The Logan County banner. [volume] (Logan, W. Va.) 1889-1903, 1891-07-16

VINO, ana IN q few minutes he had piled
regular little corral OF cactus spines
all around the rattlesnake. Then the
pair Of them began to tan,alize the
snake, and by fyingp ~bims they pro-
voked him into striking at them.
with results disastrous to himself. for
every time he launched out he lit into
the cactus and got stuck full OF spines.
The more he got hurt the madder
ne grew, and 1t wasn't many minutes
before he was flashing about furiously
and tangling himself up with the cac-
tus. The road runners hoped about
IN great glee,s few at the snake and
made things hum generally, and occa-
sionaliy one of them would poke some
more cactus into the reptiles way to
add to his tribnlations. When the rat
tlesnake had just about got crazy and
was reckless OF his guard the road
runners flew up, lowered over him and
darted down at him whenever they saw
a good chance to hit him.
Their sharp bills did great cxecu-
ton and zitwasn.tl engzbe they had
the rattlesnake laid out as cold as a
wedge. They are great generals, these
road runners, and they always get
| away with the rattlesnake That's
why nobody ever shoots road runner
in California. q
Some of the lizards are funny little
chaps, and when you get used to them
and forget their reptilian appearance
they are pretty good company The
little fellows &bout as long as your
hnger can be tanned easily, and there is
no end of fun in watching their antics
The greasers declare that these lizards
are yenomous, but that isn't true. let
greaser tell you 1t, and everything
that crawls is poisonous. II you can
once get your hands upon a lizard with
out frightening him he Instant y makes
friends with you
The way to work it is to move your
hand slowly toward the little animal
when he is lying motionless, and touch
him as lightly as breath with the tip
OF your finger. Nine times out of ten
he will not be there long enough for
You to know thatlyouL have touched
him. He is as quick as fash of light,
and you can't see him Coy ons only
know that he is gone. But one time he
willIet you touch him. if you are gentle
enough, and then you lightly rub his
back and he begins to wriggle his tail
in delight ..5
After that he is your friend and
will take flies from the end of your.
finger, run around over your clothing
and explore your pockets and when
you eat he viii. climb upon Your leg,
cock his little head on one side, and
watch you with friendly interest.
There Is little lizard no bigger around
than q lead pencil, with long, slim
tail as blue as cobalt and smooth as
enamel. You can't tame him very
easily, and If you try to catch him the
blue tail breaks off like glass, and re.
mains in your hand,
There are other creatures not quite
SO 'clubable' as lizards and road run.
ners, but interesting in other ways.
Take the scorpion, for -exampie.4fie's
a bad fellow, and he has a mean trick
of hiding in your boots and singing
you when you put them on. But you
can have fun with him after fashion
Ii you want to bring out the best quail
tiles of the scorpion build a little corral
of dry leaves or paper around him and
set fire to it at all points. Make the
circle about foot in diameter. so that
the flames will not touch your prisoner
"When he sees the ring of fire the
scorpion will try to, escape, first at one
point and then at another. but tn
flames will drive him back every time,
and when he realizes that he istcom.
pletely surrounded he will retreat to
the center of the ring and deliberately
commit suicide by curling his tail over
and singing himself in the back. So
you see that nature sanctions suicide
under some circumstances in spite of
what the preachers say about it. The
scorpion teaches lesson that a man
had better. remember if he ever finds
himself in the. center of a gang OF
Apaches. San Francisco Examiner.