The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1895-05-01
TEXAS HOOPSNAKES.
THEY HAVE HOOKS AND HOLES IN
THEIR LIPS AND LIKE FUN.

"ltb . rLne sense Oh numOf Iney ftay
Jokes on Tenderfect and womeu-Go-
Pliers and Bullsnakes Create Lively situ-
atoms For the Hoopers.
.'The hoopsnake of Texas is as inter.
osting . reptile as you can find any
where" said o former resident Of the
Lone Star State. 1T is unlike any hoop
snake l ever saw In the east and n good
deal livelier. Under its lower jaw there
is a lip, with q hole in it, and on the
end of its tail there is q hornlike hook
that curves upward. Whenever the
snake takes a notion to roll, it throws
its tail over its snout, hooks into the
lip, and goes spinning away over the
grass as merrily as you please.
1.-THE snake can get q the ground
pretty fast by crawling, but it seems to
take great pleasure in rolling. The un-
der part of its body is bright red, and
you can see the snake quite a distance
when it's rolling. Some say the horn is
hollow and capable Of ejecting poison,
but l don't know how true thatris. Peo-
pie who are ignorant Of how the Texas
hoopsnake is built are simply amazed
when they happen to see n change
from a crawl to a roll. They can't make
out how it is possible for the snake to
put it's ends together and roll away at
such speed unless it sticks it's tail into
its mouth. You will often run across a
hoopsnake that is crawling along lei
surely, when all at moe it will throw
its tail forward and 60 tipping off at u
speed. you imagine, that makes its head
swim. But its head is always level, no
matter how fast it rolls or how far.
1--WE seen many a man and boy
amusingly taken in by h~oopsnakes out
there. Every newcomer desires to possess
O specimen, and they get it into their
heads that it is as easy as lying to catch
one. The tenderfoot thinks he car cap
ture = hoopsnake by poking a pole or
stick through the circle made by its
body. He gets fooled, however, for the
cunning snake instantly unhooks it's tail,
thus Kidding itself of the stick or pole,
runs along on its belly for a short dis
lance and then hooks into the lip again
and resumes it's frolio with perfect free
uOul. 1nS floOpSLahC Il0S q ~ II vi
humor, l reckon, for it takes delight in
soaring women and tenderfeet by roll
ing right up to them and lodging away
when they scream or jump. They tell a
story out there Of q man who ran the
handle Of a rake through a hoopsnake's
circle and unlocked it. The snake got
mad, struck at the man and hit the
trunk of q mesquite bush with its horn.
It sped away then, and the man found
the print Of its horn in the bark. He ex-
amined the bush often, and he took his
oath that it died in less than 90 days.
81 once saw a hoopsnake hanging to
one of the hind feet Of q gopher. The
gopher kicked and squealed and pulled,
and the snake kept tapping it on the
head and back with its horn. The snake
couldn't have swallowed the gopher,
and it tormented the little thing out OF
pure deviltry. Its aim with the hook
was unerring, and it acted as II it was
tickled all over every time the gopher
squealed. The ~hoopsnake's fun came to
an end very suddenly the moment an
other gopher appeared. The second
gopher took in the situation at a glance,
and it Immediately hoped upon the
snake and bit it in the back of the neck.
The snake let 60 of the foot mighty
quick, and all the lively writings inn
aginable that snake performed in the
next eight or ten minutes. It thrashed
the grass fat in a space five feet in di'
ameter, and I never saw a creature hate
to die as that snake did. 1t finally
stretched out motionless, and ! cut of
its horn, which had no hollow in it.
The wounded gopher was ~squealipg in
some brush, and it's rescuer was trying
hard to coax it into a hole, but it had
been done for by the snake, and it died
in a little while.
How it does make a toad's eyes hang
out when q hoopsnake gets after it
The toad knows that it's a goner, and il
begins to hop and peep and squeal with
terror before the snake has touched it
The snake is in no hurry, for it knows
very we'll that the toad can't get out o.
its sight. and it takes downright com
fort in hearing the toad wall. It crawl'
behind the toad, and when it gets gooc
and ready it throws it's tail forward
and gives the toad a smart thump be
tween the eyes with the point OF TIT
horn. The toad backs up . few inches
and the snake seizes it by q hind foot
| Then the toad kicks with its free hint
foot and claws the grass with its from
feet, keeping up a piteous ~squealing al
the time. The snake lets it kick ant
claw for q spell, but by and by knock
the toad on the head till 1t stops kick
ing and swallows it.
"While a hoopsnake was handling
toad in that way one spring | saw
bullsnake interfere. The bullsnake o
Texas is a big headed reptile about
feet long. Its body tapers all the wa.
like a cone, and it has two curved teetl
in the upper jaw and is nonpoisonous
The hoopsnake had the toad by q him
foot, and Of course the toad was MAX
ing all the noise it knew how to- Sud
denly a bullsnake glided ont OF the bus
and struck ut the h~oopsnake's middl
with its upper jaw. The hoopsnake in
stantly released the toad, faced the bull