Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1889-01-17
Old Times.

Ed. Registtr-In one of the lat
numbers of the REGISTER / saw an ar
ticle taken from the New York Times
The title was "Snakes and Reptiles.
Among the things spoken of the writ
er said: "Many people have got TIT
idea that snakes haye the power t.
charm or fascinate, which is great mis-
take" Now, / DO not wish to contra
dict the writer, for he may never have
had the opportunity to know any bet
ter. But old hunters who have spen
years and years in the woods auc
mountains, among wild animals anC
birds and snakes and reptiles, at al
seasons and all times of the day anC
year, do have a pretty good opportuh'
ity to learn the ways and habits Of al
kinds Of beasts and reptiles. A man
who has made bunting a life bushes
is always on the alert. If he hears any
unusual sound that moment he stops
to listen and waits patiently for the
sound to be repeated, or if he sees any
unusual sign he stops to nvestigate, ,noI
will he leave the place until he is fully
satisfied in his mind who and what has
made the sign.
Now, let me speak of something [
have seen and heard in the years |
spent in the woods and mountains.
And my experie, ce hes not been very
slight oEe, for, as | have said before. l
spent years of my early lifein the wilds
with the wild beasts and birds and
snakes and reptiles. | have started
out in the early morning with my rifle
on my shoulder, along the creeks and
rocky points of the mountains, where
all kinds of snakes love to cOngregate,
Just to shoot their heads off; and how
many. many, / have killed in a days
hunt. Snakes of all kinds, and all siz-
es, and cOlors, and one of the most
hateful kinds was the cotton mouth;
how many cotton mouths [ have shot
in the Shut In and on Bruer's creek l
don't know; and rattlesnakes by the
hundred. | have, in some of these
snake hunts, seen some very interest
ing things. One lovely June day l
had been out in the mountains hunting.
On my return home, ebout eleven
O'Clock. / had come near field. where
was a path which the cattle had made
along the outside of the field. On each
side of the path was dense growth OF
bushes about as high as my head. AS
| was walking along leslurely heard
a faint, bat peculiar, cry or chlrp. L
stopped and listened. Again L heard it;
it sounded to come from the direction
of the path along the fence. l stood
and listened and kept my eyes wide
open, for I knew something was in dis
tress. Soon 1 heard the sound repeat
ed. I commenced to move slowly and
carefully along towards tue sound inch
by inch, step by step. AS I drew near
I saw little bird fly up in the air a
few feet above the tops of the bushes,
then turn and fly down towards the
ground and up on the other side, then
back down and up, back and forward,
At each turn the bird would utter a
low, faint chirp, each time more pitifu!.
and carefully | went on un-
til at last I saw through a small open
ing in the bushes two bright stars, just
as bright as diamonds. So bright they
fairly sparkled; in a moment they
changed to the most brilliant green,
then to red, then yellow, and so on, in
quick succession from one color to an
other, and all the time could see them
way back and forti. Each time the
little bird made the descent it would
come little nearer to those beautiful
gems, with eyes wide open, and little
nearer | saw stretched along that path
an enormous rattlesnake with his head
raised about foot from the ground,
bis head swaying back and forth. Oh,
yes, you old devil, is that the way you
treat the little innOcents; I'll spoil your
fun. / gave ciear, keen whistle. AS
luick as thought those precious gems
were hiden out OF sight, and that little
bird flew a few feet and fell exhausted
to the ground. That old rattler threw
himself into a coil, with head erect
ready to strike any approaching foe. l
raised my rifle to my face and drew
down on his head and touched the trig-
ger. At the crack of my rifle / shot
that rattler's head off so clean and so
quick he did not know his head was
gone for as mnch as minute. How
he did make those rattles sing for
while! / went and picked up the bird,
but il was dead. AS sat down on
log and looked at that poor little bird
how forcily the scence in the garden
came to my mind. The serpent is the
most subtle of all the beasts of the
field.
On another occasion / and my old
pard went out hunting. Off at dis
tance we saw grey squirrel running
I'D the side Of very large tree, chat
tering and making great noise. His
hair was all ruffied up and the bush of
his tail looked larger than the squirrels
to-day. When he had almost reached
the large limbs Of the tree, he turned
around and started down the tree as if
scoIding something. My old pard said
"bold on; there is something at the
foot of Il. g tree. Now watch, carefully,
and you will see what you will see" !"
All this time the squirrel was running