40- 



Thc ■ . / uicrican A uHcr 



air, intending, after my return from the city, to 

 leave him out and see if he started in the direc- 

 tion of the nearest water, some distance off ; 

 but, before the rest of the family saw him, he 

 had somehow made his escape. 



I had often read of it raining frogs, toads, 

 etc., but here I had stronger evidence than I 

 had ever heard of, as this front room was the 

 second story, and a very high one, therefore he 

 could not have jumped up. He was not born 

 there, except he was borne on the wings of the 

 wind. He could not be accounted for, except 

 the storm picked him up over half a mile off at 

 least, as neither the Little Miami or the Ohio 

 River, with no creeks between them and us, 

 were nearer than that distance, and carried 

 him to the floor of the upper porch, when he 

 hopped or was carried into the room by the 

 storm before the windows were closed, which 

 I learned was done after the fury of the storm 

 had commenced. K. 



Do Water Snakes Poison Fish ? 



Having repeatedly been interested in watch- 

 ing how water snakes feed, I was careful in 

 noting how one particular snake manoeuvred 

 to get a meal in Crum Brook, one of the trout 

 streams preserved by the Quaspeake Club, of 

 Rockland County, N, Y., of which I am 

 warden 



The snake darted from under the bank and 



seized a chub about three inches long, half of 

 its body being in the mouth of the snake. I 

 struck the reptile smartly with my cane, when 

 t darted away, and the fish wriggled off slowly 

 for a few feet and then lost all power of mo- 

 tion, although it did not seem to be even slight- 

 ly bruised. Upon taking it out of the water I 

 observed a tktc/c slime or mucus covering the 

 whole body, which I scraped off, and returned 

 the fish to the water. At»first the fish was very 

 active, swimming around lively, but in a few 

 moments seemed once more to lose the power 

 of motion. I again took it out of the water, 

 and found the coating of slime thicker upon its 

 body than before. I scraped it off again, with 

 the same result, but finally the fish turned on 

 its side dead, and in about five minutes, spent 

 in perfect quietude on my part, the snake came 

 from under a submerged stump, seized the fish 

 and disappeared. This incident led me to be- 

 lieve that the snake poisoned the fish by coat- 

 ing it with the thick secretion I found upon its 

 body. However this may be, I now take great 

 care to kill all the snakes that' I find in the club 

 waters. Henrv Brendan. 



On and after January 1, 1897, the Ameri- 

 can Angler will be exclusively devoted to 

 angling and its cognate themes, and the 

 subscription price will be reduced to ONE 

 DOLLAR. 



