The Portland daily press., 1894-08-03

in it's talons burden that APPARENTLY
| worried it. l noticed that the bird COM
menced to show signs of weakness, but
was somewhat surprised when moment
or two later the bird descended rapidly
and soon fell to the ground. Fastening
to the spot [ found the eagle dying, yet
hrmy grasping in its powerful talons a
large sized ferret as its prey. The ami
NAL was fighting frantically for freedom
and had killed its captor. The eagle
had evidently stolen a march upon its
cunning victim, out greatly mistook its
game The ferret was held in such a
manner as to iufict on vital injury.
It's head being entirely at liberty it had
torn and lacerated It's captor in a terri
BILE manner and at last killed it. The
| eagle was a monster, measuring nearly
nve feet from tip to tip. / killed the
ferret and had the pair mounted in their
warliko attitude"
Amy one who has watched the guls
and other tish-catching birds along our
coast must have discovered how keen is
their sight and how cunningly they dis
| cover school of fish long before fin
has disturbed the surface of the water"
said Catain E. NJ. Bates of New Bedford,
at the Laclede last night. "Oftentimes
when at sea have tested the vision OF
gulls that happen near my ship, to the
great amusement of the passengers.
remember one occasion when the snip
was going along at a pretty rapid rate.
L noticed a number of gulls following
closely in our wake. apparently on the
watch for anything that might be thrown
overheard. Going to the cabin, pro-
cured a small biscuit and, returning to
the deck, prepared to show the passegers
the wonderful powers of vision possessed
| by these birds. Breaking the biscuit
into small pieces, the largest Of which
was less than an inch square, I dropped
it into the seething waters, just under
the bow of the vessel. 1t was of the same
! color as the Kissing foam into which it
was of course, rapidly carried astern.
| Once dropped, it was utterly invisible to
our eyes, and we could only guess as to
| its whereabouts, but before il had fallen
| thirty yards astern large gull detecte d
it, and with a neadlong dart dipped into
the foam and secured it. With equal
| dexterity the other bits were picked up,
one by one, the gulls at last venturing
SO close to the vessel that they seemed
to be watching our movements with
their large, bright eyes"
II had an experience last year which
| think was sufficiently thrilling to sat
isfy the most adventurous mind,n said
AID. Cooper, a st. Louis artist, who was
down in Georgia on sketching tour,
and one afternoon wandered off into the
| forest and sat down on the trunk of a
fallen tree to contemplate the beauties
Of nature. l had only been there a few
minutes when my interest was riveted
on the wonderful saffron and gray hues
of one of the exposed roots of tree near
| where was sitting. The hues were al
most metallic, and | regretted that had
| not brought my colors with me, SO that
L could make note of them. In gazing
about me observed on one Of the in
terlacing boughs above me similar
effect, though this time it was of green
ish black tint. While sitting and admir-
ing those lovely effects of color to which
the sun gave tinseled beauty l was
suddenly seized with a fascination
which even now [ recall with sense
of horror; in that second of time I
realized that a green snake of considera-
BILE size was staring at me with its lumi-
| nous, flame colored eyes, but short
distance from where l sat. The next
instant happily recovered myself, and
started to my feet. A the same moment
the saffron gray trunk near me, which
| | so greatly admired only few minutes
before, slowly unwound itself; it was
another reptile of the same kind, Nv
supposed greenish- black, metalli c. tinted
bough had at the same instant wriggled
down to an open space, uppleasantly
near my feet, and several tendril branch
es, as I had supposed them to be, COM
menced to show signs of snaky ANNA
tion. In fact, much to my consterna-
ton, I found myself to be i'll very hot
bed of snakes; the place was literally
alive with them. am no naturalist
and I cannot give you their names,
neither can [ tell whether their bite
would kill a buffalo or butterfly, but I
only know that it was with feeling
of immense relief that 1 found myself
safe upon the highway. and lost no time
in putting considerable distance be-
tween myself and that dreaded spot.n-
St. Louis Globe-Democrat.