St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1892-10-01
THE SNAKES CHARM.

i u0t0600Iu0R BX0Gkue
ments with . Couple Of Rsttiers.
Some twenty years ago the naturalist
Brehm procured q couple of able bodied
rattlesnakes and turned them loose in
. well-lighted garret, where he could
observe all their movements without
betraying his presence. At first his pris-
oncrs stuck to their lair in the recess Of
IN open box. but on the morning Of the
third day they began to show symptoms
of appetite and the professor treated
them to q breakfast of live blackbirds.
About five minutes after the appear
ance OF the newcomers one Of the
snakes left her headquarters and
crawled across to the corner next to the
front window, while her mate took
post behind \ waterpot near the center
Of the room. The birds were too busy
to notice them at all There were three
| windows in the garret, and in spite O!
constant collisions the temptation b
regard the attempt at escape in q light
ward direction seemed too much I.
mind such inferior incidents rs thi
maneuvers Of . crawling object on, the
floor. The front window with its large
tractivc, and the ambushcd snake ha6
Just contracted her coils for the thirc
time when the descent of . afluttcrin2
bird gave her q chance to bring matters
to crisis.
mo need of charming in this case"
thought the professor when the stricken
blackbird rccoiled with . frightened
squawk. But there was still need of
patience. For nearly q minute tho
doomed bird huttcred about in an aim
less way before the chemicals began to
his side with half-opeDed wings m
He was too far gone even to keep on
his legs, and only then the snake
crawled up to take possession of her
prey, though she had all along watched
her victim with glittering eyes
The anatomical examinaEion Of q rat
tlesnake or copperhead would explain
that sequence of events. The fangs Of !
. poisonous serpent. are attached only
by . flexible ligament, and are not
strong enough to hold a struggling ami
NAL. though they are extremely well
adapted for administering a snap bite.
Now, the effect of the virus, even on
very small cres lures, is not absolutely
instantaneous The bite of our west
ern rattlesnake will kill . squirrel In
five minutes, . paisano or roadrunner |
in three or four minutes, but even .
mouse or . young quail has time to run
a few steps toward its hiding place and |
apparently out of reach Of the coilinR /
snake. There il no direct pursuit /
The snake can afford to wait, we'll |
knowing that the delirium Of the poison |
fever will drive the dying mouse out Of |
his hole and the bird out of its retreat
in the tangled briars. In the, mean
time, however, . semi-scientific witness
Of the tragedy may come along and
ascribe the possibility of the finale to
the strange glittering of the serpent's
eyes, which all along have followed the
of her quarry. Il
Prot Brehm repeated this experiment
with sparrowA gopher$, common rats,
weasles, quAils, woodpeekers and mead
DIV larks, and always with IN anslo-
gous result except in the case of .
that made its way 10 the
top Of the window and died out Of reach
If the serpent In every other case the
rictim 1t first made its escape. but was
captured In srticulo mortis. after BE-
traying its waning strength By all sorts
Il curious symptosnA Even the weasel
ave up its attempt At retaliation after
! short struggle, and in it last mo.
nents staggered out Of its hiding place
md finally directly towards the
enemy.-San Francisco
chronicle.