Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1902-09-02
SNAKES OF ARIZONA.
THE TERRITORY NOTABLE FOR
ODD REPTILES.
Natural Breeding Ground for Them
illustrations of the Power of the
Serpent to Fascinate - Experience
with a Coach Whip Snake.


ties say that more varieties Of poison
Gus snakes are found in Arizona than
in any other part of the United States.
The best authority on Arizona snakes
is believed to be Graham Peck, who
has been studying them for years.
NO other region in the United. States
is so much of a natural breeding
ground for the rattlesnake as is south
ern Arizona" said he to a correspond
ent of the New York Sun. 1.-The rocks
of the mountains and foothills are OF
heavy yellow and gray color and the
soil is so like the hues of rattler that
a snake can move slowly along and
hardly be perceived by a person fifty
feet away. The hot, dry air and the
warm, sandy earth and the immense
quantity of small birds and ground
squirrels in the mountain canyons and
brush all combine to make life for rat
tIesnakes in this region one of rare
ease and comfort.
There are literally tens of thou
sands of rattlers in the sage brush and
chapparel along the edge of southern
Arizona wastes. They grow to enor-
nous size and it is common to read OF
the capture Of rattlesnakes five and SIX
feet long, with fourteen and fifteen rat
ties.
"Hog-nose snakes are quite plentiful
in the mountainous parts of Arizona.
After all the talk about serpents hiss
ing, this is the only specimen OF the
ophidian family which l have ever
heard utter sound.
MANY writers on reptiles in America
say that thunder snakes are common
in Texas-New Mexico and Arizona.
They are really uncommon in the terri
tories. They are prairie reptile and
are often encountered by prairie trav-
elers. especially before and after thun-
derstorms.
"Flashes of lightning and claps of
thunder, which are terrifying to bipeds
and quadrupeds, seem to have charm
for these members Of the ophldlan
family. Whenever thunderstorm
comes up these snakes come crawling
out of holes, from behind rocks and
rotten stumps and enjoy the fun While
| it lasts.
"The coach whip is remarkable for
its tremendous length and surprising
speed 1t Is cream or clay colored,
very much like the hard-baked prairie
over which it glides, is very long and
its scales are arranged in such man
ner that they closely resemble the
plated leather of a whip.
Not endowed with poison, it has
tremendous power of construction. 1t
forms it's body into coils which are ca
pable of crushing sheep, dogs and coy
otes.
| when 1 was in Lower California in
1890 1 was told by a Mexican peon
that he had a 10-year-old boy squeezed
to death by coach whip few years
before. The man said that on another
occasion his wife was attacked by a
coach whip which threw it's coils about
her quicker than she could see.
"She was too frightened to do more
than scream and fall to the ground
when her daughter came running uI
and quickly released her by merely
unwrapping the snakes tail. Strange
as this may seem, it Is a very easy
way to release a victim in the coach
whip snakes grasp, for while the rep
tiles constructing powers are abnor
NAL a child may unwrap the coils by
beginning at the tail"
do you believe that snakes have
the power to charm animals?"
"Yes, there is a certain power tC
fascinate in a snakes eyes and move
ments. l saw only the other day 6
typical Illustration of the power of 6
snake to fascinate.
"Over in the pine woods 1 saw 6
ground squirrel fascinated by a blacl
gopher snake. The forked tongue dart
ed out of the snakes mouth almost a:
regularly and rapidly as the needle o
a sewing machine rises and falls. The
squirrel seemed to watch it spellbound
The snake crept slowly nearer.
when the gopher snake was within
two or three inches from the squire
it gave leap and threw three coil
about the squirrel. Instantly the spell
was gone. The fascination or charm
there had been over the little anima
was no doubt broken the very momen
the serpent's coils were about tn
squirrel. for the animal gave three con
vulsive, terrified chirps and realized
that its death moment had come.
II believe implicitly that all snake
have certain degree of power to fas
cinate their victims to death. Black
snakes, gopher snakes and racers hav,
the power to a large degree Rattle
snakes have the most fascinatin:
power among all the poisonous ser
pents in the Southwest.
THE indications of charming anon.
poisonous snakes are deceiving some
times. Poisonous snakes fang thei
prey once only. The poison does no
kill at once.
"The victim flutters to a branch,
may be, or runs a short distance az.
stops. The snake watches it. Tn
poison does its deadly work, and tn
bird falls.
"Any one who comes up, not havin:
seen the attack. might be readily de
ceived into imagining that it was tn
glance of the snake and not the poisol
that caused the victim to fall"