A Home Study in Natural History. 209 



many western farms a ^^ dachs-hufid" (badger-hunter), as the Ger- 

 man call a bandy-legged variety of fox-terrier, is consequently in 

 frequent request. American hunters might prefer to rely on gun 

 powder arguments, and a combination method would perhaps be 

 the best plan, unless it should lead to such unexpected results as 

 in Reedsville, Wisconsin, where an old backwoodsman undertook 

 to assist in the demolition of a "mink" that had been traced to 

 the field-barn of a Scandinavian farmer. The proprietor's country- 

 men had turned out with orthodox clubs and pitchforks, and one 

 of their youngsters undertook to test the prowess of the sharp- 

 shooter, who had taken post outside the barn with his shotgun 

 ready cocked. As soon as the Dachs gave tongue, Bjornson, 

 Junior, clambered up to the top of the hay, and after peeping down 

 through a nook of the caves, shook out his brown fur cap — just for 

 a second ; but the middle of that second was marked by the crack 

 of a shotgun and a screech that made the size of that mink a subject 

 of anxious conjectures. In the absence of chickens the rat-catching 

 talents of the mink would make it worth while to protect his 

 tenancy, as his slim shape gives him a decided advantage over all 

 rivals, with the exception perhaps of the Turkish ferret that will 

 follow its quarry into the highest penetralia of their burrows. 



For similar reasons our next neighbors encourage the visits of 

 a guest that would frighten a New England goodwife into convul- 

 sions. A rat-killing blacksnake, both bigger and glossier than its 

 North-American cousin, and gii'ted with a knack of hunting in the 

 dark, to judge from its exploits in the loft of a Mexican cabin. With 

 its steelbright eyes that image of the tempter will glide along a 

 rafter as noiseless as a shadow, and in pursuit of its prey often ap- 

 pears in the lower part of the house, darting to and fro like a hound 

 on the track of a hare. Experience, though, has established the 

 harmlessness of the culebra to the satisfaction of its patrons, who 

 will insist that a good rat-snake is more efficient, as well as less ex- 

 [^ensive, and far cleanlier than the best cat. With a little coaxing 

 and an occasional spoonful of milk those slippery pets will, indeed, 

 become so tame that they can be handled like lap-dogs, especially by 

 members of the family, whom they learn to approach without any 

 symptoms of fear. If left to its own shift.?, the rat-snake generally 

 makes its headquarters in the dryest nook of the loft, but is apt to 

 vanish for weeks together and then reappear so unexpectedly that 

 the natives associate its comings and goings with all sorts of mystic 

 fancies. " They won't stay in an unlucky house," an old Mestizo 



