Sacramento daily record-union., 1888-10-20
SWALLOWING THEIR YeUSG.
P'ove Conclusive Upon Long Time
Mooted Question.

mooteu que esticn.
l have, on at least four occasions. stood
by and witnessed family of young snakes
disappear down the throat of the mother
She did not swallow them; she lust Law
straight with open mouth and allowed the
youngsters to go down her gullet 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 such times she happens to be
mighty handy to good hiding place, such
az ledge of rocks hole among old roots.
or, If watersnake, where she can flop into
the water in an instant Promising that |
was taught from my earliest recollections
to regard serpents as not only harmless
and useful, but beautiful as well (all save
the rattler), / will briefly narrate the Incl
dents above alluded to.
In the first case | was called by a sensi-
bic mother, who admired rather than
feared serpents, " to come and see the little
snakes hide" | hurried TO the spot, and
this IS what l saw. a large gartersnake
stretched to Its full length, and lot of
tiny snakes rapidly disappearing down her
throat. My mother meantime had united
her apron, and, as the last little snake dis
appeared, 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 stomach. As our
curiosity was satisfied, the old snake was
turned out in the garden to catch bugs.
Take note, that the gartersnake is oyipa-
rous.
Although snakes were very numerous in
the region where my boyhood was spent,
and though most of my leisure time was
passed in outing by food and field, it was
long before | saw a second incident of the
kind, and this time the actors were water
snakes, supposed to be viviparous. q say
supposed, for | am by no means certain of
it, The mother snake was about the
largest | ever saw, and | came upon her
suddenly as | was fishing down trout
stream, very cautiously, of course. 1t was
evidently surprise, but she Strengthened
herself, gave short, low hiss, and lay still
with open mouth. In much less time than
it takes to tell it, lot of little snakelings
were rushing into her mouth and disap-
pearing with marvellous quickness. At
that time | was accustomed to handling
serpents-even rattlers, without fear, and,
with some vague idea that she would be
prize, l made a dash to capture her alive.
1t was rather a failure. Instead of at
feminine to dart overheard aS I eypected
she faced me savagely, and, as l 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. Although / knew the bite was
perfectly harmless, it somehow looked so
wicked and dangerous that lost my grip
and allowed her to escape. IL may be
worthy of mention that the slight wound
did not swell or become infamed, and
healed quickly-Forest and Stream.