Blackfoot news. (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1891-1902, 1894-01-20
SNAKES ARE SOLITARY.
ALL OTHER ANIMALS MAKE
WAR UPON THEM.
The Hog win swallow Rattlers. buttons
and Ail-The s1uirining Tribe Has no
Friends aud It's Members seem 10 Ie
Aware of the Fact.

with anecdotes OF varying elegance
and mendacity. Getting forth extra
/ ordinary eases OF affection and co.
operation between q eat and a mouse,
q horse and hen, Il pig aud cock
roach. camel and a lobster. d COW
and "a wheelbarrow, aud so on but
there is never a snake IN one Of these
quaint alliances. Snake d. not do
that sort OF thing, and the auecdoto
| designers Imagination has not vet
risen 10 that feat Of compelling them.
although the stimulus of competi-
tion may soon cause ii. The GA, G mo I
nearly approaching one Il friendship
between man end snake known to ~
is the ease Of Tyrrell. the zoo nuke
keeper. and his ''iailly W. rms Ru'
then the friendship is mostly on
lyrrells SIDE and. moreover Tyrrcll
is rather more than human. Il i, any
one will admit who secs him hang
boa-constrietars.
The prairie marmot ana the bar
rowing owl come into ghb0rly
contact with the rattlesnake but the
acquaintance does not quite amount
to friendship Tho prairie marmot
I takes lot 81 trouble aud builds
nice burrow. and then the owl, who
Is only slovenly sort 81 architect
himself comes along and takes
apartments II has never been quite
settled whether or not the lodger and
the landlord agree pleasantly to.
gether. but ia the absence OF any
/ positive evidence they may be given
credit for perfect amiability because
nobody has found traces OF owl in
dead marmOt's interior nor OF mar
mot IN an owls But the rattlesnake
Is another thing
Ducks will approach snake
curiously. inwardly debating the
/ possibility Of digesting SO big worm
al one meal, the moving tail-tip
they will peck ~ cheeriully This
was the sort 81 thing that one might
have observed Ter himself years ago
I here q. the loo. al the time when the
I snakes lived la the old house in
( blankets. because 81 the unsteadiness
/ Of the thermometer. and were fed in
/ public. Now the snakes are fed IN
I strict privacy lest the sight oyerset
the morals % VISITORS The killing OF
bird, q rabbit. or rat bY q snake
being almost quarter Us unpleasant
TO look upon as the killing OF the
/ same animal b. man ia farm-yard
( OF elsewhere The abjcct terror
! inspired by the presence Of a snake
/ Is such that an innocent rat will set
( 20 gnawing the snakes tail Ia default
I Of more usual proyendcr; while
rabbit placed with snake near
skin-shcdding timc will placidly
I nibble the loose rags OF epidermis
The pig treats the snake with dis
respect not TO say insoleuceanotbing,
/ ophidian or otherwise, can fascinaio
a pig. II your back garden is IN
I tested with rattlesnakcs you should
keep pigs The pig dances CON
4 temptuously on The rattlesualle. and
eats him with much relish rattles
( and all. The Lass emotion OF the
\ tattlesnake is intense establishments:
! and astonishment Is natural. in the
experienced rattlesnake, many years
established in business. has been ac-
customed to spread panic everywhere
within ear shot; everything capable
OF motion has started OF at the
| faintest rustic OF his rattles. and his
/ view Of animal life from those ex.
/ pressionless eyes has invariably been
| Il back view. and rapidly diminish
I ing one. After a lifelong expert
once Of this SORT 20 be unceremoni-
ously rushed upon By common pig.
-, l., tttY, -. Ia,
be snoutod to be treated as so much
swill. and finally TO be made snack
| of-this causes a feeling of very
natural and painful surprise in the
rattlcsnake But ratt!esnalc is
surprised in this way once, aud he is
said TO improve the pork.
AS tour de force in the gentler
art OF lying, the snake story is Justly
esteemed. The old story OF two
snakes swallowing each other from
the tail till both disappeared; the
story Of the snake that took its own
tail in its mouth aud trundled after
its victim like a hoop; the story Of
man who chopped snake in halt
just us IL was boiling rat, SO that
| the rat merely todded through the.
foremost hall and cscapod--all OF
these have been beaten out OF sight
in the West At present Brazil
claims the record FOR absolute length
of the snakes themselves
Here. among a number OF vipcrine
snakes of about the same size, is
snake that lives on eggs,
lie is about rs thick as o lead pom
ell. but that doesn't prevent his swal-
lowing large pigeons egg whole,
nor even hens egg at n pinch. II
dislocates his jaw, but that is part
OF his professional system, and when
the business is over he calmly joints
up his jaw again and goes to sleep
He Is eccentric. oven for snake, and
wears his teeth on his backbone
whore they may break the cgg.shell
so that he may spit il away
When he first stretched his head
nrn,tnl NJ, nru thn vfnppina- apOlFae