THE OUTDOOR WORLD. 



437 



AN ILLUSTRATED SNAKE STORY. 



BY WILBUR P. SMITH, SOUTH NORWALK, 

 CONNECTICUT. 



Nearly every one who has passed 

 his life in the country can tell a good 

 "snake story," but if you will gather 

 such stories from widely separated 

 sections, you will rind them present- 

 ing a surprising similarity ; as, for 

 instance, the "great snake which lived 

 in Uncle David's hill pasture," terrify- 

 ing the cattle and folk alike, and was 

 "so big it must have escaped from some 

 circus," the "racer" which chased the 

 berry pickers out of the fields ; the 

 milk snake which was confidently said 

 to have climbed up and milked the 

 cows when the cows had not given the 

 usual amount of milk; the adder which 

 had so charmed the toddling child at 

 the doorstep that the child ' was 

 snatched away just in time to save his 

 life, and a wonderful variety of others 

 devoutly believed by those who tell 

 them because a snake was seen under 

 such circumstances that the mind, in- 

 fluenced by the inherent fear of all 

 snakes and by the highly colored and 

 impossible stories told of them, had 

 been unable to interpret aright what 

 had transpired. And so snake stories 

 have become a synonym of a badly 

 stretched or magnified truth not to be 

 taken seriously. 



If we can cast aside our prejudice 

 and learn to distinguish the poisonous 

 from the harmless varieties, knowing 

 that nothing in nature is unlovely, we 

 will find much of interest and wonder 

 in these feared and despised creatures 

 and have stories to tell that will rival 

 the fantastic tales with which we are 

 familiar, as evidenced by what I saw 

 one balmy September day when cross- 

 ing a sphagnum meadow. I was at- 

 tracted by a commotion on a neigh- 

 boring bog where I found a milk snake 

 swallowing a common streaked snake. 

 It was the latter's struggle to escape 

 that attracted me. Unfortunately I 

 did not see the beginning for the milk 

 snake already had the victim's head 

 in his mouth and a firm grip around 

 the body, but I watched them closely 

 to see how the trick was done. 



It was clever work on the part of 



the milk snake and a terrible struggle 

 on the part of the other which caused 

 them to thrash around on their battle 

 field, but the odds were too much 

 againsi the striped snake and as his 

 body disappeared down the captor's 

 throat his struggles became weaker. 

 When the victim was half swallowed 

 1 carried them both in my camera case 

 to the orchard near by where 1 photo- 

 graphed them. The position of both 

 snakes is plainly shown in the accom- 

 panying photograph. 



To accomplish its purpose the milk 

 snake had wound its body around its 

 victim some four inches back from the 

 head with a grip that could not be 

 loosened and thus was able to keep 

 that part of the body "slack" and in- 

 capable of resistance. At the right 

 moment it would let go and quicker 

 than the eye could follow would get 

 a new and lowerhold that kept the 

 streaked snake powerless. 



My interference proved fatal to the 

 completion of the milk snake's meal 

 for he suddenly disgorged and both 

 snakes tried to get away. On catching 

 them I found that there was a differ- 



MILK SNAKE SWALLOWING GARTER 



SNAKE. 



ence in their lengths of only one and 

 one-half inches in favor of the milk 

 snake. 



One authority on reptiles to whom 

 I sent a copy of the picture tells me 

 that such conduct on the part of 

 snakes is more common than most 

 persons believe yet is seldom seen 



