The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-01-11

MS printer, anu Hastily 11lolh
articles for insertion, among Wnlch
were notes on the R~attlesnake, py
John James Audubon, f. Il. >. H..
M. W. S. etc. Time did not admit OF
reading the article, but it was seen
that the writer professed to of1er the
fruits Of many years Observation.
This with his titles and the bold and
splendid assurances which we q
seen respecting the publication OF ms
works, served as q password to ms
tissue of falsehoods, which would
have been expunged from the proof,
= but for absence from the press
We had determined to publish q
notice like the foregoing, when we
received q note from q scientlhc
friend so fully expressing our own
ideas upon the subject that we gladly
adopt and insert them,
1T is q tissue Of the greatest false
hoods ever attempted to be pairneo
upon the credulity of ana 1t
is a pity hat anything k counte
nance should be given to 1t by re
publishing it in a respectable journal
The romances Of rival those
of Munchausen, Vaudeville. or even
Mendez de Pinto, in the total want Of
truth. however short they may fall or
! them in the amusement they AFFORD.
This is no less than a terrible ar
raignment Of one who has stood so
high among naturalist as
Notwithstanding the notice. L can
swallow without stimulation all that
dub says about the r~attlesnake,
except the jumping from treet TO tree,
and also taking the squirrel IN tail
first. It is true that the tail IS the
little end, but the obstacle OF over
coming the legs from behind seems to
me to be insurmOuntabie; and l give
the snake credit for more sagacity.
The story is very readable, however,
and I may pursue iC further in my
next.
also find that Audubon comes
under fire III DIR. Battles His
tory Of U. n. c., page 374.
wherein it says, .In 1928 9Th
same year, Audubon furnished
for the Jameson Journal an article
detailing some careful experiments.
which tended to prove that Turkey
Ruzzards at least depend for h dis
cOycry Of their prey on sight" Charies
Waterton, in his book on Wandering
IN South America, ridicules Audubon,
and maintains that buzzards hunt food
by scent.
But it is a well authenticated fact
that they will pounce upon & litter of
young pigs and destroy them. There
was no f~ar-reaching scent here.
DR.. Rachman, of Charleston. S. c..
says they are guided entirely by sight,
! dlUO II ID SUI Ga Wa <
uuainted with these birds.
The Harbinger. which was publish
ed at Chapel Hill, maintains that the
birds have two eyes n q nose.
which is probably correct
DR.. Mitchell said in the Iarbinger.
There is some room for suspicion,
both in WATERWAYS case and that Of
Audubon: hat they have studied the
art OF writing q book OF travels in the
school of CULVER, Munchausen, Man
deville, and the renowned worthless OF
that class"
This is an awful Indictment, and
Audubon might easily pass for a ma
ture-fakir, but for the fact that DR..
Battle, in the aforesaid History, comes
to his rescue with: knowing Audu-
bon as we do. we can hardly realize
that a we'll read and accomplished
scholar CDR. MitchelD should suggest
the possibility of his v~eracious de-
scription being Munchausenism."
Possibly audubon was both a ma
ture-fakir and a truth teller.
Continuing what / have said about
snakes, by contributing in a modest
manner, from some notes made by
Audubon which / have been permitted
to see; / will relate these, and pres
ent along Herewith my own vista's OF
snake life.
Probably the truth Of these au-
thentic viii. be doubted to-
day and the stories be either libeled
or appropriated in the hereafter: be-
cause there have been nature-fakirs
in all the stages of the worlds prog
treSS.
Audubon, and he is my friend. al
though he died about the time be.
gan life, makes a note that all snakes
a swim well, and remain under
water q considerable length Of time
This assertion may not have been
believed in Audubon's life time, bit
1t certainly is true in this year 1910.
l have learned to love Audubon
only because he loved nature SO well
ana l love nature more as / grow
oider and have to get closer to home
1t IS contradictory to the ACCEPTED
order Of things that the perfect ma.
ishould exist, apart from the natural
man.
The rattle-snakes like al, others
so into periodical torpidity. when di.
gestlon and all the other functions
are suspended-the faculties are no,
only dormant. hlIf uir+,oJl, 49,,