The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-02-15
THE HooPsNAKE OF TExAs.
IL Possesses ~ Fine sense of Humor
as Well as n Hook and Eye.

From the New York sun.
Scranton, Feb 1.-The hoopsnake Of
Texas IS as interesting a reptile AS you
can find anywhere" said a former resident
Of the Lone Star state. 1T is unlike any
hoopsnake ever saw in the east and
good deal liveller Under its lower Jaw
there is lip. with a hole ia It. and on
the end Of its tail there Is horn-lIke
hook that curves upward. Whenever the
snake takes a notion to roll. 81 throws It's
tail over its snout. hooks into the liz, and
goes spinning away over the grass AS mer-
rily as you please. The snake can get
over the ground pretty fast by crawling,
but it seems to take great pleasure IN
rolling. The under part OF Its body Is
bright red AMI you can see the snake
quite a distance when It's rolling. Some
say the horn Is hollow and capable Of
ejecting poison. but don't know how TRUE
true that is People who are ignorant OF
how the Texas hoopsnske are built are
simply amazed when they happen 20 see
one change from n crawl 10 roll. They
can't make out how "a Is possible for the
snake to put its ends together and roll
away at such q speed, unless II sticks its
tail into It's mouth. You will often run
across "a hOopsnalSe that Is crawling along
leisurely. when all at once Il will throw
It's tail forward and 20 clipping on at
speed, YOU imagine, that makes its head
swim. But its head IS always level. no
matter how fast it rolls or how far.
i've seen many man and boy amusing
Is taken in by hOOpsnakes out there. Every
newcomer desires TO possess specimen,
and they get &c into their heads that IL
as easy as lying. TO catch one. The ten
derfoot thinks he can capture a hoopsnake
by pokiug "a pole or stick through the cir
Gle made by It's body. He gets fooled.
however, FOR the cunning snake instantly
unhooks its tail, thus Kidding itself OF the
stick or pole, runs along on It's belly for
short distance, and then hooks Into the
lip again and resumes its frolic with per-
feet freedom. The hoopsnake has a hno
sense Of humor, 1 reckon, for It takes de-
light in soaring women and tenderfeet by
rolling right up 10 them and lodging away
when they scream or jump. They tell
story out there Of u man VINO ran the
handle of a rake through hoopsnake's
circle and unlocked e.. The snake got
mad, struck at the man, and hit the trunk
OF mesquite bush with its horn. II sped
away then, and the man found the print
OF its horn In the bark. He examined the
bush often, and he took his oath that II
died In less than ninety days.
Il once saw a hOopsnake hanging 10 one
Of the hind feet Of a gopher. The gopher
snake kept tapping IL on the head ana back
with It's horn. The snake couldn't have
swallowed the gopher, and It tormented
the little thing out of pure deviltry It's
aim with the nook WAS unerring, and u
acted as II 1t was ticltled all over every
time the gopher squealed The hoop
snakes fun came 10 an end very sud-
denly the moment another gopher appear
ed. The second gopher took in the situa-
tion at a glance, and It Immediately hop
ped upon the snake and bit 10 In the back
of the neck. The snake let go Of the foot
mighty quick, and ali the lively with
ings imaginable that snake performed In
the next eight or ten minutes. II thrash
ed the grass fiat In a space five feet IN
! diameter, and / never saw creature
hate to die as that snake did. il nnally
stretched out motioniess, and cut on It's
horn, which had no hollow in II. The
wounded gopher was squealing Ia some
brush. and Its rescuer WAS trying hard
to coax it into a hole, but u had been
done for by the snake, and 1t died IN
little while.
How it does make toad's eyes hang.
out when a hoopsnake gets after II! The
toad knows that it's goner, and It begins
to hon and peep and squeaf with terror
before the snake has touched 1t. The
snake is In no hurry for II knows very well
that the toad can't get out Of its sight,
and III taxes downright flINLtfl III hGAAtAH
the toad wall. ii crawls behind the toad,
ana when It gets good and ready It throws
its tain forward and gives the toad
smart thump between the eyes with the
point of the horn. The toad backs up
few inches, and the snake seIzes II by
hind foot Then the toad kicks with It's
free hind foot and claws the grass with
its front feet. keeping up piteous squeal-
ing all the time The snake let's its Kick
and claw for spell, but by and by
knocks the toad on the head till IT stops
kicking and swallows IL.
while a hoopsnake was handling toad
I'm that way one spring J saw bullsnake
Interfere The bullsnake OF Texas ~
big-headed reptile about three feet long.
It's body tappers all the way like cone,
and Il has two curved teeth In the upper
law. and IS non-poisonous. The hoopsnake
had the toad by a hind foot, and. Of
course the toad was making all the noise
Il knew how TO. Suddenly a bullsnake
elided out Of the bush and struck at the
hoopsnal6e's middle with its upper jaw.
The hoopsnake instantly released the
toad, faced the bullsnake and hit it on the
neck with it's horn The blow didn't phase
the bulIsnakc q particle. IL returned the
attack with side Winder that knocked
the hoopsnake out Of the path. The latter
must have been very much astonished,
for, instead of sailing into the big fellow
again. 10 cleared out AT once anu LhS Dhli-
snake seized the toad right away and
started TO swallow f.
"A friend out there told me Of battle
he once witnessed between two hoop
snakes. They were facing one another on
bare spot and were striking al each
others heads with Their horns. They nit
oftener than they missed and they kept
at il till one Of them put the others eyes
out. The blind snake lay still then, as
though that had been the agreement be-
tween them beforehand, and the other
one continued TO rap It on the head till
Il died.
"An acquaintance had q wild ride one
fan on mare that had always been as
gentle as a lamb The mare was trot-
Ting along in the grass all right, when,
Ike o lash, she gave a scream as though
from intense pain, and began 10 rear and
buck The man was an expert rider. and,
although he kept in the saddle, he could
do nothing with the mare.
"She kicked and bounded and sprang
sideways and groaned until she was COW
cred with lather, and the rider was unable
to make her keep still for a second. lie
70 afrrr hxr h.