The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1895-04-30
TEXAS HOOPSNAKES.
THEY HAVE HOOKS AND HOLES IN
THEIR LIPS AND LIKE FUN.

with q Fine Sense Of Humor They Play
Jokes ON Tenderfeet and women-Go-
pliers and BullsnaIxes Create Lively Stu
ations For the Hoopers.
1.-THE hoopsnake of Texas is as inter
esting a reptile as you can find any
where" said former resident of the
Lone Star State. st is unlike any hoop
snake ever saw in the east and good
deal livelier. Under its lower jaw there
is lip, with hole in it, and on the
end of its tail there is hornlike hook
that curves upward Whenever the
snake takes a notion to roll, it throws
its tail over it's snout, hooks into the
lip, and goes spinning away over the
grass as merrily as you please.
1.-THE snake can get over 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 distance
when it's rolling. Some say the horn is
hollow and capable of ejecting poison,
but don't know how true that is. Peo-
pie who are ignorant Of how the Texas
hoopsnake is built are simply amazed
when they happen to see one change
from crawl to 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 its tail into
It's mouth. You will often run across a
hoopsnake that is crawling along lei
surely, when all at once it will throw
its tail forward and go tipping off at
speed, you imagine. that makes its head
swim. But its head is always level, no
matter how fast it rolls or how far.
Eve seen many man and boy
amusingly taken in by hoopsnakes out
there Every newcomer desires to possess
a specimen, and they get it into their
heads that it is as easy as lying to catch
one The tenderfoot thinks he can cap
ture hoopsnake by poking pole or
stick through the circle made by its
body. He gets fooled, however, for the
cunning snake instantly unhooks its tail.
thus Kidding itself of the stick or pole,
runs along on its belly for short dis
lance and then hooks into the lip again
and resumes it's frolio with perfect free
dom. The hoopsnake has fine sense of
humor, reckon, for 1t takes delight in
soaring women and tenderfeet by roll
ing right up to them and lodging away
when they scream or jump. They tell
story out there of man who ran the
handle of rake through a hoopsnake's
circle and unlocked it. The snake got
mad, struck at the man and hit the
trunk Of 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 80 days.
81 once saw hoopsnake hanging to
one of the hind feet Of 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 1t tormented the little thing out of
pure deviltry. Its aim with the hook
was unerring, and it acted as if 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 glance,
and it Immediately hoped upon the
snake and bit 1t in the back of the neck.
The snake let 60 of the foot mighty
quick, and all the lively writings i'm
aginable that snake performed in the
next eight or ten minutes. 1t thrashed
the grass fiat in space five feet in di-
ameter, and never saw creature hate
to die as that snake did. 1t finally
stretched out motionless, and cut of
its horn, which had no hollow in 1t.
The wounded gopher was squealipg in
some brush, and it's resouer was trying
hard to coax it into hole, but 1t had
been done for by the snake. and 1t died
in q little while.
''How it does make toad's eyes hang
out when hoopsnake gets after it!
The toad knows that it's goner, and it
begins to hop and peep and squeal with
terror before the snake has touched 1t.
The snake is in no hurry, for 1t knows
very well that the toad can't get out Of
its sight, and 1t takes downright COM
fort In hearing the toad wall. 1t crawls
behind the toad, and when it gets good
and ready it throws it's tail forward
and gives the toad smart thump be-
tween the eyes with the point Of the
horn. The toad backs up few inches,
and the snake seizes it by hind foot.
Then the toad kicks with its free hind
foot and claws the grass with its front
feet. keeping up piteous squealing all
the time The snake let's it kick and
claw for a spell, but by and by knocks
the toad ON the head till 1t stops kick
ing and swallows it.
"While hoopsnake was handling
toad In that way one spring / saw
bullsnake interfere. The bullsnake OF
Texas is big headed reptile about 8
feet long. Its body tapers all the way
like cone, and 1t has two curved teeth
in the upper jaw and is nonpoisonous.
The hoopsnake had the toad by hind
foot, and of course the toad was max
ing all the noise it knew how to- Sud
denly bullsnake glided out of the bush
and struck at the hoopsnake's middle
with its upper jaw. The hoopsnake in
stantly released the toad, faced the bull
snake and hit 1t on the neck with Its
horn. The blow didn't phase the bull
snake particle. 1t returned the attack
with a sidewinder that knocked the
hoopsnake out of the path. The latter
must have been very much astonished,
for, instead of sailing into the big fell
low again, it cleared out at once, and
the bullsnake seized the toad right away
and started to swallow it. New York