Nov. 1, 1883 ] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



263 



meteor, thy .-word,'' o. stateliest shade Speatdrbow, 

 cuirass or coiiielsee, what mailer now? for lo, the mists close 

 in, null all are - 



In (ho night cam Ih tiling "swish" of rain upon my 



Bemembertng the proverli, I "lei il rain," and slept 

 until the mora, with morning came a deluge, l had come 

 nnd ducks, both of which might be Lad on the 

 six Mile Lake, where the birds were said greatly to abound 

 I breakfasted, ami after an hour or two spent "in wattlhing 

 Ibe indications of flu sky. I -Lowed oucc more my "portable 

 property," now, by reason af vain, considerably iecreasi -d in 

 weight, and seating myself i„ my boat pulled steadily south- 

 ward, fn t.jie First (, . irxt, ami some de 

 lay was caused thereby until 1 could manage to rig a substi 

 lute. 



The strong rain paltered on nn Macintosh and plashed 

 the wain-, into foam. It did its best. I have seen it trying 

 to do better, inn it couldn't. Thna at length I reached my 

 fending, made fast the 10 -Ipie. Bhouldered arquebuse anil 

 walked up to thehou.se, just as the clouds broke and the sun 



'i' mizzling through the bright leaves of Hie Virginia 

 at epci-S, and named upo-i the brazen collar of the "poodle" 

 as he rose from his aflernoou siesta beneath the vines, and 

 came forward to greet his master. I walked in and set down 

 my gun, ft had not been discharged. 



Queries: Was the breaking of tine rowlocK, with a half- 

 day's pull ill prospect, much of an annoyance? "It wur.' 

 Weren't yon sony about the ducks'; 1 would have liked a 

 couple of hoi 



Was the rain unpleasant? Well, t could have wished that 

 the genius of the lakes had provided less liberally for inv en- 

 tertainment. Weren't yottdeuCed uncomfortable? No, but 

 1 could easily have made myself so. Was tbe trip unsuc- 

 cessful Y On the whole, I am not prepared to say that it was. 

 Am 1, therefore, a fool? What think you? ' Lioi.iuk. 

 Central Lakh. Mich., iitLi:, 



SHOOTING IN SWEDEN.-ll. 



T\7HEN I awoke on Wednesday, October;-!, it was raising 

 > t hard. It had rained all night. H Continued to rain 

 all , -lav idrr.iii,. [..;:inij.w ram tb t kept us ill indoors, 

 Night came on but the pouring storm Continued The 

 Nissa swelled to n turbid torrent, and the roar of (lie falls 

 of Oscarstiom sounded deep and clear above the fury of the 

 gale. Thursday morning dawned cold and gray through a 

 dim blanket of fog, that enveloped everything outdoors, aud 

 chilled us by the lire within. 



But if ditf not rain, it did not blow, so out into the fog 1 

 sallied witii Joseph as guide, and an old setter Don at heel 



Ina stubble- field Hon made game, but the eo\Vy had 

 tlown. We hunted i he heatlieiv hillside beyond. In a little 

 swale Don stopped from his gallop as suddenly as though he 

 had run against a stOne trail, and .villi head at right angles 

 With his long body and white plumed tail, made a point that 

 was a picture and" a joy. Up whirred the covev. Bane! 

 bang! Two parti idges drop to each shot. I laugh' outright. 

 hurl, hick I had never seen, never heard of. 



Joseph bags flu- four birds, find we hunt the scattered 



(long the lOW pines on the hilltop, where the part- 



i idges had taken refuge. Here, dodging among the pines, I 



had some very pretty snap shooting and bagged four more 



single birds. 



It was s.i ill early iu i he morning. Lowering and threat- 

 ening it looked, but om blood was up. We crossed the 

 routing -Nissa by a foot-bridge, and. following a little path 

 winding among the heather, crossed the mountain rana-e on 



In the twilight Joseph and I wound over the mountain 

 crest home, tired, dirty, healthy and happy. 



The strap of Joseph's game 'bag pressed deeply into his 

 shoulder as bestrode cm before nic. The bag was full, aud 

 outside il was covered with game that dangVed from every 

 string and loop. One bare, one black cock, one woodcock 

 and nineteen partridges was that day's bag. The best 

 shooting I have had in Sweden. 



!- partridge of Sweden is the partridge common to all 

 Europe (Pci'dij- rim-re). My nineteen weighed exactly six- 

 teen pounds, or thirteen and one-half ounces each. One of 

 them, an old cock, weighed a pound, which I think is 

 about their maximum weight. 



I presume this shooting must be much like our American 

 quail .shooting, but cannot speak from personal experience, 

 for I have never shot quail. 



In my reading, however, I have seen it alleged that the 

 quail has the power of retaining its scent for a half hour or 

 so after it, has alighted. If this be the case it differs with 

 the European partridge, for the scent of a newly lit bird is as 

 strong as ewer. 



The black cock is the same as the black game of Scotland 

 and the Alps. Mine was a young bird and weighed two and 

 a half pounds. The beautifully outward curving tail feathers 



of this bird are much sought after as a hat ornament in the 

 Tyrol, and certainly make a very pretty decoration in a 

 sportsman's bat. 



The bare was a voting one, anil weighed but six and a half 

 pounds. The hare of Sweden (Lepm timdus Linn.) is 

 divided into two varieties, the mohare (Upv* coiiem-tim 

 Nilss.), i he hare of the plains and valleys, and the fjellhare 

 (Ltpux birrmJh Nilss.), the bare of the northern Swedish 

 mountains and fields. There is besides in the very south of 

 Sweden the common European hare (t.cpus (uropaus Pall.). 



The hare bagged by me was the mohare: the average 

 weight of the full grown mohare. is eight pounds. They 

 rarely, if ever, exceed ten pounds. 



The European hare of Southern Sweden, however, some- 

 times reaches thirteen pounds in Weight, and probably in 

 Germany, where be thrives best, he even exceeds thisweight. 

 My bag of to-day weighed twenty -five pounds and thirteen 

 ounces, and so it is no wonder that the strap of the game bag 

 cut into Joseph's shoulder. Marstiiaxd. 



the left bank of il 



valley of atrtbntan 

 three distinct lerrar 

 sleeps between co- 

 growth of 



~ As we li 

 of blue sky 

 mild blue 'eye 

 way down tl 

 blanket oi eh 

 and a bright 6 

 It was noon 

 race- steeps. 



a cov 



ioked 



id 



ed fn 



Suddenly, - 



line thirty y 



sdei 



1 th 



do 



and whi 



out from behind ston 

 most familiar spii 

 man of the future. 

 left there! We are 

 the small boy. A 



s till 



wall boy of ti 

 be started up a black 

 laud, new directly ovej 



vera nd descended into the broader 



earn beyond. Here the land lay in 



The level Hals were cultivated, the 



d with heathei , bushes, and a scrub 



upon the pretty valley, a bright spot 

 us from the western horizon like the 

 hern goddess, aud as we picked our 

 i-y mountain slope the whole gray 

 '" was rolled back over our beads, 

 mi a clear blue sky. 

 omineuced to beat the bushy ter- 

 th an appalling clatter and whirr, 

 t ridges rise thirty yards ahead of 

 x over the brow- of the terrace. 

 Following up their flight over the 

 -fore us on the high terrace brow 

 11 boy, who is equi-prevalent in 

 appears at the sound of the gun. 

 n's footsteps all day long, peering 

 ill or tree at every discharge. A 

 , especially when you miss— the sports- 

 "Gef out of the way! Run! Run to the 

 joingto shoot!" we cry, and away ran 

 for the first time iu my experience 



as he 



nto the scrub birch 

 ging from the high 

 loud on the flat ter- 



ock. that, sprint 

 our heads as we 

 , high in air, bla__, 

 the blue sky as a spring coot culling past. Bald Head on the 

 coast ol Maine. 



What. a. pretty shor it was! Leisurely raising mv gun, 

 giving him just his own length's allowance. I pulled trig<*er 

 Down be slanted through the air, and struck the soft heather 

 dead. My first black cock. I placed bis tail with its out- 

 ward curving black feathers in my hat. 



After duly thanking ami feeing' the small boy we gained 

 the upper terrace flat. Here, in the midst of n scrub grove. 

 Was the covey. 1 dropped two, right and left, as they rose 



Ig a hare and 

 ekest possible 



Jf#/»//#/ Jjisforg. 



NOTES ABOUT REPTILES, 



AKD rOPULAU DELUSIONS ItEGAHDIXG TH 



Bn H. C. Yarnnr. M.S. (Univ. 1'cnn.) 

 (Curator Department of Reptiles. National Museum, Washington,} 



FROM the earliest periods of time mankind has endowed 

 reptiles, or rather serpents, with all sorts of remarkable 

 aud mystical attributes, peculiarities and characteristics; 

 and this belief still prevails to a greater or less extent in our 

 own day. which we might suppose to be one of great zoological 

 enlightenment. Ask a man to give up Ibe religion of his ances- 

 tors.tbc fairy tales of bis childhood or sny other pleasant theo- 

 ries fixed in his mind for years, aud he will do so, provided you 

 convince him that such are delusions: but ask him to believe 

 that snakes no longer suck cows, or placing their tails in 

 their mouths run, hoop-like in shape, with incredible velocity 

 after men and animals, and he will boot at you for a scoffer] 

 or, more courteously perhaps pass you by with a pitying and 

 contemptuous smile. 



For years the writer of this article has been trying to do 

 missionary work in this direction, endeavoring to convince 

 his fellow men, women aDd children, that reptiles possess 

 nothing of the supernatural, and that, contrary to the gen- 

 eral belief, few of them tire poisonous or harmful. It has 

 been almost a hopeless task, for there arc no fables or myths 

 which seem to be so cherished as those pertaining to' the 

 animals of which we write. * 



The theory that all serpents are poisonous is widespread 

 and one of the hardest to eradicate, and as an illustration of 

 ignorance in one who should have known better, the follow- 

 ing fact is related: 



A short time since some, serpents were loaned to a person 

 te a collection of animals which were exhibited to 

 al slated periods. Iu order to ascertain if the 

 re properly cared for, the collection was visited, 



having qui 

 the public 

 reptiles wi 

 and, findii 

 kept, it wa 

 then ' 



i the 



g 



h mildly suggested that som 

 'Oh, no," said the showman, 



for 1 wish to handle them occasionally 



writer, "in what way will the giving of 



your handling the: 



for you know 



lakes 

 iter they will become n 

 ikes if they have been 

 t otherwise." "I rat 

 ldlv suggested: but nc 

 I he knew what he wa 

 i he was induced to p: 



c the serpents were 



should be placed 



T cannot do that, 



"But," said the 



ater interfere with 



it will make them very poisonous, 



poisonous, and if you give them 



from Don's point. At 'the report!" out _ r 

 scuttled away to the right, but With the on 

 manipulation of my breech-loader, f succeed. 

 in a fresh cartridge, and bowling over the hai 

 sprung oul of gunshot, Well, this i b good 

 bhtckcock, two partridges, ami a hareiu Tours 

 And now the big covey, which of course w 

 coveys that had joined forces, scattered over 



ramming 



• •before be hail 

 ick, indeed. A 

 recessive shots. 



as two or three 

 the moor aud 



hillsides, am 1 good sport t hey gave. Shooting ihem singly or 

 m couples, over my good dog Don. eight more I added to 

 our bag. Then, just at sunset, in a wet strip of woods on a 

 hillside, up got. a great woodcock, silent as a hawk. 1 fired 

 a snapshot, the smoke tilled the air before rue. butaal 

 stepped out of the woods then- stood Don on a point in the 

 open field, and walking up. there was the cock. A huge 

 fellow to American eyes be was, with bis loug pointed 

 wings ami ins KS-ounee weight. But give me our American 



woodcock. Small they are. it is- true, yel nothing . 

 the merry jingle, as of silver sfosgh bells, with whH-h ,„ n 

 ruddy brow n beauties soar aloft from the alder covers of New 

 England in ripe I I 



nch more so. I can "handle rattle 

 .vithout water for some time, but 

 er think you are mistaken," was 

 he bad bandied snakes all his life 

 talking about. After much persua- 

 , imise a supply of water to the un- 

 tortuuate reptiles. A snake, it is true, can go without water 

 for a long period of time, but no doubt great, suffering is felt : 

 and most of us who have bad occasion to unpack boxed up 

 •eptiles from distant localities must have observed how 

 :agerly they drink water if it is offered to them. Upon one 

 occasion, when the writer was at Santa Barbara, Cal., be 

 fastened up in an Indian olia a large California bullsnaki 

 (Pityophi* myi beVtma). The olla was boxed up and shipped 

 as freight to Washington, D. C, and was in transit from 

 August until February. At the expiration of this time the 

 snake was still alive, although thin and very sluggish. I'pnn 

 being removed from the olla be was placed in a box, and 

 water offered him, and it was surprising to see the eagerness 

 with which he ran his head into the vessel, drinking until 

 he had consumed nearly a cupful. Food was supplied to 

 him, but he would not eat, and after a few months died from 

 inanition. 



The genus II, t, >vdu„ (hog-nose snakes, puff adders, sand 

 vipers, etc. i. have long suffered under the undeserved stigma 

 Of being poisonous, although the most harmless aud gentle of 

 serpents. It is true that when first captured they expand the 

 cervical ribs, flatten the bead and make a great hissing, but 



intently teased 

 bite, but have 



they very seldom bite; in fact I hi 



n,t'i;i,/,>in- for the purpose of making tl: 



never suffered injury, oorsver been s'true 



bei of this genu- Some years ago while 



very Hue specimen of Ilttwhlon umiv>i* vx 



roadside, and alighting from my mule f c 



pin, as 1 supposed, through the metlul la oblongata and placed 



the specimen in the pocket of my shooting coat. Some hours 



r Mexico, a 

 •ved by the 



aptured him, rau a 



alter an Indian village was visited and a conference with the 

 alcalde demanded. The old man stepped up (o the side of 

 the mule and held out. his hand for a greeting, when, to my 

 amazement, he started back with horror depicted on Id's 

 countenance, exclaiming. "Una vibora, umivibora!" "Domic 

 senor? said I. ready to jump from my animal and seize the 

 intruder. He pointed to my shoulder upon which was lyino- 

 the bead aud part of the body of my Ihtnyni,,r, who' not 

 having received the coup de ',/rucr as was expected, and 

 finding the pocket not to his liking, had crawled out 

 and was making his way upward. He was gently seized 

 by the neck and a knife blade ended bis existence. The old 

 alcalde was asked if he did not know that the snake in ques- 

 tion was harmless, aud he replied that the whole tribe con- 

 sidered such snakes yery poisonous. From this moment ou,- 

 party was treated with great respect, and myself with more 

 than ordinary courtesy as a great snake conjuror. Ir was net 

 only the Indians of this particular village who considered 

 Heterodons poisonous, for afterward at a number of different 

 places it was found that the same opinion prevailed with re- 

 gard to this genus. That this belief is widespread must be 

 patent to any inquirer who will take the trouble to investi- 

 gate the matter, aud to find an individual who does believe 

 tin- hog-nose snake innocuous, is the exception, not th? rule. 

 A few years since, while at Berkeley Springs. West, Va, 

 inquiry was made as to the occurrence of serpents in that 

 locality, and one of the oldest inhabitants was recommended 

 as lieing possessed of the needed information. He was a 

 chipper old gentleman, rejoicing in the cognomen of Cap- 

 tain Jack, and had lived among the mountains all his life. 

 The conversation commenced, "Well, Captain, have you 

 any poisonous snakes up here?" "Plenty ol them, sir; most. 

 of the snakes hereabouts appear to be poisonous aud harm- 

 less ones are the exception." ""What kind of poisonous 

 snakes have you?" "Well, we have the black rattler, the 

 spotted rattler, the yellow rattler, the cotton-mouth mocca- 

 sin, the water moccasin, the sand viper, the green snake 

 and a number of others, but of all, the black rattler is the 

 most venomous." "Are you sure that you have a black 

 rattler in these mountains!" "Oh, yes; I've got a couple in 

 a bottle at home, besides a water moccasin, a brown and a 

 spotted rattler, and if you like I will go over and get them." 

 The offer was accepted, and the old' gentleman Tn a short 

 time returned with his specimens. They were examined 

 and all found to be harmless species, the bla.ek rattler prov- 

 ing to be. the black variety of HtUrodon, ami the others dif- 

 ferently colored individuals of the same genus. The opinion 

 was ventured that a mistake had been made, and the old 

 man was requested to point out the rattles on bis specimens. 

 He was equal to the emergency, and declared that at certain 

 seasons of the year rattlesnakes lost their rattles, and that 

 all of his were in that condition. The mouths of the speci- 

 mens were opened and the absence of fangs pointed out, 

 but even this fact was not sufficient to convince our friend 

 that ho had been mistaken iu bis diagnosis. 



The same day on which the incidents related above 

 had occurred, a gentleman came down from the mountain 

 with a black HeieroOon, and the villagers extolled his prowess 

 in killing what they declared to be a very large black rattler! 

 It. is hardly necessary to add that this rattler had also cast 

 its rattle. 



The question naturally arises, is there any good ground for 

 the widespread belief regarding the Heterodun as a venom- 

 ous species? Aud we can unhesitatingly answer yes for the 

 following reasons: All the species are short and thick like 

 the poisonous kinds, have the fiat, broad head wdiich thev 

 can render even flatter and broader when irritated ; the dis- 

 tance from the vent to the end of the tail is short, and the 

 markings very much resemble those of the confluent rattle- 

 snake (Grotalu* confluentus). in the upper jaw. if the teeth 

 are carefully examined, will be found fangs or rather dis- 

 similar teeth, which resemble somewhat the 'fangs of poison- 

 ous serpents, and these have given origin lo the word He.tiro- 

 don, "different, teeth;" and have doubtless also helped in pro- 

 ducing the popular theory- that the animal is venomous. As 

 before remarked, this theory is believed all over the United 

 States, and the readers of daily, scientific and sportsmen's 

 papers may almost constantly see reference to the matter. 

 It, is only recently that a gentleman from Louisiana, writing 

 in Fouest and Stkiiam of Oct, 11, corroborates my state- 

 ment, and says that he himself has always believed llumdui, 

 poisonous, fn fact he supposed that he" had found the poi- 

 son fangs; these were doubtless the dissimilar leeth. In 

 a late issue of the Petersburg, Va , Ind,x and Appeal may 

 also be found the following statement, made by a most re- 

 spectable physician, Dr. Willis Lewis, of Cashwell county, 

 N. C. : "Just here I might stop, but there are two other 

 snakes which are poisonous, but not so deadly-, their bite is 

 more like the sting of a wasp in effect, and not much lo be 

 feared. T m«an the two adders. 1 shall speak of them as 

 the same, the only difference being the color. One is jet 

 black, the other spotted brown; they are never over two 

 feet long and never large; both make Ibe same hissing 

 sound and have the power of spreading their heads two or 

 three times their natural width; they lay about the same 

 number of eggs, eight or teu iu number, leaving fheni in 

 some rat or mole hole to hatch by the heat of the sun. As 

 soon as the adder discovers that it is seen, it throws itself 

 into a coil for defense; if a light, blow i; 

 and bites itself, opens its mouth wide, tl 

 and appears to be dead. At this lime tl: 

 arainetl with the fingers withou 

 shamming death as long as you i 

 alone it glides away. They live or 



There can be no possible doubt as to Dr. Lewis's belief iu 

 this matter. 



Within thirty days 1 have had brought to me by an intelli- 

 gent and cultivated gentleman a serpent which lie declared 

 was one of the most venomous in his part of the country. I Ie 

 called it a copperhead; it proved to be a harmless Hetsro- 

 don platyiliiii \ts, 



Au interesting series of notes upon these serpents appeared 

 in the 8>>icum Acwa, a paper published a few years since in 

 New York and Salem, Mass. 



r any other apparently venom- 

 )us ones, it should not be l'or- 

 )ii of the elaps (the viper or bar- 

 n States) all of the rattlers and 

 'tween the nostrils and eye. It 

 ded that near-sighted persons 



jptiles to look for this pit. 



Next to the almost universal belief regarding Iklrrodou is 

 a similar opinion about the water moccasin ( Trnpidunotnx 

 sipedon), and one of the old writers ina history ol Virginia 

 describes this serpent so that no doubt as to its' identity can 

 exist, and then gravely states that, an Indian w as severely 

 bitten by one, but.by the application of proper remedies finally 



u, it turns up 

 ver on its back 

 gs may be ex- 

 nger. ft, will remain 

 n, but as soon as left 

 and mice." 



In diagnosing II, tevodim t 

 ous species from the poisom 

 gotten that with the exceptii 

 lequin snake of the Souther 

 moccasins have a deep pit bi 



should pick up all s 



