Cottonwood report. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1893-1901, 1893-10-13
cream on almost every Dough
dense fiocks. like onr common

blackblE hamingoes, ibises. roseatt
spoonbiils, pelicans and other aquatic and
wading birds haunt the margins of the
lake at all times, and raccoons and oppos
sums. bay lynxes, offers, foxes and marsh
mares are abundant enough to arouse the
avarice of even an amateur trapper.
Deer. bears and pumas are numerous on
the uplands, and turkeys haunt the con.
tiguous forests, where mast is abundant.
Snakes are also unusually common. every
water hole and clump of bushes seeming
to have its own colony One is likely to
see over u hundred within an hour or two.
and probably three times that number in
day. The most numerous species are the
water and upland moccasins, but rattle
snakes are also very abundant, and king.
whip, chicken and black snakes are FIRE.
quently encountered. When the ophidians
are thick they exhale sickening odor.
which produces vomiting in some persons,
this being particularly true of rattlesnakes
and mocassins.
The lake has lost much of it's water ow-
ing to extremely warm weather and a
scarcity of rain and this forced the fish to
seek refuge in shallow pools, where they
furnished feast to owls, buzzards, 'coors
and 'possums, snakes and saurians. Thou.
sands OF fish could be seen futtering about
in the last stages of exhaustion, while
thousands more lay putrefying on the mar
gins of the lake or were being devoured by
foxes, 'coons or possums.
The latter creatures had probably never
seen man until they met Judge Harri
sons party, and they were so Indifferent to
the hunters of this expedition that they
scarcely deigned to glance at them rs then
passed by
All animals in the region displayed the
same fearlessness, the deer merely scruti-
nizing them with fatuous curiosity, the
bears snuffing the air, as If trying to decide
to what class Of creatures they belonged,
and the hugest alligators in Florida pay
ing no attention to their presence.
The conelike nests of the saurians are one
OF the most marked features of the land
scape, Ms they are extraordinarily abundant
and seem to have been in existence for
many years. Young reptiles are, as con
sequence, very common, and rs they are
always ready for fight, person must be
careful not to approach them too closely.
The wild hogs so common on the gulf
coast OF Florida have not yet migrated as
far toward the interior as Sawgrass lake,
but some hunters hope they may soon find
eAOii way tOWdCu IL III OTtleT 10 destroy the
numerous snakes that make its borders a
scene Of horror
Mosquitoes fly in swarms there during
the rainy season, and are 20 persistent in
their attacks that explorers are compelled
to make their bed between two or more
fires if they would get any sleep These
winged plaques, like the snakes and sau-
rians, are in state of Information during
the winter and do not appear in seriously
annoying numbers until May or June
Sportsmen can therefore safely visit this
region between December and April and
revel in such venatic adventures as they
never thought of in their widest dreams.
They must take guides with them or they
are likely to wander for days among the
broad savannas, which seem to be vast,
monotonous level of grass and water or
jungle of cypress. Washington Star