Feliciana sentinel. [volume] (St. Francisville, La.) 1877-1892, 1891-05-30
MET IN THE DESERT.
Some Worry Interesting Specimens
OF Animal Life.

Some Worry Interesting Specimens
OF Animal Life.
recufiarittes Of tho Tarantufa Hawk-Tho'
Road Runner OF California Which
Preys on Rattlesnakes-Having
Fun with n Scorpion.
I've rrospectcd all over what the
gcographcrs call the great American
desert, aud think it's a pretty good
country. Some people might think it
lonesome. but that's all a matter of
taste 1t suits me because there is
plenty of elbow room. It's triflc dry,
! admit, and sometimes a man will get
pretty thirsty and think himself in big
luck to find n pool Of water that smells
SO that he has to hold his nose when he
drinks it, but one can get used to that.
And then it isn't so lonesome after you
get acquainted and know where to look
for nciG bors.
''Therc's plenty of life on the desert
not crowds OF human life, rushing
and tearing about like crazy ants. and
keeping up y din day and night that is
| enough to drive the whole world mad
but Interesting, sensible, natural life,
full of comedy, tragedy and even hu-
| NOR. If you feel lonesome you can
| find company anywhere by turning up
| rock or looking under the sagebush
! There's no lack of ingenious, curious
! little creatures whose ways are worth
| studying.
Take the tarantula hawk, for ex-
ample.
That's an insect built something
! like a wasp, or, perhaps, more like
! devils darning needle and it flies
about looking for tarantulas just as 4
hawk scars about keeping his We
peeled for gophers and such provendcr.
| When the hawk secs 4 tarantula he
goes for the big spider, swoops down
upon him, stings him and gets away
like 4 flash.
| "'rhc tarantuIa knows that his only
| show is to get under cover, and he legs
| it home in frantic haste. It's fun to
SEQ the big. hairy-lcGg d bully duck his
head and paddle off through the sand
as if the devil was after him-and the
devil is after him. sure enough. If the
tara utula * near his house he may cs-
cape by getting to it, tumbling in head
first and shutting the door tight, but
| hes got to hustle for it, because Lit .lc
Jack the Giant Killer is hustler him
self and keeps jabbing away at every
| i'!!ht. - Stft 'tffitS tSit tStto SftS ut
| out a great way from his castle his name
| is Dennis, and he knows it.
"IIc llops over upon his back to ma !tc
Il fight, and if he could get hold of the
! hawk in that position he would make
! short work of the little chap, but the
! hawk secs the trick, aud just Keeps
! sailing around and Watching for an
| opening, and when he catches the
| spider or guard he darts in, hits him a
| lick and gets away like II flash. Some
times the hawk will pretend to quit
and fly away, but the Instant the tar
antula is on his feet and scooting for
| shelter, whizz, comes the hawk like 4
bullet and socks it to him in the back
of the head. a few stings like that do
up the tarantula. He seems to become
| dizzy from the poison, staggcrs few
steps, and co1lapscs in a barry heap.
| His legs twitch few times, and that is
| the end of his nalcvolcnt career.
i've been calling the hawk he all
along, but it isn't that kind of II bird.
| The tarantula nemesis is the female
| hawk, so far as l can judge, because
after the spider is knocked out the
hawk proceeds to deposit eggs in the
remains, aud, suppose, the eggs are
hatchcd by the heat of decomposition.
Possibly the purpose of laying eggs in
Il dcfunct tarantula is to provide the
young hawks with grub at the thresh-
old of life, SO to speak.
! Whatever the scheme may be it is
death to tarantulas, and for that reason
| nobody ever harms a tarantula hawk.
The insects sting is said to be poison
| Gus to men, but l never knew one to
sting man.
Then there is the roadrunner, a ioy-
Gus, sociablc little fellow, whose busi-
ness in life is worrying rattlesnalles to
death. The road runner is a bird
| somewhat larger than a blue jay, with
Il saucy topl>pot and still saucicr tail
about u foot in length. He runs as fast
rs a horse ordinarily travels, and if he
once gets into the road ahead of q
| horscmau, he will race along for hours
and can't be driven out of the road. He
could skip aside and get out of the way
if he wanted to, but he seems to think
that it is his mission in life to keep
iust ahead of that horse, and nothing
! can drive him from that occupation
! HE is not in the least alarmed, and
when he gains too much of a lead he
! will stop and See-saw with his tail and
! chirrup merrily until the horse nearly
] catches up with him, when away he goes
again as if his life depended on his win
ming the race. When he wecries OF the
| sport he disappears in the brush.
II was riding across q cactus desert
| once, when q pair of road runners that
| had been racing with me turned out of
| the trail and became suddenly very
| rluch excited about something. They
| paid no more attention TO nc, and
rode up near enough to see what was
! roing on. They had run across bic
/ diamond bnciS rattier aud were pre-