St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1896-01-11
sAoAc,1v OF SNAKES.
fhoy Knew How - Prepare for the a
vent Of Cold Weather.

they Knew How - Prepare for the AAs
vent Of Cold Weather.
The student Of animal life at the
geological gardens Is startled fre-
quently by the remarkable display of
sagacity that Is sometimes made by
the inmates of that interesting place.
What, for Instance. could be more
clever, more thoughtful or more amas-
| ing than the action of the indigo snake
when cold weather comes on. It was
| illustrated yesterday. The first breath
of cool air that was waited across the
gardens informed the indigo snakes
that . cold wave was 1t hand. They
could not hide their heads inder their
wings like the robin of the nursery
book. They could mot take violent
exercise and warm up their blood, for
their blood will not warm. So they
settle the problem by swallowing each
other in turn. One indigo snake will
swallow his better half, for example.
until she becomes thoroughly warmed
up, and then she will swallow him
until he feels comfortable.
It is q very clever action on the part
of these snakes. II vindicates their
character. The fact that they swal-
low one another is usually put down
by uuthinking people rs ignorance.
They say that the indigo snake will
swallow anything. even its friends.
Perhaps that is the reason tho snake
story f3end always stations himself in
front of the indigo snakes cage. He
knows that no matter how big lie he
tells the snake will swallow It as nom
chalantly IS though it were . piece OF
garden hose or some such luxury. But
more remarkable in sagacity than tho
indigo snake are the tropical birds in
the avisry. They arc probably the
most wonderful geniuses ever seen in
the .xoo." Coming Is they did from
India's coral strand and other places
where Thermometers die Of the fever
and the iceberg is unknown. they find
themselves unprepared for the rigor Of
the climate here. Such was the condi.
ton of the number of the new bird ar
rivals from India recently. They had
nothing but their light summer pa
jamas with them, and when the biting
winds came whistling into their cot
tage they were chilled to the bone.
Their bills chattered like telegraph
instrument on the night of . prize
fight, and they shivered terribly.
Then their sagacity came TO their
rescue. They noticed that Is the
cooler weather drew near . large crop
Of down appeared on some OF the other
birds, who were more accustomed to
the change of temperature. They
wondered whether . similar growth
would make its appearance on them,
but, like the youth who watches for
his first mustache, they were disap-
pointed. The down did not come.
They consulted their tropical friends
who had been at the 200" for moro
than . year. The latter. winked and
whispered few words ia. them which
raised hope in their troubled breasts.
That night at twelve minutes past
twelve these tropical birds went out in
q body aud attacked the other birds
who had more down than they. With
sharp bills the tropical birds plucked
tho down from their sleeping room
mates Little by little they pulled
forth the feathers. until they had
stolen all they possessed. Taking the
down they interwove it so cleverly in
their own feathers that it looked per
fectly natural. This kept them nice
and warm. OF course it made other
birds down ON them, but they didn't
care 20 long as they had warm friends
.-1r->~nk O%h>v -phf AA1 s>h;n prnaa