The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1892-07-16
ALL A MISTAKE.
A Story Which Proves That Injustice Has
Been Done the Snake.

or mean or loathsome they never hesi-
tate to associate with the nare of
snake. This isn't the peoples fault
Il is the result of ignorance. 1t is their
misfortune not to know the snake. If
they could only come into closer com
munion with snakes and study them
without prejudice they would find that |
the popular estimate of these interest |
ing and intelligent reptiles has done |
them ages of injustice. That unfortu-
nate affair in the Garden of Eden ought |
to be sufficient evidence that the snake |
Is smart. A little circumstance of more |
recent occurrence, which l want to tell |
you about, will convince any one that
the snake is by no means bad.
"The water snake, although pretty
and harmless, is one of the most unpop-
ular members of the ophidian race
This is probably because he has rare
tooth for fish, and especially for trout,
of which he takes a great many away
from the angler every year. And, when
you come to think of it, why hasn't he
as good u right to them as the angler?
Anyhow, whether he has or not, he
shows that he has delicate sense of
what is good by his partiality for trout.
zone day l was fishing for trout up
| in Pike county, and / saw water snake
| drop down into the creek from an alder,
only few yards ahead of me, and
presently come out on the other side of
the stream with trout in its mouth
at that time shared the popular dislike
| for snakes, and when | saw this one
with the trout / became SO enraged that
| | picked up stone and threw it at the
snake The stone struck the snake Il
foot or so above it's 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 | was cruel enough to
pass on, leaving it to die, as l believed,
in agony, because of my adherence of
| its kind
"Thc next day, fishing the same
stream again, as | approached the spot
where had stoned the water snake,
saw llingfsher sitting on dead limb
above pool in the brook. | knew it
was watching for q fish and | stopped
to see whether the bird would catch
one. had to wait but u very short
time. The kingfsher pumped like Il
shot down into the water, disappeared
for moment and came up with u
| gopd-SiZea club in it's bill. ! expected,
of course, to see the bird fly away home
with its catch, but instead of that it
flew to the side of the creek and to my
surprise laid the club on the ground in
front of snake that | hadn't noticed
before. 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 llingfisher
laid the fish in front of the snake, the
latter seized it and proceeded to gorge
it, The ltingfsher flew back to it's
limb, went to fishing again, soon caught
another fish, and flew away with it to
its nest
Now half-witted man couldn't
have helped but understand what this
all meant at glance. The wounded
snake, unable to move, and consequent
iy unable to get anything to eat. had
been discovered in its sad plight by the
llingfsher, and the kingfisher, being d
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 | resolved to let the snake alone
and see what the outcome of the incl
dent 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 it was gone
OF course had no means of knowing
what had become of it, but naturally
concluded that it had recovered and
gone away.
"While | stood there the llingfishet
alighted on the dead limb again, and
sat there as motionless as knot, watch.
ing for Il chance to catch fish. A king
fisher fishing is always an interesting
sight to me, and so l waited again to
see the result of this vigil. | had tc
wait good while this time, for the bird
was evidently intent on big gam.
!, | While he set there watching, fish
hawk appeared, high up, circling around
over the creek, looking for dinner
himself. by and by the llinglisher's op-
portunity came. He shot into the water,
came out with q nice trout and started
for home. didn't know whether tn ,
, fishhawlS had had his microscopic eye
, on that trout or not, but if he had, he
: didn't intend to be done out of it by the
kingtisher The latter had gone scarce
, ly a rod when down on him the fish.
hawk pounced and Il lively but short
t struggle for possession of the trout en-
sued. The kingfsher finding the fight
/ to hot for him, dropped the trout. 1t
t fell on the ground, but before the
hawk could fasten his talons in it Il snal
, shot out of the bushes like II flash,
grabbed the trout and shot back out OF
sight in the bushes again. AS soon us
the kingfsher dropped the trout it few
back to the dead limb and went to fish
! ing again. never saw anything sur
. prised quite as much as that hawk was
when he saw the trout disappear in the
; bushes lie lowered over the spot min
ute or so, as if he couldn't believe his
eyes, and then sailed away.
= ''Wellw said to myself. That wise
a old snake just lay low and got the best
, of both of themv
II was about to start on again, when
= l saw n movement in the bushes at the
) foot of the tree the kingfisher was on
: | looked and out came the snake with the
trout in its mouth. Itpaused moment
a at the foot of the tree, and then climbed
I it. The snake made its way out on the
s limb where the kingfisher was sitting
, looking very disconsolate, and touched