28 HUNTING TRIPS 



The horned frog is not a frog at all, but a 

 lizard, a queer, stumpy little fellow with 

 spikes all over the top of its head and back, 

 and given to moving in the most leisurely 

 manner imaginable. Nothing will make it 

 hurry. If taken home it becomes a very 

 tame and quaint but also very uninteresting 

 little pet. 



Rattlesnakes are only too plentiful every- 

 where; along the river bottoms, in the 

 broken, hilly ground, and on the prairies 

 and the great desert wastes alike. Every 

 cow-boy kills dozens each season. To a man 

 wearing top-boots there is little or no dan- 

 ger while he is merely walking about, for 

 the fangs cannot get through the leather, 

 and the snake does not strike as high as 

 the knee. Indeed the rattlesnake is not 

 nearly as dangerous as are most poisonous 

 serpents, for it always gives fair warning 

 before striking, and is both sluggish and 

 timid. If it can it will get out of the way, 

 and only coils up in its attitude of defence 

 when it believes that it is actually menaced. 



