ophidianS, who hurt
nobody but the enemies Of man. Spare
them. In youth we once joined in
the killing of splendid king-snakc. He
was fully nine feet long; and when we con-
cluded that he was dead there was pie OF
rolled stones upon him 50 high that tie
body was entirely hidden. We were after
wards informed that he was not poisonous,
and we have regretted the unnecessary out
rage OF his "taking of" ever since. Mr..
BERGH himself-a very supererogatory gen
tIcman, we must confess-cou!d not have
more earnestly regretted the act had he
| committed it.:
| SAVE THE ING-SNAKEs.- Cabarrus Cam
| tn, June 11.-As my sons were going to
| nlOurh they heard a noise near the road
| sue, anu Oii lOohius thoJ 90" :" '"A No.
snake coiled around heavy comprehend
| snake, with the head OF the yenomotlS rep
tile IN its mouth. One of the boys got a
Ito, ked stick and carried the serperts TO the
house, about three hundred yards distant;
but the king.snake did not unoose the hold
upon the head OF it's victim. The two we're
| placed near the window where was sitting,
aad watched them fully an hour. They
| seldom moved. This was about shutdown.
| Awaiting TO soc how they would make it, and
fearing the copperhead would get away. /
had fork run through his body and fas-
tened it In the ground. Now it looked rs
IL the king-snake had sucked everything
out OF the copperhead,s body. After dark.
by the light OF lamp, we saw that the
kins-snake had uncoiled and was fast swaf-
lowing him. At the expiration Of half an
hour we took out the fork, and he started
of with his prey. We put in the fork again
and then turned box over taem until
morning. There then appeared but one
snake-the king-snake-and when released
he gided away. j. D. MORRISON.