138 



RECREA TION. 



quired great force to loosen him. As a 

 test, I would drag him along the edge of a 

 porch floor, and allow him to get a grip 

 against (not around) the base of a post. 

 With contact on only 3 sides of an 8 inch 

 base, he would hold until the strain bent an 

 ash billiard cue from 4 to 6 inches, and I 

 could not pull him loose with one hand. 



If one had no other means of determining 

 whether or not a snake was poisonous its 

 actions, on finding itself captured, would de- 

 cide the question. The poisonous snake will 

 try to use its fangs, and if the noose catches 

 it far enough back to allow its head any 

 freedom, will strike savagely at the stick, at 

 the same time spreading its body out to 

 twice its usual width. The non-poisonous 

 one coils itself around the stick instantly 

 and grips it with a force and tenacity diffi- 

 cult to overcome. 



I have seen most of the wild animals of 

 this country, when brought to bay, and 

 noted the appearance of their eyes; but I 

 think the most demoniacal look I have 

 ever seen, has been - in the eyes of a rattle- 

 snake, or a " moccasin," when he found 

 himself snared and helpless. 



Capt. Henry Romeyn, U. S. A., 

 Washington, D. C. 



A VISITING GOOSE. 



The California wild geese, as we call 

 them, fly North about the last of May; re- 

 turning after the first rains. In the fall, all 

 over Western Oregon, especially in the 

 Willamette valley, great flocks are con- 

 tinuously going. In the broad valleys they 

 come nearer the ground and, at times, rest 

 and feed on the newly sown fields of grain. 

 Two young men at Cottage Grove, in Lane 

 county, a few years since, succeeded in 

 winging 9 of these geese. The birds were 

 kept alive, and by fall had become quite 

 tame. They were in the habit of roaming 

 all over the ranch. One of the number had a 

 peculiar voice, and we called him Squawk. 

 We could always tell this particular goose. 

 He was only hurt at the tip of one wing 

 and he could fly quite a distance. In Oc- 

 tober, when large flocks of geese were re- 

 turning South, we noticed this goose would 

 now and then try his wings, and he ap- 

 peared inclined to follow his wild relatives. 

 One morning we watched him fly toward a 

 flock and then back to his old friends. He 

 made several starts and finally left with a 

 big flock going South. The remaining 8 

 geese seemed to also want to go, but as 

 they could not fly so well as he, they stayed 

 with us. We often spoke of old Squawk, 

 and wondered what had become of him. 



The return of spring found the same 2 

 boys plowing again. One day one of the 

 boys noticed a goose leave a passing flock 

 and after a circle alight among our geese. 

 They received him with much noise and 

 flapping of wings, each one trying to outdo 



the others. By his peculiar voice we rec- 

 ognized the new-comer as our lost goose, 

 Squawk. 



He stayed with us all summer, seemingly 

 contented. As fall came we watched him to 

 see what he would do when the California 

 geese again began to move. We noticed 

 the same symptoms and actions, and he 

 went away as before. We expected this 

 certainly would be the last of Squawk. But 

 no; for early next spring back he came. 

 We welcomed his return and grieved at his 

 fall departure. 



He continued to come and go for several 

 years longer, and got to be known all over 

 this end of the valley as the " emigrant 

 goose." Where he went could be only con- 

 jectured, but it was either to the Sacra- 

 mento or San Joaquin valleys. On his last 

 start he seemed more than usually excited, 

 and loth to leave. But the music of the 

 great flocks called him. One morning he 

 sailed off and did not return. We always 

 thought he made his Southern trip with the 

 same flock, and that when the sound of 

 familar voices came, he went. 



E. J. Rhinehart, Medford, Ore. 



SNAKE BITES. 



A. M. KENNEY. 



The poison apparatus of the snake is a 

 gland in the temporal region, which se- 

 cretes a clear, viscid fluid. This is poured 

 through a grooved fang inserted in a mov- 

 able jawbone. 



The poison is no doubt more active in 

 some snakes than in others, and more 

 active in the same species at certain periods 

 than at others. 



The poison acts rapidly when injected 

 into the blood. It is absorbed by the mem- 

 branes of the eye, nose and mouth. It is 

 dangerous when taken into the mouth and 

 stomach, and sucking the wound from a 

 snake bite is not free from danger, al- 

 though if the contents of' the mouth be 

 ejected and the mouth rinsed there is little 

 risk. 



Snake poison takes effect through the 

 blood, and where the bite punctures an 

 artery death is almost instant. In the case 

 recorded by H. T. Greene, in April Rec- 

 reation, death probably resulted in a few 

 seconds; the poison being carried to the 

 brain through the circulation and, acting 

 on that organ, paralyzing the heart and 

 lungs. 



In the greater number of cases it seems 

 to act on the lungs first. After death the 

 part bit sloughs away. 



The blood generally remains fluid after 

 death resulting from a bite by a rattle- 

 snake; differing in this respect from the 

 coagulation observed in death from the bite 

 of the cobra and related species. 



In cases where the fangs have been wiped 

 by passing through cloth, and the patient 



