St. Landry democrat., 1891-09-12
SPUNkY LITTLE FIGHTERS
The King Snake Attacks and Kills Poison
Gus IseptiLes lrrcSpecuxe of Size

The King Snake Attacks and Kills Poison
Gus Reptiles irrespective of Size.
The king snake is the wonder of all
ophldlans, writes a Philadelphia Times
correspondent from Fort Davis, Texas.
A dimlnutive specimen, scarcely more
than three feet in length, yet the little
fellow is so active, SO wary and is en-
lowed with such rare pluck that, as his
name implies, he is truly aud unques-
tionHhv the king Of the family.
! was ont after peccaries, or musk
leg, AID sat down under Il bunch OF
&nA ""Fa}, near a stream of water, to
rest &"d ct a bit of lunch. While
~ emptoved | was somewhat startled
to see q mecca il come rushing through
the grass withln & couple OF yards Of
me ard go aasIing head over heels, so
to speak, splash into tue water. After
him, Ike a shot, was an elongated
streak of bright green. il he wcnt.
too, and then l knew there Was fun in
store The water was a sort of pool.
Without much OF an inlet or outlet, and,
unless by going across sand and rocks
Or by coming hack on shore again,
neither comb nta|t could escare.
Sure enough, af cr racing aud tear
ing around III the pool like mad, both
pursuer and persred emerged from the
opposite side, and proved to be, as /
thought, a cottonmou;h moccasin and a
rather small king snake. The latter
was after the ether, however, and be-
fore the big fellow gave up the race or
could throw himself into an attitude Of
defense the king snake was upon him.
The sole and entire power of the latter
reptile lies in his wonderful constructing
abilities. He has no fangs, no poison,
nothing to attack or defend himself with
save his coils, but these are so marvel
ously powerful and so terrible in com.
pressing that nothing in the animal or
reptile world, according to size, can be-
gin to compare with him for the es-
pecial quality.
No sooner had the m6ccasin stopped
and turned to defend himself than like
lightning his enemy jumped upon him
and preceded to squeeze the life out OF
his ugly carcass. Tighter and tighter
grew the coils, always arranged so that
the big Il cJu!d not strike, and pretty
soon the kin.'s body was nearly lost to
view, so e"der had it grown from the
construction and so deep was he in the
fat flesh OF the moccasia. It looked
Ike a green curd wound tightly around
the iatter's body.
At last the moccasin ceased resistance
and allowed his body to hang loose and
inert. For ten minutes longer did the
king snake hold his grip, then gradually
loosened it, but always ready to resume
bis squeezing should his enemy exhibit
any signs of life. Finally he uncoiled
himself entirely, saw that the moccasin
was no more, turned his back on the
scene and went gliding through the
In some parts Of Texas king snakes
are quite numerous. In the low lands,
md especially in meadows and river
bottoms, they are found in great num-
oers. Nobody harm them, neither
nor negroes, and even Mexicans
ieem to understand their good qualities,
or they seldom if ever harm one.
When soldiers are in camp and find a
great many king snakes in the vicinity,
hey know it is a good sign, for poison
us snakes will steer clear of that
and never visit it while there
) L of the royal breed about.