The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1888-11-01
SAVING THEIR YOUNG.
How Mother Snakes Do 1t When A
tackled by Enemies.

1Ao" Mother Snakes Do 1t When At
tackled by Enemies.
have, on at least four occasions,
stood by and witnessed q family of
young snakes disappear down the
throat of the mother. She did not
swallow them; she just lay straight
with open mouth and allowed the
youngsters to go down her gullot with
wonderful rapidity.
On such occasions the mother snake
evinces the fearlessness and tenacity
of most wild things when trying to
save their young. She will remain
quiet at the risk of her life until the
last little wriggler has been taken in,
and then do her best TO escape. And
it always seems to be the case that at
S UGH times she happens to be mighty
handy to good hiding place, such as
ledge of rocks, a hole among roots,
| or, if a watersnake, where she can flop
into the water in an instant. Pre-
missing that I was taught from my
earliest recollection to reg ard serpents
as not only harmless and useful, but
beautiful as we'll Gall save the rattler),
l will briefly narrate the incidents
above alluded to:
In the first case was called by a
sensible mother, who admired rather
than feared serpents, ito come and
see the little snakes hide hurried
to the spot, and this is what saw: A
large garter-snake stretched to it's
full length and a lot of tiny snakes
rapidly disappearing down her throat.
My mother meantime had united her
apron, and, as the last little snake
disappeared, she quickly grabbed the
old snake and enveloped it in the
apron. 1t was taken to the house and
placed in an old lumber chest, where
it was found the next day with twenty
odd little ones around it, and again
they took refuge in the mothers stom-
ach. As our curiosity was satisfied,
the old snake was turned out in the
garden to catch bugs. Take note that
the garter-snake is oviparous.
Although snakes were very numer-
Gus in the region where my boyhood
was spent, and though most of my
leisure time was passed in outing by
flood and field, it was long before
saw a second incident of the kind, and
this time the actors were watersnakes,
supposed to be viviparous. RI say
suppose. for am by no means certain
of it. The mother snake was about
the largest I ever saw, and I came
upon her suddenly as I was fishing
down trout stream, very cautiously,
of course. 1t was evidently a surprise,
but she Strengthened herself, gave a
short, low hiss, and lay still with open
mouth. In much less time than il
takes to tell it, q lot of little snake
lings were rushing into her mouth and
disappearing with marvellous quick.
ness. At that time I was accustomed
to handling serpents, even rattlers,
without fear, and with some vague idea
that she would be q prize, made Q
dash to capture her alive. It was
rather a failure. Instead of attempt.
ing to dart overheard. as I expected.
she faced me savagely, and, as ]
! grabbed her with one hand around the
body, she whisked her tail about my
arm, turned, and gave me vicious
bite on the back of the hand. Al.
though / knew the bite was perfectly
harmless, itsomehow looked so wicked
and dangerous that Host my grip an6
allowed her to escape. It may b<
worthy Of mention that the Sigh.
wound did not swell or become In
famed and healed quickly. -Fores
and Stream.