The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1900-02-10
KILLING A RATHER.
Clever Way in Which the King
Snake Does the job.

LiEhtninE swiftness and Muscle
Were More Than Match For ven-
omous Fanss That Couldn't strike.
IL the rattlesnaks IL justly called the
king of Americas woods and rocks, yet
his crown is not held without danger,
since be Is hunted diligently and success
fully. His fangs are indeed deadly, and
he wears a fine suit OF armor, but the
deer and the wild hog never fail TO at
tack him, and he has an enemy OF his
own kind still more dangerous to him.
Snakes may be divided into three class
es, those which are venomous. the con-
strictors and those which are neither.
Unless the second Of these are wonderful
| for their size they secure little-of our at
tention, and yet they are generally beau
| tiful in colors, most graceful In action
and often among our best friends.
In Florida we have two constructors es-
pecially noticeable, the black racer.
which grows TO the length Of IL feet and
makes business OF warning on rats, and
the king snake, whose mission seems to
be the determination OF the RATHER.
One day | was returning from days
hunt, at peace with the world and myself.
when l heard squirrel scolding as IL he
election. The noise he made was SO loud
and inslstent that l turned out of my
| way to see what could be the matter. I
found the little fellow on the trunk of a
pine about ten feet from the ground,
| Jumping about as IL In commissions. He
would flourish his tail wildly. scold in
| anger, threaten an assault, run back q
| little way up the trunk and then return
| and scold again.
looked carefully and saw that his an
ger was directed at rattlesnake that lay
coiled at the foot Of the tree. The snake
was compressed into a ball, from the
| middle of which its rattle sounded con-
| tinuously. Its blazing little eyes were
| fixed unchangingly upon those of the
| squirrel. The buzz, buzz droned on the
summer air with a sleepy effect, but the
| squirrel scolded In an ever ascending key.
But for the hint of the squirrels eyes
could not have located the RATHER. His
| color and his yariegated markings offered
| but little contrast to his surroundings.
| His monotone of noise was indefinite, and
to sight as well as In sound he seemed
only q blur on the background of dark
sand on which he lay.
Was the squirrel only curious to satisfy
| himself as to the character of that
strange object or was he hypnotized2 l
| have often amused myself by exciting the
violent curiosity of the little animal, but
never did a waving or jumping object
awaken such intense and painful emotion
| as the RATHER always demands. l knew
| what must follow soon-that the squir-
rel's cries would grow weak: that he
would grow dizzy and finally tumble from
| the tree, hang moment by one claw
/ har INT ha IN NJ ha IN q
| death that lay In wait. had raised my
rifle to save the little fellow, when the
tragedy was interrupted from another
| quarter.
| Swift as light a form raced on the
| stage. II was clothed In cleaning coat
| of beautiful white and black spots. II
| shifted and shone like a necklace of pre-
| cious stones, and / knew the king snake
| claimed a victim. The newcomer was
smaller than the RATHER, its ground color
| was q greenish gray. and the spots scin-
tillated In the sunlight which sifted down
| upon the scene from the tangled branches
overhead. At the first rustic of its ap-
| proach the RATHER lost all interest In the
| squirrel, which ran back into the tree.
The king snake held his head high and
raced round the RATHER in Il wide circle,
while the RATHER tried to stink away. The
| king darted forward as il to attack, and
! the RATHER threw himself into a coil. The
| king was again away and racing around
| with a swiftness the RATHER seemed una
| Bile to follow with his eye. The rattler
was cowed already. His crest was low
| cred, his buzz. buzz was jerky and I'M
| even, and although he presented a very
| different appearance from the self conf
| dent arblter Of the woods which he had
l.
| think Of nothing but some human bully
surprised in the act of torturing his help
| less victim and suddenly compelled to
| face an adversary worthy Of his strength.
| The king snake seemed to enjoy the stu
| alton as a cat does her cruel dallying
| with q mouse.
Round and round went the king snake,
and the RATHER followed the movement
| till its neck was twisted. Whenever 1t
| attempted to turn, the king would spring
| forward, and 1t was evident that the first
| failure Of the RATHER In swiftness would
| be the signal for muscle to clinch with
venom. The king would race from left to
| right and then reverse, and IL the RATHER
| failed to follow that would be the end of
| him. This happened, and saw the king
| In the air, but could not catch the strike
| SO instantaneous was II. There was
confusion of flying pine needles In cloud
| Of white dust, apd saw that two inches
| Of the kings coil was about the throat Of
| the RATHER. Over and over they went.
| the kings head above that of his enemy
and curve Of his body acting as buffer
to keep up the motion which enabled him
to take another turn and still another.
And SO the struggle continued till the rat
tier could not writhe freely, and be was
held as vine wraps tree.
When he lay still. the snake began to
uncoil himself slowly, and at every mo-
ton of his enemy the constructors folds
contracted and crushed with killing ef-
feet. Even when there was only culver
Of the tail the king still gripped the
throat. 1t was plain he had wholesome
respect for the fangs that were still terri
Bile. As a last precaution the king APP
piled his nostrils to those Of the RATHER
and repeated that several times as II to
detect the faintest breath. Satisfied at
Last n releas its enemy but still