The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-05-08
Is THE SNAKE wRoNGEpq
A Pike County Man Writes About
Pretty and Harmless Reptiles.

| From the NeD York Sun.
! People have an Unborn, low-down opin-
ion Of snakes" said man from Pike county.
Everything that is bad or mean or loath-
some they never hesitate to associate with
the name of snake. This isn't the peoples
fault. 1t is the result of ignorance 1t is
their misfortune not to know the
| snake. II they could only come
| into closer communion with snakes and study
them without prejudice they would find
that the populnr estimate of these tAterest-
! ages of injustice. That unfortunate affair
in the Garden of Eden ought to be sufficient
| evidence that the snake is smart. little
| circumstance of more recent occurrence,
which 1 want to tell you about, will con-
vince any one that the snake Is by no means
| bad.
THE water snake, although pretty and
| harmless, is one OF the most unpopular
| members of the ophidian race. This is
| probably because he has rare tooth for tsh,
| and especially for trout, Of which he takes
| great many away from the angler every
| year. And, when you come to think Of 1t,
| why hasn't he as good right to them as
| the angler9 Anyhow, whether he is or not,
he shows that he has u delicate sense Of what
| is good by his partiality for trout.
lone day was fishing Tor trout up in
| Pike county, and saw water snake drop
| down into the creek from an alder, only a
| few yards ahead of me- and presently come
out on the other side of the stream with a
| trout In its mouth. / at that time shared
the popular dislikes for snakes, and when |
saw this one with the trout became so en-
| ragged that picked up a stone and threw it
at the snake. The stone struck the snake a
foot or 30 above its tail and disabled it. 1t
dropped the fish. which was still alive, and
the trout Topped back into the water. The
snake lay writhing on the ground, and l
was cruel enough to pass on, leaving it to
die, as believed, IN agony, because OF my
adherence of its kind.
The next day, fishing she same stream
again, as l approached the spot where l had
stoned the water snake i saw a kinRfsher
sitting on a dead limb above pool in the
brook. knew it was watching for fish,
| and | stopped to see whether the bird would
| catch one had to wait but a very short
time. The kingfisher pumped like a shot
| down into the water, disappeared for a mo-
| ment, and came up with good sized club
in its bill. expected, of course, to see the
bird fly away home with its catch, but in
stead of that it flew to the side of the creek,
and to my surprise laid the club on the
| ground in front of a snake that | hadn't
| noticed before. g. 1t was the water snake |
had hit with the stone the day before. 1t
| was not dead, but had been unable to move
| away from the spot where the stone had
| crippled it. AS the kingflsher laid the fish
in front Of the snake the latter seized it
and proceeded TO gorge it. The kingfisher
few back to its limb, went to fishing again,
soon caught another fish, and few away
| with it to its nest.
| NOW a half-witted man couldn't have
help but understand what this all meant at
q glance. The wounded snake, unable to
| move, and consequently unable to get any
thing to eat, had been discovered in its
sad plight by the kingdsher, and the king
| fisher being a tender hearted bird, had taken
| pity on it, and was feeding it to keep it
| alive. until its wound healed and it was
able to do for itself again. This touched
| me, and l resolved to let the snake alone
| and see what the outcome of the incident
would be. / didn't get back on the creek
| again for three or four days after that, and
when got down to where the snake had
lain 1t was gone. OF course l had no means
| OF knowing what had become of it, but
naturally concluded that it had recovered
| and had gone away.
! while Istool there the king1sher alighted
| on the dead limb again, ami sat there as
| motionless as knot, watching for chance
| to catch a fish. A kingfsher fishing is al
| ways an interesting sight TO mo, and so |
| waited again to see the result of this vigil
/ had TO wait good while this time, for
the bird was evidently intent on big game
| while he sat there watching, fishhawk ap-
| peared, high up, circling around over the
creek, looking for dinner himself. BY and
by the kingfshers opportunity came. He
shot into the water, came out with a nice
trout. and started for home. l don't know
! whether the fishhawk had had his micro
| scopio eye on that trout or not, but if he
| had, he didn't intend to be done out of it by
the kingfisheT. The latter had gone scarce
| Iy rod when down on him the f1shhawk
| bounced and lively but short struggle for
| possession OF the trout ensued. The king
| fisher finding the fight too hot for Lin,
| dropped the trout. IL fell on the ground
but before the hawk could fasten his talons
in 1t snake shot out of the bushes like a
flash. grabbed the trout and shot back out
Of sight in the bushes again. AS soon as
| the kingtsher dropped the trout IL flew
back to the dead limb and went to fishing
| again. | never saw anything surprised
| quite as much as that hawk was when he
saw the trout disappear in the bushes. He
| lowered over the spot minute or so, as if
he couldn't believe his eyes and then sailed
| away.
"'Wellr said l to myself that wise
old snake just lay low and got the best of
| both of themn
| II was about to start on again, when |
| saw a movement in the bushes at the foot
| of the tree the kingf1sher was on. looked,
| and out came the snake with the trout in its
| mouth. 1t paused moment at the foot of
the tree, and then climbed up. The snake
made its way out on the limb where the
kingfisher was sitting, looking very disoon-
ISOLATE, and touched the bird on the side
The kingfisher turned quickly. around,
looked surprised for a moment. and then
took the trout the snake handed over to
him, and few away home. The snake went
back down the tree and disappeared in the
| bushes.
lit was all plain enough to me then.
The snake was the one had wounded and
the kingtlsher had been Good Samaritan to,
and it had taken this opportunity to show
it's gratitude to the kind hearted bird.
From that minute I changed my opinion
OF snakes, for felt that had never known
them before"
| What tha Parsnn Paid to Praach