Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1889-04-03
THE SNAKES OF TEXAS.
A Great Variety Of Reptiles In
the Lone Star State.
Peculiarities OF tho Thunder snake-Tho
Elongated and Swift COaoh-whip-Rat-
tlesnake Pilots and Their Conn
paniOns, the True RattIers.

Texas possesses, perhaps, as great a
variety OF the serpent family as can be
found any where on the globe, writes cor
respondent of the New York Times. To men,
ton few that have come under my own
personal observation would be to name not
one-tenth of the varieties indigenous to this
blessed country.
Thunder snakes are by no means COM
mon In Texas, and yet they are often en-
countered by prairie. travellers, especially be-
fore and after thunderstorms. Flashes of
lightning and claps of thunder, which are
SO terrifying TO bipeds and quadrupeds,
seem TO have the greatest charm and de-
light for these members of the ophidian fam
lily. Whenever a thunderstorm comes up
these snakes have a regular picnic. They
come crawling out of holes, from behind
rocks and rotten STUN ps and enjoy the fun
while it lasts. Their nature is quarrelsome,
their character fierce, and they are aggres-
slve In high degree, which qualities are
remarkable in being possessed by serpent
thatIs both fangless and innocuous.
The black snake is so well known TO all
North America that it is hardly worth MOTTO
ing him from this point of the world. We
have two species in Texas; one which inhab-
It's marShy places, ponds, creek bottoms and
shady spots, and another that lives IN the
mountains, among the rocks, and in the
woods where dead dry leaves are plentiful
aud young birds numerous. He is not
constructor and he rs not poisonous. Nearly
all striking serpents have fangs, usually
loaded with poison, while the constructors
seldom If ever strike. preferring to afiec-
tionately squeeze their enemies to death.
Green grass snakes, which are perfectly
beautiful in this latitude; bead snakes like
wise, malk, corn, garter and runners are
entirely too common 70 discuss
Coach whips are remarkable in this coun-
try for their tremendous length and their
surprising speed. The form of the reptile
is elegantly slender, his coloring is Of the
most delicate beauty, and his constructing
powers are scarcely even surpassed by
boas, anacondas or pythons. He is cream
or clay colored, very much like the hard
baked prairie over which he gldes, Is very
long in proportion TO his diameter, and his
scales are arranged in such a manner that
they closely resemble the plated leather of
whip. The movements Of the coach. whip
are like chain lightning Not endowed with
poison, yet has he tremendous power Of
locomOtion and terrible strength in his
Ong, slender coifs, which he wraps about
and entangles the limbs in such fashion,
binding them to the body, and rendering
his victim perfectly helpless. He forms his
coils into living ksSso, which are capable Of
crushing almost any thing within the deadly
rings.
A Mexican warned me upon my arrival in
this country to beware Of the coach whip ss
lwould Of a rattlesnake, for friend of has,
after chasing one for some distance and see
ing it dart into a hole, seized the reptile by
the tail and dragged it forth. Like fash
the snake threw itself upon the man, en-
veloping him in coil after coil, and would
have squeezed the life out of him had not
my informer, who CHANGED to be near,
caught it by the tail and unwrapped the
coils. This is very easy matter to do, for
while his constructing powers are great, yet
a child catching him by the tail could easily
unwind his bands.
Only recently, while going through a
prairie-dog village a few hundred yards
from this post, saw zigzag yellow streak
darting across the ground, which proved to
be seven-foot coach whip followed him
at the top Of my speed, but he led me q
lively chase before l was able to overtake
him. 1t was a neck-and-neck race for a
few minutes, but at last l gave him rap
with long stick held in my hand, which
produced an instantaneous crisis. He
leaped upon that stick like shot, and in
less than a second was squeezing it with all
his force. l dropped the stick and let him
smashed his head with a stone and skinned
him.
Rattlesnake pilots are a sure indication
that the true RATHER is somewhere In the
vicinity. They seem to desire the company
OF their dangerous kinsmen, and by some
people pilots arc often mistaken for the
true breed. They are in reality ground
rattlesnakes, with the same diamond-back
markings, are slightly poisonous, have a
short, thick, chunky body, but no sign Of
rattle about them. There is another snake
in Texas known as the pilot. He is also
slightly poisonous, boasts large, yellow
stripes along his body, and is covered with
beautiful yellow zigzag lines on both sides
AS rule, poisonous and non-poisonous
snakes are eternal enemies. The most
deadly serpent we have in America is the
rattlesnake. The most harmless of ophid-
ians are the bull, black and king snakes, all
Of whom will tackle a1d kill q rather with
out the least hesitation. There is no more
deadly reptile in the world, not excepting
the cobra OF Asia, the HAZE of Africa, or
the Fer-de-Lanoe Of Martinique than the
terrible, bloated rattlesnake Of the staked
plains of Texas.
A few miles north Of this point begins
this famous desert, and here are to be
found the largest, most active and most
dangerous rattlesnakes in the world Six
feet is an ordinary length and ten inches a
moderate circumference. Recovery from
their venom is excessively rare. In Au-
gust they become large, yellow, bloated
things, and it is at this time of the year
that the Apache Indians seek them out to
obtain poison for their arrows. A deer's
liver, smoking hot, is torn out and laid be-
fore the reptile He is punched and
angered so that he strikes it again and
again, the morsel turning a blue-black
from the poison, even before the snake has
finished striking
This delightful morsel is then placed high
on pole to rot and decompose in the sun,
after which it is brought down and the ar
rows stuck into it, they being afterward
dried in the sun to retain the poison-a
most cruel, devilish, horrible custom
among the worst Indians on the continent.