The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1900-08-22
KILLING A RATHER.
CLEVER WAY IN WHICH THE KING
SNAKE DOES THE JOB.

Were More Than n Match For Ven
omous Fangs That Couldn't Strike.
II the rattlcsnakc Is justly called the
king Of Americas woods aud rocks, yet
his crown is not held without danger
since he is hunted diligently and success
fully. His fangs are indeed deadly. and
he wears fine suit OF armor, but the
deer and the wild hog never fail to at
tack him, aud he has an enemy OF his
own kind stll 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 II feet and
makes a business Of warning on rats, and
! the king snake, whose mission seems 10
he the determination of the rattler.
One day ! was returning from days
hunt, at pence with the world and myself,
when | heard squirrel scolding as IL he
were ward politician the night before
election. The noise he made was so loud
and lnsistent that | turned ont OF my
way 10 see what could be the matter.
found the little fellow on the trunk Of a
pine about ten feet from the ground.
jumping about as il in convulsions. He
would flourish his tail wildly, scold in
anger, threaten an assault, run back a
little way up the trunk and then return
and scold again.
looked carefully and saw that his an
ger was directed at a 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 sleepy effect, but the
squirrel scolded In an ever ascending key.
But for the hint of the squirrels eyes l
could not have located the rattler. His
color md his variegated markings offered
but little contrast TO his surroundings.
| His monotone of noise was indefinite, and
to sight as well us In sound he seemed
only q blur on the background Of dark
sand on which he lay.
Was the squirrel only curious 10 satisfy
| himself MS 10 the character of that
| strange object or was he hypnotized?
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 mttler always demands. | knew
| what must follow soon-that the sQuir-
| rens cries would grow weak; that he
would grow dizzy and finally tumble from
| the tree, hang a moment by one claw
and then drop into the Jaws Of the living
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 form raced on the
stage. II was clothed In cleaning coat
of beautiful white and black spots 1t
shifted and shone like necklace of pre-
cious stones, and ! knew the king snake
claimed a victim. The newcomer was
smaller than the rattlsr, its ground color
was a greeuish 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 rattler lost all interest in the
squirrel, which ran back into the tree.
The king snake held his head high and
raced round the rattler In wide circle,
while the rattler tried to sink away. The
king dartcd forward as If to attack. and
the rnttlcr threw himself into n coil. The
king was again away and racing around
with a swiftness the rattler seemed una
BILE to follow with his eye. The ratter
was cowed already. His crest was low
cred, his buzz, buzz was jerky and un-
| NJ c1t hn nI
different appearance from the self conf
dent arbiter Of the woods which he had
seemed when | first saw him | could
think of nothing but some human bully
surprised In the act Of torturing his help
less victim and suddenly compelled to
face IN adversary worthy of his strength.
The king snake seemed to enjoy the situ-
alton as a cnt does her cruel dallying
with mouse.
Round and round went the king snake,
and the rattler followed the movement
till its neck was twisted. Whenever it
attempted to turn. the king would spring
forward. and il was evident that the first
failure of the rattler in swftness would
be the signal for muscle to clinch with
venom. The king would race from left to
| right and then reverse, and if the rattler
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 il. There was a
confusion Of flying pine needles In cloud
of white dust. and | saw that two inches
of the kings coil was about the throat Of
the rattler Over and over they went.
the kings head above that of his enemy
and a curve Of his body acting as n 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 wiithe freely. and he was
held as a 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 eff
feet Even when there was only n quiver
of the tnil the king still gripped the
throat. II was plain he had wholesome
respect for the fangs that were still terri
BILE. As last precaution the king ap-
piled his nostrils TO those of the rattler
and repeated that several times as If to
detect the fantest breath. Satisfied at
last, it released its enemy, but still
watched. ready to resume its hold at the
slightest sign of life. There | left him,
keeping grim guard over the body Of his
vanqulshed foc.-Youth's Companion.
|
Different Circumstances.
Remember" said the young mans fa-
| 4har Nthof ,trhon I tro vour o1o I aarna1