Waterbury evening Democrat., 1893-06-20
G ( n

snake won't. Neither will black snake; but, as 8 matter of fact, the king snake is only species of blacksnake. Nothing in the snake line suits this family of ophidians better than that most terrible of reptiles, the rattle snake. Squirrels, frogs, rabbits, birds and other fat, juicy, edible things of the animal kingdom that human epicures delight in, are particularly choice to the taste of the kingsnake and its cousin, the blackSnake, but either one of these discriminating serpents will give the squirrel, the frog, the rabbit or the bird the go-by if it scents a rat tlesnalle in the air. And if there is a rattlesnake anywhere within a ten-acre lot, where one of these creeping epicurea S looking out for something to eat, it will know it at once and proceed to gather it in.
 'I had once a striking proof of the pugnacity and wonderful capacity of a kingsnal1e in dealing with a rattler, and also of the remarkable tenacity of the rattler under most disadvantageous circumstances. Naturally one would think that the rattlesnalxe, armed as it is with its deadly poison and apt means IO uSC IL "OulNL OO GAAC 1Sho U thing to be attacked by snake entire ly harmless in that respect; and that at tackled by one of that kind it would make short work of such preposterous assailant But the fact is that venomous snakes stand in mortal fear of non- venomous ones. A rattler, loaded with enough poison to kill bear, will turn and fly in terrorif it should meet an s,, sks, l, Venomous snakes never fight among themselves, but non-venomouS snakes are their mortal enemies-none more so than the blacksnake family. Usually a kingsnalSe will engage a rattler and make short work of it, five minutes being sufficient to enable the former to crush it's venomous victim to death. But on the peculiar occasion I refer to, the fight between kingsnake and l the rattler it had set out to gather in lasted eleven hours. l was spending a season with a friend of mine on the Texas border, and one day as I was strolling over the prairie l came upon | two snakes rolling and tumbling about | in the grass, in deadly combat l soon | discovered that the combatants were a | kingsnake and 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 llingsnake had his | jaws fastened in the rattlesnake's | neck, or rather an inch or two below | the neck, and knew from the nature | and positions of the two reptiles thai l the kingsnalle had been trying his best to encircle the rattler in his constrict ! ing folds, while the rattler had beer | struggling just as desperately to pre- I vent it.
 s'The secret of the fearlessness anG
 bold aggressiveness with which black snake or kingsnalle attacks rattler although one stroke of the rattler's fangs would be death to it, is its su perior agility and strategic genius. The rattler, like all venomous snakes, i: sluggish in it's movements while un
 coiled, and depends entirely on the lightning-like thrust of its head and {
 portion of it's body and the deadly
 plunge of it's fangs when 1t IS colled fol
 action. The blaclzsnake and the king
 snake draw this fire of the rattler, so tC
 speak, by their strategic movement
 close to the deadly serpent, but out O.
 it's reach, and then dart upon it like ;
 flash before it can get itself in shape t' defend itself again. They seize thu
 rattlesnake by the neck, as close Co th
 head as they can, and thus prevent
 from using it's fangs on them. Th
 rattler has no constructive powers
 The blaclzsnakes are genuine con
 strictors, being of the same family a
 the boas and anacondas. Having spiked
 the rattler's guns, they get him within
 their powerful folds, and that is tn
 end of him.
 "Now, owing to some miscalculatiol
 in his aim, the kingsnake that hal
 tackled the rattler on the occasion l au
 speaking about had seized his victin
 an inch or two further back of tn
 head than he should have done, am
 when they resumed their battle, afte
 the rest they took soon after cam