The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-09-18

Few minutes a peculiar, indescribable
door can be noticed. At first il is not
very unpleasant, but after while a SINH
larlty to skunk can be detected. What
the smell eventually becomes is not known
Tor at this stage of the game all spectators
move back as far as necessary.
why don't you people get rid of those
SNAKES! l asked one of the inhabitants
VINO mad been watching the performance
one day last week
Don't want to- he replied. They are
useIul as wen as ornamental"
But now are they useful?' asked.
fnnclpally In the orchards. Don't know
now we'd get along if il wasn't for them
snakes All we do is let them alone, and
'Aey simply go in and just help themselves
70 al sorts of bugs, ants, gophers, and
shaH animals that play the mischief with
lfuiI trees. And the snakes don't stay on
me ground, either Not much. If there's
any animal up tree that they want they
90 up and get him. And these snakes will
tackle any other kind of snake that they
meet. Rattlers are their favorites, and it
ION take them long TO do EN- up"
we We're standing on the sidewalk in
front OF Sherring saloon, and I was lis
tenlng eagerly 10 all the old resident of
Klamath Falls had to tell me, entirely OBJ
hVlous TO surroundings.
suddenly he took hold of my coat and
gave IL gentle tug. Step off here a mo-
ment and then let them pass by" he said.
did as told and stood in the gutter while
brace OF large snakes rapidly passed
along the sidewalk in the direction of the
river.
But don't these snakes ever do any
harm?" l asked.
On, yes; everything has it's drawbacks,
you KNOW" the Old timer replied. ION
these warm days, after a cold night, the
SNAKES climb into the trees and hang there
IN a sort of network. As tong as there are
only few 1t don't matter, but sometimes
they get so thick they break the branches
and ruin the trees
mere another trick these snakes
nave" he continued, after a pause 'but
you won't see 1t until next month That's
rolling themselves into balls. Hundreds of
of them get together and mix themselves
up so badly you can't teh which head and
tan belongs to the same snake, and il
takes them a long time to get apart. I've
seen some men rol a bail of them as big
as barrel and tumble it kersplash into the
river. How the snakes on the inside man
aged to live is more than I can say"
Snakes are not the only queer things
they have in abundance at klamath Falls
This is also the toad" season. At this
time myriads of the tiny saurians come
down on one side Of the river, cross the
bridge, go right through the town, and up
on the other side. Where they come from
and where they go to no klamath resi-
dent knows. These toads are about one
inch long, and are a feast for the snakes
The reptiles swallow al least a dozen of
them apiece, and still there are always
millions of toads left hopping hopping
toward the bridge, across it, and into the
country beyond
As well as snakes and toads, klamath
Falls also has a periodical visit from
bullfrog "wave." This comes every three
or four years, and millions" again is the
only numeral that will describe the guam
city of the reptiles. They always come
during the skln-shedding season and wan
der far from the river bank. On warm
days they will get on the snny side of a
house and pile on top of one another as
high as the window sils. Here they pull
off their skins and eat them. After this
act is accomplished they disappear, no
man knows where.
All summer the inhabitants of klamath
Falls have some aquatic visitor to inter-
est them, and when the long winter days
come and the rain comes down in tor
rents many grow quite lonely and long for
the return of the snake season.