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Home Nature-Study Course. 



brightly colored ; the lower side is greenish-white or yellow, but this 

 snake varies in color and decorations ; sometimes the middle stripe and 

 sometimes the side stripe are broken into spots or are absent. It is 

 usually when full grown about three feet in length. 



Observations to be made by the pupils: 



1. Where does the garter snake winter? 



2. How early does it appear in the spring? 



3. Do you know where it is found in numbers during the late fall 

 or early spring ^ 



4. Describe how it feels it way by thrusting out the tongue. 



5. What does it eat? 



6. How does it catch its prey ? 



7. Does it swallow its prey head or tail first? 



8. Is it able to climb a tree or sapling? 



9. When do the young ones appear? 



10. Does the mother snake defend her young? 

 Ti. Do the young ones run down the throat of the mother for 

 safety when attacked ? 



12. What attacks and feeds upon the garter snake? 



13. Give a description of the colors and markings of the garter 

 snake on the head, the body, the tail. 



Facts for teacher. — The garter snakes are likely to congregate in numbers 

 at some place favorable for hibernation, rocky ledges being the favorite haunts. 

 Here each snake makes a burrow or finds a crevice which seems safe. Sometimes 

 these burrows extend a yard or more under ground. During the fall the snakes 

 come out to sun themselves in the middle of the day, and retire to their burrows 

 when the air grows chilly toward night. When the cold weather comes the snakes 

 go to sleep in their burrows and do not awaken until the first warm days of March, 

 when if the sun shines hot, they will crawl out and warm themselves in its rays. 

 After the warm weather comes they scatter, for these hibernating places are not 

 good localities for finding food ; and not a snake will be found there in the sum- 

 mer. They seek places along streams or in the edges of woods or fields where 

 they find their favorite food, which consists of earth worms, insects, toads, sala- 

 manders, frogs, etc. The young are born late in July or August and are about six 

 inches long at birth. One mother may give birth to from eleven to fifty snake- 

 lings; she stays with them during the fall to protect them, and there are many 

 stories about the way the young ones run down the mother's throat in case of 

 attack. But as yet, no scientist has seen this or placed it on record. The little 

 snakes shift for their own food, catching small toads, frogs, earth worms, and 

 insects. The garter snake if it has plenty of food will mature in one year. Garter 

 snakes can be easily tamed and arc very ready to meet friendly advances half 

 way. A handsome, yellow-striped, black garter snake lived for four years beneath 

 the piazza of the editor's home and was very friendly and unafraid of the family. 

 The children of the neighborhood made it frequent visits and never seemed to 

 tire of watching it; but the birds objected to it very much although it never 

 attempted to reach their nests in the vine above. 



