264 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



| Nov. l, 1888. 



recovered. This snake, us is well known to naturalists, re- 





tM, Mill US 



il is no1 Burprjs- 



coniounded. In 

 s individual, and 

 specially if it has 

 i it roughly seized. Some 

 c :i small sebaceous tumor 

 i- of a tine female i i opi 

 1 Museum, and after tin 



oft' 



sembles the poison w 



both are found in and about wati 

 mi; thai their properties should 1 



addition Tropi<l»<t'itnx is a very t 

 will bite fiercely if opportunity 

 not been bandied, in fact even tli 

 time since I bad occasion to rem< 

 from below the angle of thej 

 donotils belonging to tbe Natiot 

 operation, as it bad lost a good deal of blood and 

 very weak. I placed it in a small pond in the rotunda of the 

 museum. A few days after 1 desired to exhibit it to a friend 

 and stooped to remove it from the water when i! -truck 

 fiercely at me, throwing its tipper jaw back as the venomous 

 serpents are in the habit of doing, and at the third stroke 

 ii succeeded in fixing its teeth iu my hand ai the 

 base of the thumb. The pain was trifling', and had il not 

 or the somewhat free bleeding I should hardly have 

 known that I was injured. No evil consequences resulted. 

 nor have 1 ever experienced any from the bite of this snake. 

 although bitten several times' Popularly it is supposed 

 that serpents will not bite if in the waiter, but ray experi- 

 i in v. as related, would seem to show that this tradition can- 

 not be relied upon. Tbe difference in the appearance of (lie 

 head between the true moccasin and the so-called wafer 

 moccasin is very marked. In the former tbe plane surface 

 of tbe head may be said to roughly resemble a triangle, Lhe 

 snout representing the apex, the angle of the jaws the base, 

 the neck is narrow behind. In this species the pit between 

 the nostrils anil the eyciswell inaiked. In the harmless 

 Species the bead is hardly separated from the body by a con- 

 stricted neck; it is rounded and the expanse of the angles of 

 llie jaws not so well marked. Il has a vicious appearance. 

 and when coiled up resembles very much a poisonous snake. 



While upon the subject of tbe venomous moccasin it may 

 be worth while to briefly describe its first cousin, the AtuO*- 

 oi copperhead, a serpent much to be 

 dreaded, for I believe it is quile as poisonous as the rattle- 

 snake, if not, mure so. This .species is short and stout, 

 resembling somewhat Hdvrod/m in coloration, the head is 

 triangular, the neck constricted, the vent near the lip of the 

 tail, 11 has the pit in the bead, and the nostrils are very 

 distinct. Its color is a light copper yellow, with transverse 

 darker angular blotches, which resemble somewhat a double 

 V. the points meeting just over the center of the spinal 

 column. Once seen and recognized, there is no danger of 

 confounding it with harmless species. I have recently had 

 charge of a patient bitten on the finger by a very small 



ipperhead, and notwithstanding the most careful treatment 

 the man nearly lost bis life. This species is quite abundant 

 On the Potomac from Georgetown to the Great Falls, and it 

 Ifl curious that such should lie the case, considering the great 

 number of boatmen and fishermen visiting both sides of the 

 river. 



One of the most curious myths in regard to serpents is that 

 of the hoop or horn snake, which is thus described by a 

 recent writer: "The horned snake is the last, of the poison- 

 erpeots, and is a greater curiosity. Instead of the head 

 it carries its weapon in its hid. which lias a horny appear 

 mice, is shaped like a cock's spur, and is from an inch to an 

 inch and a half in length. This, tail has a cavity, inclosed 

 iu which is a sharp needle-like sting growing from the ex- 

 treme point of the tail. The snake puts the end^ of tbe tail 

 in the mouth, thus forming a hoop, and rolls forward until 

 within sinking distance, when it slips the tail from tin 

 mouth and stiikes with considerable force tail foremost. 

 The stine produces about the same effect as the sling of the 

 adder. The horned snake is about three feet long when lull 

 grown, rather dark in color, and i.s also oviparous. They 

 are very scarce uud seldom seen.'' I am not surprised at I hi- 

 kes! statement made, as for years I have been trying to find 

 an individual who has ever seen a hoop-snake. What is 

 known as the horn-snake in the West and Southwest is the 

 fhntneia HbOAUTfi, of which tbe body and bead arc bluish 

 black above, and which has sub-quadrate red spots on the 

 Hanks. Its abdomen is rosy-red with transverse or alternat- 

 ing bluish-black irregular spots. How or why it should have 

 acquired the unenviable reputation it. possesses at present is 

 unknown, for il is one of the most hannless and gentle ol 

 all snakes. That its tail ends iu a horny tip is true, but the 

 bull snake of California {J J it//op/u* .wt/i bMonn) has a similar 

 horny tip. and neither the one nor the other ever use it for 

 or offensive purposes. 



Among my earliest recollections of snake stones was one 

 told me in New Jersey by old Aunt Hester Laws, a colored 

 female, who had lived in the pine barrens tor many years, 

 •bid ye never vere of de hoop-snake, honey'.' Well, den, 1 

 will T'-jl ye dere' is sich tings, dough I nebber seed one, but 

 Sairy Jane Oliver was gwine home one night jest a lcctle 

 after sundown, and jest as she got past tie holier were de 

 Hulton's mill is, ami commenced to go frew de pines, -he 

 seed sumfiu ruunin' along de grouu like a hoop, and she was 

 kind of sheered, as dere was no one rollin dis yere hoop, and 

 She wailed a little while till it got nearer, and di:n she seed it 

 warn big hoop-snake, a rollin and a rollin. its eyes suappin 

 and a eomirj a nearer and a nearer. She guv a yell and 

 started tor to run, andde faster sherun de faster dcple snake 

 run. She fotin it was a gaiuiu on her. and I tell ye, chile, 

 sin- was mighty i-keeied. She didn't know whal to do, and 

 i . miuii expected to feel de horu-snake stingin hi r. Sud- 

 den like cum -de idea tohei to I' row her shawl rouu one of 

 lie trees. -and she picked out a good big J line tree and as she 

 run tiinged dC shawl which held fast lo de bark; she ran on, 

 and lookiu behind her seed de ok hoop-snake strike de shawl 

 biiig and den fall do« ii. She didn't wait, but hurried borne, 

 and v. Ii i l, i in- she fell in a faint on de flur, and was 



-ilk all night. Next ntornin she iole de ole man. her fader, 

 abOUl the snake, an he went down de road to find de tree 

 v. idi bis darter had tole him about. After awhile he cum to 

 it and saw de snake lyiti dead al de fool of dc tree, and. de 

 tree dead too, with all de leaves brown and withered, and 

 what- de snake struck de tree I'n •« de shawl, dere was a hole 

 rlOUgh to put ] er fist in. Don't ycr talk about dere bein 

 uij'liooj - - ■ I ■ i ■ [ill til ol iem, and ye look out 



when \e go blackberryin in de ■ - ■■ 



This tale I have heard repeated with slight variations a 



ii times in as many different States* but thcorigin Ihave 

 never been able to Ijao pi rhaps th - old symbol of eternity 



i n in hieroglyphic writings represented as a serpent with 

 its tail in its mouth may have bad something 10 do with lhe 

 superstition. That any snake could place its tail in its mouth 

 mid roll along in hoop-like Shape is a manifest absurdity, 

 i.-llv if the anatomical peculiarities Of the spinal verte- 



. are taken into consideration. A few mouths since a 



,. ,vas received from a gentleman in one of the Southern 



States, in which tin- information was given that the writer 



po-ssessed n very line example oi a horn-snake, and if the 

 statement was not believed he would forward the reptile to 

 the National Museum. "Without I browing discredit on the 

 gentleman's belief, a request was made that the specimen 

 might in- sent, which was promptly complied with, and the 

 horu-snake, so called, found to be an unusually fine example 

 of the glass snake tO/ihiwiiiinis n ulvtOli). which, by the 

 way. is not a snake at all but a lizard, and of which I shall 

 have something to say later. The tail of this animal is some- 

 what horny at the tip. Were it not a violation of confidence, 

 1 would fu'ini-h the contents of the letter in full in order to 

 show how thoroughly confident the writer as well as bis 

 neighbors were regarding the hoop-bke propensity of this 

 specimen. For further particulars regarding the hoop snake 

 with an account of a conflict with one by Col. Tom Ochiltree, 

 of Texas, the reader is referred to the back tiles of the Pott- 

 est and Stream. 



The jointed or glass snake i ijji/ieoafiurua •intnilM. Of which 

 mention has been made, is also believed to be endowed with 

 singular attributes, tbe principal one of .vhich is that if 

 Struck by a stick or whip lash, it will break into a great 

 number of pieces, and when the bystanders back is turned 

 the pieces will all come together, forming a perfect snake, or 

 else that each piece becomes an individual snake. It is baldly 

 necessary to savthat no such thing could take place in nature, 

 at least as far as reptiles are concerned, although it. is said that 

 such is lhe case iu certain marine invertebrates. If a glass 

 snake is struck a sharp blow posterior to the vent the tail 

 will break oil' and the reptile goe - it- wav suffering appar- 

 ently no inconvenience, and within a short period of time a 

 sort of stumpy reproduction takes place, and this peculiarity 

 is common to' all lizards. In a specimen in which the tail 

 was purposely broken off, the wound healed, and in within 

 three months' time one and three-quarters of an inch of tail 

 was reproduced. If, however, the animal is broken anterior 

 to the vent, vital organs are involved, and the specimen dies. 

 This you cannot make the negroes of the South believe, and 

 many of the white folks are equally incredulous. In hand- 

 ling these lizards il frequently happens that from muscular 

 contraction alone the tail will separate f torn lhe body, and Ibis 

 is due to the fact that the muscles sue arranged in short 

 bunches, or fasciculi, which dovetail into each other, the 

 fibres being extremely short and brittle. I can make no 

 better comparison than to say that they look like the little 

 juice vessels which we find on breaking open the segment of 

 an orange. Although looking much like a snake the animal 

 is a lizard, and if the skeleton be examined, proof may be 

 had in the presence of the rudimentary seapuke and clavicles 

 and the pelvic arch. 



[TO BE CONCJ.UDETi. ] 



so-called wonders are, perhaps, tame enough to be kept in a 

 Cage witliout being frightened at the approach of a human 



being, but this bird will A; o I - or alight en 



the Tabic and allow ita back to' be stroked. Numbers of 

 times has 5i r . Miller and others taken him into [he open air 

 on their bands, but he has always refused to flv av I 

 bird was taken, when about ■,, year old. from a lot of a dozen 

 received by Mr. Miller; who savsh l-oWi- m m his hand 

 on a partridge now. 



Owl Raffing at thk Book.— On Wednesday evening 



last, while a number of gentlemen were in lhe shoe i 5 



McDonald A Co.. Ibis city, a peculiar rapping v ,a-- beard at 

 the door. Ou looking for the cause, a small bin! 

 tryingh giiu entrance through the glass iu the door. Air. 

 Seifei-t captured it, and on examination it proved lo be a 

 pigeon owl. This Is probably the first instance (bat one of 

 Ibis species has been captured in the city, and to my knowl- 

 edge the second one of the kind taken in this vicinity. The 

 first one WHS taken about rive years ago, and 1 now have it 

 mounted. Screech owls are quite plenty iu and about the 



.. I surmise they are in quest of" that little nui&ance, 

 Passer domcalimi. While I write one of the last named is 

 flying about the window poking his inquisitive head into the 

 cornices, probably in search of winter quarti . . He is disap- 

 pointed at finding the awnings ;. ii. . Tiny have been left 

 up the past two winters and were a good protection for him. 

 —J, L. Davison (Lockport, Niagara eouulv. N, Y.. Oct. 36). 



Spawning of tuf. AxolOTL. — Last year Mr. E. G. 

 Blackford received two specimens of the Mexican axolotl, a 

 salamander-like animal, which had been bred in France. 

 They were albinos, as is often the case, and attracted much 

 attention from visitors to Fulton Market. Last March tbe 

 female laid many eggs — perhaps a hundred and fifty— and a 

 few were hatched. To. the surprise of all she lias just laid 

 another batch, but it is too soon to say if these will produce 

 young Some of the eggs have been seui lo Prof. .1, A. 

 Ryder, of the U. 8. Fish Commission, who will study their 

 embryology if they prove to be fertile. We do not think it 

 is generally known that this batraehian spawns twice a 

 year 



DOMESTICATING GAME BIRDS. 



tTNDBB dale of Oct. 83, our Lockport, N. Y., COrm- 

 J pondeut. "J, L. I).," writes; 



About a week ago a young man brought to me a ruffed 

 grouse that had flown into a barn and alighted on the stairs. 

 where it was captured. He had bad it some days before be 

 brought it to me. and said that it had not eaten anything, 

 but he bad given it nothing but crumbs of bread. The bird 

 died the first night he brought it to me. On Friday last 

 another was given to my son, a healthy young male bird, 

 that flew into the house on High street occupied by Mr. R. 

 Compton. and striking Mrs. Comptiin on the bead, and then 

 flew to the bedroom; "and when the girl went to catch it 

 flew back into Mrs. C.'s hands, (Mrs. C. is about ninety 

 years old.) They kept it .some days in a chicken coop, and 

 it ate and drank readily, and doesso now. It. is quite lively; 

 we have it in a long shallow box with wire screen in front, 

 and it seems quite contented when not disturbed. We are 

 gtiftl ' i ry the experiment of taming a ruffed grouse, some- 

 thing which J have always been told ran not fie done. I 

 do not believe thai two more grouse can be found within 

 two miles of the city in any direction. These two were 

 taken inside the city limits within a week. Why is ii they 

 liav such a propensity for flying into houses? I reported 

 to you, three years ago, two grouse that flew into two houses 

 six roils apart within a week's time. 



The Natural History Society of Toronto, Canada, have 

 been anxious to add to the food and game birds of Ontario, 

 and some time ago discussed the project of introducing the 

 pintail grouse from Manitoba, where it is sometimes called 

 prairie chicken. Last spring-, reports the Toronto Mail, Mr, 

 E. T. seaton of barberry, Man., one of the vice presidents 

 ol the society, collected ii large number ol eggs of different 

 pet ii s the prairie chicken, and had them hatched out un- 

 der an ordinary barnyard fowl. A splendid brood was 

 brought out, and a couple of months ago Mr. Seaton bad lhe 

 satisfaction of baring about twenty-five chickens perfectly 

 domesticated, as tame as the common fowl, and feeding upon 

 the same food. During the time Mr. Seaton was rearing the 

 brood, Dr, White "as making arrangements for their intro- 

 duction and propagation iu Ontario. The idea was first to 

 Bupprj the province with the domestic bird, and secondly, to 

 turn off into lhe bush even few years a flock to return to 

 their former wildness. Thus in ten oi -fifteen years we would 

 have a first-class game bird, which could be hunted in the 

 same manner as pai 



The bird is very prolific, and in the space oi three Or four 

 years a brood will increase to a very great size. The pre- 

 liminaries having been arranged, an attempt was made to 

 send Mr. Seal on's brood to Ontario, bu) the Manitoba gov- 



prevented their export. The^iwiiers of the birds 



held that they were domesticated fowl, but Mr. Acton Bur- 

 row -s, Deputy .Minister of Agriculture, decided that they 

 were game, and thus covered by the game laws of Manitoba, 

 and could not be exported. Representations were made to 

 the Government that the exportation was not. a commercial 

 transaction, but had for its object the benefit of the country, 

 bu! without suecess. Hon. James Young, Commissioner of 

 Agriculture for Ontario, was appealed to to use his influence 

 d miloba government to induce them I o allow the 

 asportation of the fowl, but that gentleman did not see his 

 way to do so. Thus the matter stands at present. No doubt 

 some way will yet be found which wili allow of the expor- 

 tation of' this valuable bird from Manitoba. Dr. White con- 

 siders the course of the Manitoba government a very unjust 

 one. He could not, be said, estimate the advantages of the 

 projected scheme if carried out. 



Mr. Harry Miller has at his place, 451 Flatbush avenue, 



Brooklyn, a curiosity in the shape of a lame quail which 



he name of Fountain Gun Club Boh. Tame- 



nessiu'lhis case means mole than generally thought for 



when speaking of a "tame quail." The majority of these 



(^amp tgire ^flickmngs. 



OUR party of four were as jolly a set as ever camped 

 together. There was Old B., lull of quaint humor 

 and dry sayings; his son Hank, who had tramped and rid- 

 den with us on many a well-planned excursion, a man In be 

 depended upon under any circumstances; John II,. an in- 

 veterate deer hunter and a' good woodsman; last ami least, 

 myself. B. was armed with a muzzle-loading rifle that had 

 seen much service, but which he declared would uutshoot 

 any breech-loader he ever saw, unless it was the repealing 

 rifle that Hunk carried; thai he always excepted. John was 

 armed with a repeater, while I was altached to a shotgun, a 

 weakness that 1 still plead guilty of. 

 Around the fire that night the events of the day were 



talked over and plans laid for lie- morrow. The ila;, - l.m. 



had been iccess, for b ie la ge bunk that I had 



brought to grief John had killed a tine doc, and B. had 

 killed B '.railing and wounded a spike-buck, which be de- 

 clared he had shot full 250 yards. Hank had been unl'oilu 



i 

 and oiled bis rifle thai, night i could sec that lie' was deter- 

 mined to take the trail again early in the morning 



B. was wi)iing his gun. ''Dan'l Boone." listening and say- 

 ing nothing, but I noticed a twinkle in the old man's eye as 

 he carefully laid "Dan'l" in tin- buck-horn rack he had made 

 for that much-loved arm. That twinkle i knew portended 

 i be drawers of the long bow that he had been lis- 

 tening to. Soiling hi nsell - fretfully on a pile of wood at 

 one corner of lhe fire-place, he mopped his bald head with 

 his bandanna and began: -'Talking about remarkable ad- 

 ventures with deer, boys. L had -one once and BOI 

 tbe place where we are now camped. About the year '66. i 

 came down into this country looking for cheap land and a 

 phi -.. to I- icate. I had a very large, -iM- e h ! ■_ "i - ' 



was very plenty. Finding a' rive full ot fine peaches at Peach 



Orchard Bluff, as 1 passed them I pulled iomeof lhe UlieSI 



to lunch on as I rode up tbe bottom. I had gone bu! a short 



distance, when 1 jumped a deer from the fop of a fallen tree. 



i pit ot th.-peachtbat 1 was eating. I hlazedaway 



at him and missed. He ran hut a si, I -topped. 



.il' inv horse lo reload. 1 discovered that 1 had 



lost every bullet Irom m, pOlicll irehiiig my coal 



pockets iii hopes of finding a stray one. I found the peach 



pit. It had been caught by my pocket in-lead of failing to 



the ground. An idea "shuck me. Why not make it answer 



of a bullet? By trimming il, a Utile with my 



knife I got it down the barrel. Remounting, I followed 



careful h "in the direction taken by the deer, which had 



moved on while 1 was loading, and was rewarded by a 



i bis flag. Following on, 1 came to an overcup 



glade. Leaving ruv hoi'- 1 anc-d cautiously • 



through tbe SWltd cane hindering the glade, and peered out: 

 and a- 1 expected, there he stood, not over forty yards from 

 me, and looking back over his shoulder. Aiming at his 

 bead, I let drive and down he went. Drawing my knife 1 

 started for him. bul before I got within reach of him be was 

 ou his feet, and doing some of the tailed running I 

 done by a deer. Concluding that peach pits were not the 

 thing to shoot deer with, I retraced my steps, and boardme 

 a boat that 1 found taking wood at the Bluff, 

 passage and went back to" Illinois." Here lb 

 paused and satstariug solemnly into the lire, combing his long 

 beard with his lingers. 



■'Well," said Hank. -I dou'i 5ee anything remarkable in 

 that story." 



"Hold on, sou, until your pa gets through, said Jhe old 

 man You know I bought land here, and three years 



after moved down. One day in fall I was liuutiuL 

 (md. Deer were pretty scarce, the m; - 

 failure that year. I .vits making good use of my 



illy, when] saw in «, clump ol tar blanket on a 



he top of a fine peach tree loaded with fruit. Of 



Course I made track for it, my mouth fairly watering iu 

 a ib ipation, but, to my astonishment, when 1 was within 

 nds of the mound, that tree raised up and ambled 

 off affile rate of about a mile a minute There was a large 

 deer under it. the tl ' ' ' antlers. 



I was too much surprised 10 shoot, bui followed along alter 



