The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-10-18
SNAP SHOTS AT RATTLERS.
Certain Notions of the Reptiles Exploded
 by the ensitive si,m.


 tIrom the San Francisco Chronicle.l
 The amateur photographers of tn,
 city are just now much interested in
 number of remarkable photographs SC
 cured by Charles Burckhalter on q re
 cent tour of the Coast Range Noun
 tains, Among the collection arc pie,
 tires of a salmon making d flying lear of a waterfall and of rattlesnakes jl
 the act of striking, They are gems ot photography and are rare ln art collec-
 tions.
 MT. Burckhalter was accompanied on the trip by his son Frank, and Dr. E. G,Shuey of East Oakland, The party iett the railroad at Passkenta. in the Sacramento valley, and rode fifty-three miles on horseback up into the Coast Range. For forty-five miles of the lrlp they followed a trail leading through an unbroken forest They found plenty of small game and a few deer, and also were given an opportu- nlty to take a few shots at black bear, unfortunately without success. The mountain streams seemed fairly alive with salmon and trout, and they were easily caught
 The account of the trip given by MT Burckhalter is full of interest, especial ly his experience In capturing and pho- tographing rattlesnakes.
 At the end of the first days ride," said MT. Burckhalter ''we W re well into the mountains, and made our camp at place with an elevation of fully six thousand feet. It was there we found our fiercest rattlesnake and ex- ploded the fallacy that such snakes all ways coil into a ball just before strik- ing Fortunately, I was able to secure an excellent photograph of that fellow just as he was in the act of striking at stick with which one of the party teased him.
 "The rattlesnake has been the king among snakes, and has been given credit for great courage and fighting qualities My experience with them has disproved many of those popular notions. In this case we found the snake ainc1g lot of sticks. and when 'e approached h m he began etrea ing down the mountain side. He would strike at the stick held by Dr. Shuey about once in every ten seconds but l managed to catch a snap shot at him between one of the strokes. An other interesting point in connection with this snake is that we found him surrounded by snow, which proves that they do not remain in hiding until the snow disappears. We came across an- other large rattler in Mendocino coun~ ", finding him aslesp on a rock. The noise of our approach awakened him, md he prepared himself for our com ng. He did not coil, but lay with his head pointing directly toward us, and lis tail in the air, shaking the rartles Q warn us of his presence. They dc lot seek a fight, and will get away if he opportunity is presented. have ound that after they are caught and imprisoned for short time the fight is 1 III taken out of them, and they refuse 0 strike, no matter how muca they 1 nay be teased.
 Last summer Dr. sifuey and myself l pent short time on the South Eel 'iy l r, and while there captured an unu- l ually large rattlesnake. We had often | eard that the snakes always travel in | airs, and so decided to try and eap- | ure the mate. We fastened a cord | oose about it's neck and tied the other 1 nd to a bush. The mate never put in | ppearance, and we did not succeed in | aking our captive home alive, because | 2 committed suicide. After strug- ling long time to get free from the iriat, the snake became discouraged 1 nd ended the matter by biting himself Within twenty minutes after it's fangs 'ere buried in the body life was ex- net
 We made number of experiments 'ith the reptiles encountered on this 'ip,' continued MT. Burckhalter, land |. aimed some knowledge of value. We ad been told that if tobacco juice was laced in snakes mouth death would ulckly follow. We tried it and suc- eeded in throwing his snakeship into a {, but did not cause his death.
 We derived considerable amusement om snake that was made drunk by
 hypodermic injection of whiskey ad- inistered by Dr. Shuey. At first the ptlle was full of fight and ready for a ittle with anything. It soon lapsed to drunken stupidity and reproduced { the antics of the human being whsn
 similar condition. It became reck- 1 SIS and evidently did not care whether
 got home until morning or not. The 1 ake slept off the debauch and was 'parently uninjursd Another snake as gwen an injection of cocaine and l death was almost instantaneous.
 Ihe hair rope story we exploded : mpletely. The Mexicans always retch hair rope around their camp, lE almlng that rattlesnaka or any oth- member of the snake family will not oss 1t. We tried it and found that it not Keep them out. We used both a w and an old hair rope, but with the me result. In catching snakes we used a wire \ 10 cora moose fastened to the end of a i \ ck about six feet long, and had no 4 oupie Tn managing them. It is per l ! etly safe, because a snake does not | ring to exceed one-half its length ! d will never do that unless cornered
 approached unexpectedly. When | fixing you can See the poison fluid fly distance of two or three feet, and s IS as clear as water. When the sup IS exhausted the snake knows it's lmunltlon is gone. and it will cease |