The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-08-04
BATTLING FOR LIFE.
EXCITING CONTEST BETWEEN
SNAKE AND FROG.

the Pymatuning.
From the Pittsburg Dispatch.
While out over the line OF the proposed
Lake Erie and Ohio River Ship Canal I
witnessed u peculiar termination to a rep
Standardization war Of determination.
The former was doing the exterminating
and the latter's ranks were being fast
decimated when a new element-animal-
entered the war Of species.
Genus homo interfered, restored ba-
trachian rights. and did some exterminat-
ing on his own account IN the reptilian
world.
/ was driving over the canal route with
John CARRIER. It was in the latter part OF
August and we had driven many miles
that day over rough corduroy roads,
hanked on either side to the very wheels
with the rankest. thickest, most luxuri-
ant and intertwined mass Of underground
it had ever been my misfortune TO pene-
trate.
Suddenly the tropical scene disappear
ed and we entered upon as thrifty a lit
tie clearing as the pluck of a settler from
the Western Reserve could make it.
A neat little house. overrun with ivy,
sat in the center Of the clearing. There
was well-kept garden and stables,
corn crib and COW shed, all in good or
der. Some twenty acres in all had been
cleared away and corn. oats and buck
wheat are growing up to the very edge
of the fmpenetrable mass of swampy IN
dergrowth that hemmed in the clearing
on every side. A pond, fed by a spring,
added to the peaceful picture.
How did you do all this?" was my
surprised exclamation as a man showed
himself at the door.
1T took fire, and these, and twenty
years" he said, holding forth a pair OF
gnarled hands.
Can we have some supper and stay
here all night?"
wei, you can stop over night, but
I'm afraid we haven't much to eat. Might
give you some fresh carp or frogs legs,
but there's only few fish left in the
pond there. and the frogs seem to have
left us entirely. Some 'tarnel things kill
ing them, guess"
What's that@' said CARRIER, who I'M
til this time had been chiefly concerned
in watching tidy young girl preparing
supper for company" %, mats thar
about carp and frogs?'
Our host explained that a few years
ago, when the German carp craze over
run the country, he had stocked his
pond. The pond, by the way, is very deep
In one end, where a breast of logs had
been built and filed in with dirt. Toward
the north end it ran out into extended
shallcws.
At first he said, the carp grew and null
uplied finely. Frogs of the great big green
kind, occupied the shadows, and at any
time he was prepared to furnish a fish
and frogs legs dinner ito make your
mouth water"
Except" he added, "the fish do not
seem to have a muddy taste"
For the past year" he continued,
slowly and patiently, but driving directly
at his point. both the frogs and the fish
are disappearing. I'm getting discour-
aged, and the next time the 'muskrats'
bore holes through the breast of the dam
I'm going to leave her go. l think the
fish eat the frogs, but what in thunder
eats the fish 1 don't know"
mo, the fish don't eat the frogs" said
CARRIER. Lets have supper, and we will
attend to that pond afterward.'
After clearing off a table more marked
by its abundance and neatness than va
riety, we three repaired to the pond, fol-
lowed by the eyes of the farmers daugh-
Now, to explain the curious scenes that
followed, 1 must tell you about CARRIER.
My travelling companion is a naturalist.
Not the naturalist of the university type,
who acquires all his learning from books
written by better men, and colored plates
of insectivorous and other life that look as
much like the original as a cheap chrome
of fruits resembles the genuine article on
your table
No Our friend CARRIER is a naturalist
in the true sense of the word. All he
knew of nature he had gained from per-
sonal observation. He probably doesn' t
know that toad is an arciferous bufonid,
but he does know there is no jewel in its
head. He probably doesn't know that a
flying squirrel is a seiuridae, but he does
know that 1t doesn't fly, it simply sails -
In the same way he knew the carp weren't
eating the frogs, or vice versa, so he set
out to find what was doing the eating
After carefully poking along the edges
of the pond for some time, looking close
ly for coon or skunk tracks, CARRIER sud
denly exclaimed: 'Look here, boys" His
eyes were riveted on little grassy knoll,
and he beckoned US TO approach eau
tiously.
As we neared him we could see moth
ing remarkable, but by careful direction
l finally made out a great frog, sitting
contenteqly in the grass. his unblinking
eyes toward the declining sun, and his
back so green as to be scarcely distin-
guished from the rank swamp grass.
why, it's only frog" in disappoint-
ed way.
Look right back of him, about eight
feet"
What was that? A gentle waving of the
grass, as if a light wind had stirred that
particular spot, then all was still. Again
the blade tops bent Slightly, and did l, or
did l not catch momentary glimpse of a
long, 1.-THE body?
Yes. Now it comes into plain view of all
but Mr.. Frog. A water snake, not very
large. is worming it's way, by infnitesimal
degrees, toward the unconscious batra-
chan. Here my belief in all the weird
stories Of snake charming received a final
blow. The reptile was simply sneaking
up behind, taking its frog unawares. Its
deadly eyes may have been dilated and
sparkling, but they weren't doing any
hypnotizing just then. They were simply
fixed on the fat and luscious hind quarters
of Mr.. Frog.
Serene and undisturbed, froggy sat with
his legs well gathered in, the left project
ing but slightly, and it was this the snake
selected as the point of attack. 1t seemed
fully Ton re1iVtttac baforp fha cnolro