The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1894-06-07

COuulS LOT Inc SnaQeleSS condition OF
the bush; but the mimosa is. more con-
siderate in this respect and affords a
little relief to the weary and sun
pafched Wayfarer. Well, [ had sat
down in the shade of mimosa, and
was just on the point Of doing off
to sleep when I became aware of the
presence of a dacelo in one Of the gum
trees III front Of me. He was sitting
motlonless on al cad limb, just as I
have seen his English namesake do
over q pond OF trout stream, and
suddenly he made q dash to within
a very short distance of the SPOT where
l sat, and presently flew back to his
perch with something. wriggling in his
bill. 1t was q snake, evidently, that
had been sleeping in the fierce sunshine
just beyond the shelter of the cllmD of
mimosa. Good gracious! that was "a
ther an escape. I must have passed
quite close to the deadly reptile, for
it was carpet snake, without doubt.
and had it bitten NEWELL this article.
and many more of which I have been
guilty since then, would never have
been written
Inc dacelo had seized the snake by
the neck and held it fast in spite of it's
violent struggles and writings, bang
ing It's head against the hard bough on
which he had perched, until he had re-
duced the evil-looling thing to a pulDy
condition, when he somewhat relaxed
his hold. braTing the body inch by
inch between his powerful mandibles
until the erstwhile formidable reptile
was reduced to q limp and lifelcss
mass, not unlike a strip Of recently
cut bullock hide. which he tossed into
the air, and, catching it very cleyerly
10y the tail, proceeded to engulf in his
capaclous NAV, where the coilel-up re-
mains of the serpent formed q pro-
jecting mass on the birds breast that
" was fully visible from the spot where
l sat watching intently the uncanny
proceedings.
The dacclo had been too much en-
crossed in capturing and preparing the
snake for his eating to take any no.
tice of me where i sat within :, few
yards Of him, but when he had dis
posed of the snake he caught sight of
me, rutf1ed up his feathers with 4
shrek compounded of laugh, groan and
Bray, and flew noisily off to digest his
capture in peace elsewhere. AS the in
testinal tract of the dacelo is compare
oA'NAJ oAAOAs u1SCSClOA N1Ul1 Hill ID uOL
q heightened process; consequently he
requires to eat often, as well rs freely,
and from early dawn to dusk is on the
lookout for prey, of which he consumes
an incredible quantity in the course Of
q day that varies slightly in length
throughout the antipodean year, the
great extremes of summer and winter,
days and nights, with which we are
familiar in these attitudes being there
unknown. No wonder, then, that the
laughing jackass-to give the bird his
colonial name-is a favorite with the
squatter and the bushman, and even
with the digger, though the last, in
his new chum'' stage, fresh from
|'home,'' holds nothing living sacred in
the new world, as his custom was in
the old, but pots the dacelo as freely as
he does the maybe or the pied or sing
ing crows. :"
A capital fellow, too, is that pied
crow, handsome and lively, and clever
to boot, and general favorite, as he
deserves to be, in the bush. True, his
coat can only boast of two colors, black
and white, and by no means displays
the Josephian blaze of many huas that