The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1893-08-08
A SNAKE DUEL.
1t Lasted Eleven Hours, and Then the
kingsnake Won.

say, but a snake that enjoys making
its dinner on another snake won't miss
its meal because the s, axe it has set
out to dine on is a good deal bigger
than ITSELF" said a naturalist. cat
least a kingsnake won't. Neither will
a blacksnake; but, as a matter of fact,
the kingsnake is only a species of
0lacksnake. Nothing in the snake line
suits this family Of Ophidians better
than that most terrible of reptiles, the
rattlesnake. Squirrels, frogs, rabbits,
birds and other fat, juicy, edible things
OF the animal kingdom that human
eplcures delight in, are particularly
choice to the taste of the kingsnake
and its cousin, the blacksnake, but
either one of these discriminating ser
penis will give the squirrel, the frog,
the rabbit or the bird the go-by if it
scents a rattlesnake in the air. And
If there is a rattlesnake anywhere
within a ten-acre lot, where one of
these creeping epicures is looking out
for something to eat, it will know it at
once and proceed to gather it in.
II had once a striking proof Of the
pugnacity and wonderful capacity of a
kingsnake in dealing with a RATHER,
and also of the remarkable tenacity of
the RATHER under most disadvantageous
circumstances. Naturally one would
think that the rattlesnake, armed as
it is with deadly poison and apt means
to use it effectually, would be the last
thing to be attacked by O snake entire
ly harmless in that respect; and that
attacked by one of that kind it would
make shore work of such a ~preposter-
GUS assailant. But the fact is that
venOmOus snakes stand in mortal fear
of non-venomous ones. A RATHER,
loaded with enough poison to kill a
bear, will turn and fly in terror if it
should meet an insignificant garter
snake in it's path. Venomous snakes
never fight among themselves, but
non venomous snakes are their mortal
enemles-nOne more so than the black
snake family. Usually a kingsnake
will engage a rattler and make short
work Of it, five minutes being sufficient
to enable the former to crush it's ven
omous victim to death.
But on the peculiar occasion I refer
to, the fight between a kingsnake and
the RATHER it had set out to gather in
lasted eleven hours. I was spending a
season with a friend of mine on the
Texas border, and day as I was
strolling yer the prairie I came upon
two snakes rolling and tumbling about
in the grass, in deadly combat. Isoon
discovered that the combatants were a
kingsnake and a rattlesnake. Their
movements were so rapid that it was
some time before I could determine
just what the prospects were for either
one Or the other, but at last the round
came to an end and the combatants
rested. Then I saw that the kingsnake
had his jaws fastened in the rattle
snakes neck, or rather an inch or two
below the neck, and / knew from the
nature and positions of the two reptiles
that the kingsnake had been trying his
best to encircle the RATHER in his con
stricting folds, while the RATHER had
been struggling just as desperately to
prevent it.
"The secret of the fearlessness and
bold aggressiveness with which a
blacksnake or a kingsnake attacks a
RATHER, although one stroke of the
rattler's fangs would be death ID it, is
it's superior agility and strategic genius.
The RATHER, like all venomous snakes,
is sluggish in it's movements while I'm
coiled, and depends entirely on the
lightning-Iike thrust Of it's head and a
portion of it's body and the deadly
plunge of its fangs when it is coiled for
action. The blacksnake and kingsnake
draw this fire of the RATHER, so tospeak,
by their strategic movements close to
the deadly serpent, but out Of its reach,
and then dart upon it like a flash be-
fore it can get itself in shape to defend
itself again. They seize the rattlesnake
by the neck, as close to the head as
they can, and thus prevent it from
using it's fangs on: them. The RATHER
has no constructive powers. The black
snakes are genuine constructors, being
of the same family as the boas and ana
condas. Having spiked the rattler's
guns, they get him within their power
full folds, and that is the end of him.
"Now, owing to some miscalculation
in his aim, the kingsnake that had
tackled the RATHER on the occasion 1
am speaking about had seized his vic