The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-07-19
A SNAKE FIGHT.
The Black Reptiles Victory was Fol
lowed by a Feast.

the unmistakable rattle of a snake ar
rested us, and in a few minutes we saw
the beginning of a fierce encounter be-
tween two deadly enemiesa black snake
and a rattle These two branches of
the snake family are hereditary and i'm
placabe foes though what was the ORR
gin of the feud Darwin saith not. Be-
tween them there can be neither fellow
ship, amity, compromise nor even armed
neutrality. War to the death is their
unalterabe law from generation to
generation. The blacksnake Is much
smaller than the rattle, but he is ter
ribly formidable foe, and, as science Is
superior to mere size or strength, he
generally comes out Of the fray victor
ious. He seems to scent the battle Cor
rather the rattle) from affair."" and gives
himself no rest until he gains a point of.
vantage from which he can make a
sudden swoop upon the noisy foe. On
this occasion we did not see the black
snake until he leaped on the rattles
troat. nor could we afterWard make out
how he had got SO near without being
seen. That power of silent, stealthy,
rapid movement gives the black fellow
an immense advantage over the rafting
enemy. 1t is that, indeed, on which his
hope of victory mainly depends. Let
the blacky by sudden leap grasp the
| throat of the unwary rattle, and the
chances are he will never let go again
until death them do part" but If that
first chance be lost. and the two meet in
fair fight, after fair warning, the fantgs
of the rattle are pretty sure to gain him
the victory.
In this instance no such misfortune
was the blacky's He made his spring
and got his grip of the throat, and there
he held on like grim DEATH" With the
| a fury that was sometimes awful thu
rattle wrggled and shook, and rolled
and writhed He leaped into the air,
twisted and tossed himself about,
banged his assalant down on the
ground, rolled on him and over him.
but all in vain. Blacky simply stuck.
| Nothing could move him, nothing tempt
him or compel him to relax his hold for
| single moment. To have done so
| would have been almost certain death
| to himself; but through all the rear
ings, leapings, tossings, writings and
hissings Of his victim, on he held with
| a relentless tenacity that was equal only
to his love of his own life and his hate
of his foes.
Thus for more than an hour and a
half the life and death game was kept
up without a minutes intermission, and
without any sign of weakening on either
side. Then we perceived that the rat
ties strength seemed to be giving way,
and all Of a sudden he coiled himself up
and lay STILL as If to die. Whether 1t
was from sheer exhaustion or only a
ruse to deceive his enemy, faint or a
feint, we were not sure We thought 1t
was the former, but blacly evidently
thought otherwise. He understood his
enemy better than we did, and did not
mean to be trlcked. Down he lay by
the side of the PROSTATE victim, but
with his teeth firmly set in the now torn
and crumped throat,
Then, after A quiet interval, the one
sided truce having come to an end, or
the ruse having failed the rattle soon
rose again and resumed the unequal
struggle with the energy of desperation
"a supreme struggle for life. Again he
reared and rolled and coiled, and darted
I'D and down, forward and backward,
carrying his enemy with him in all his
contortions, trying by every conoeiva-
BILE twist to get his fangs into the mer-
CHESS foe; but all in vain. Then we be-
gan to see in the poor victim renewed
signs of failing strength but, notwith-
standing increasing weakness, he strug-
gled for a time continuously then in
termittently, until, more than two hours
and half after the first attack, the
poor rattle gave up the contest and lay
down to die This time it was no ruse.
The poor fellow was done for and with
in ten or fifteen minutes after the mute
surrender he yielded UP the ghost. But
even then blacky still stuck, and 1t was
not until the corpse began to stitfen that
he for the first time withdrew the nails
which had been driven nearly three
hours before into the sure place-the
throat Of the unhappy rattle.
Then, the tragedy being ended, the
comedy began and comedy indeed it
was. at anv rate to the two spectators.
On the part of the victor there was no
sign of triumph, no dancing around the
prostrate enemy; but with all possible
staidness and straightforwardness the
hero prepared for the celebration Of his
victory. He began by stretching and
STRENGTHENING out the lifeless body,
smoothing out every crease and every
wrinkle on it's scay surface, with what
intent we could not even guess. He
seemed to have assumed the role of I'M
dertaker, and to be preparing the corpse
for decent burial, magnanimous toward
brave though defeated foe. Not
twist or wrinkle was left upon the car
cass from tip to toe, from nose 70 out
stretched tail Then, to our greater pc
wilderment, we saw that he was licking
the body from end to end, making
straight parallel lines of saliva along its
entire length, which, with the rays or
the setting sun falling on it. exhibited
all it's varied hues, and made US long
for it's possession, that we might carry
II away with us But the darby had
something better to do than to indulge a
benevolent sentiment for our gratifica-
ton For ten minutes or more he con-
tnued his preparations, until he made
four or five streake Of saliva, which