lured by the glassy surface of a pleasant pool, dropped into the water 

 as it supposed the liquid to be, for a drink, but alas the wretched 

 deceit. With fastened feet and outspread wings, a sinking breast 

 and a buried beak, the struggling bird perished. Another event evinces 

 the deceptive appearance of these tarry places. This is shown in 

 the pathetic picture of a swallow whose, " skimming-the-brink" 

 instinct urged it in the shadowy evening to try the shining pool. 

 No sooner did its downward sweep strike the oil than the wings both 

 tipped, the tail dragged and not a limb could be moved. And in 

 Figure 2 we see it on its bier. 





Figure 2. 



One day when showing some visitors the field, a black looking 

 snake came slowly along my path. I stopped in wonder at its queer 

 movements. On examination I found its eyes were completely closed 

 with the tar and its body covered. It proved to be a king-snake 

 and was so emaciated by starvation and weakened from exhaustion, 

 that it lay on my hand perfectly still. Another, a gopher snake, 

 was found badly smeared with tar which being removed by a bath 

 in coal oil and gasoline, the poor creature was set free. Numberless 

 instances could be cited, but space forbids. Suffice to say, that a 

 linnet, a lark, a crane, a duck, a squirrel and many others were found 

 just caught or dying, decaying or leaving only traces of the whitened 

 bones bleaching in the hot summer sun. 



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