The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-03-24
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QUEER SNAKES IN TEXAS.
Fun That the Yellow Racer and the
HoOpsnake Have Together.
Copyright, 1895.

Fun That the Yellow Racer and the
Hoopsnake Have Together.
There is a species of whipsnake in the
Lone Star State, the male of which is Jet
black and the female pea green" said
former resident of Texas. ''They are long,
slim reptiles, and they climb trees and
rob birds nests with remarkable CELEBRITY.
THE yellow racer of Texas is another
interesting snake. When he crawls his
movements are from side to side but when
he races he undulates, with his head sew
eral inches in the air, and he can get over
the ground almost as fast as jack rabbit
You will often see yellow racer chasing a
red-bellied hoopsnake, and vice versa
Sometimes you will see them racing side
by side, neither seeming to try to outspeed
the other, and both getting over the ground
for the fun of the thing. The most anus
ing snake race 1 ever saw out there was be-
tween a hoopsnake and racer. There was
big bulge in the hoopsnake's body, evil
IDENTIFY caused by large toad in his stom-
ach, and he wabbled so that every little
while he would lose his balance and tum-
bic sideways. The racer also had large
lump in his body, but it didn't bother him
much IN travelling, and he stopped and
waited whenever the hoopsnake tipped
start in again, and he and the racer COW
cred more than two miles in that way 60
ing ahead of the horse | was riding
wv lille trying to net pigeons one season
| saw yellow racer crawling toward the
stool-pigeon. For the moment l was more
concerned about hawk that had been
circling overhead for some time. and /
didn't pay much attention to the snake.
At length the hawk dived at the stool
pigeon and knocked the breath out of it.
Without waiting for the hawk to snatch
the stool-pigeon the racer wound himself
around the hawks neck and breast. Sud-
denly hoopsnake rolled past me at top
speed and brought up near the stool
pigeon, as If he was going to help the racer
strangle the hawk The hawk arose be-
fore the hoopsnake got chance to tackle
it. 1t hadn't assembled more than 200 feet
when the racer tied its wings tight to its
body, and the hawk dropped like wad of
stool-pigeon. The hoopsnake had been
glazing at the hawk as if he was
disappointed, but the instant it landed he
rolled right at it and commenced to thumb
it on the head with his horn The hawk
screamed and struggled violently, and the
racer frightened his coils around its wings
and prevented it from rising It couldn't
fight with its claws, and the hoopsnake
continued to hammer it On the head, and
the racer to squeeze it, as if it had been a
put-up job between the snakes beforehand
to tackle the hawk in that way. The hoop
snake pounded until he had battered its
head all out of shape with his sharp horn.
In little while the hawk ceased to stir.
and the racer unwound himself, and the
hoopsnake stopped hammering. Both
reptiles gazed at the dead bird for mo-
ment, and then the hoopsnake hooked his
tail into his lip, ana the two went away to-
gether.
"The opossum snake of. Texas feigns
death if you tap it on the back with a
switch and sometimes when you make a
quick strike at it and don't touch it. The
natives assert that badly scared opossum
snake will remain quiescent until sunset.
no matter how early in the day you scare
it, and then it will glide off at great speed.
| once frightened an opossum snake by
switching the ground near it. The snake
made believe it was hfeless and / hid in a
clump of bushes and watched it. 1t could
not possibly have seen me and for an hour
and forty minutes it remained perfectly
motionless. 1t lacked two hours and
twenty minutes of shutdown, but | had
concluded to stay there and see whether
the snake would clear out. 1 lost the
chance, however, for within few minutes
a pair of turkey buzzards lit on the snake
together. 1t began to squirm and flop and
beat the grass, but it had waited little
too long, for the buzzards pulled it in two
speedily each sailing away with writhing
half
"At another time watched an opossum
snake for hours and was paid for it a little
after sunset by seeing a monster owl
pounce upon it. tie it into knots and sail
off with it."-New York Sun.