Sept. 27, 1888.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



185 



BLACKSNAKES. 



Editor Forest and Stream : 



I read with a good deal of interest an article appearing 

 in you issue of Sept. lb, from the pen of N. Starkweather. 

 The larger portion of that article was a description of the 

 habits of a snake extremely common in the Middle and 

 New England States — the one known simply as black- 

 snake in every locality where I have known and met it. 

 The, subject is one with which I am somewhat familiar, 

 and ray own experience tells me that the gentleman is 

 mistaken in a few of his premises. 



For thirty years T resided in a country hilly and rocky 

 beyond measure. As a boy and man every foot of this 

 territory became as familiar to me as are now the streetn 

 of your city. The fences were everywhere stonewalls, 

 the material for which had been taken from the land as 

 the fields were cleared. In many cases so stony was the 

 land, that it was and is still truly wild land. The heavy 

 timber once cut off. the land was left to grow as it could 

 another crop of timber. Nature in her beginnings started 

 a growth of underwood or brush almost tropical in its 

 richness. These spots were more than well watered. 

 Little streams ran in every direction, while each hollow 

 held its little pool or pond' of water. Food being plenty 

 and foliage dense, birds were bred and reared in numbers 

 unknown at the present day. 



I have stated that this section of country was stony; it 

 was not alone that, but immense masses of trap rock, 

 almost deserving the name of cliffs, are scattered through- 

 out the county. The section I refer to is that part of 

 Fairfield county. Connecticut, commencing at the mouth 

 of the Byram River, wliere it empties into Long Island 

 Sound, and running almost northerly along the banks of 

 that stream to its beginning at Byram Pond, a distance 

 of some eighteen miles. All the conditions necessary for 

 the preservation of snake life are here found at their best, 

 and never in all my wanderings have I seen so many of 

 the kind of serpent written of as are met with here. I do 

 not dare mention how many I have destroyed, but it 

 seems to me now. looking back, as if it must have been 

 well up in the hundreds. The largest I ever killed was in 

 length 6ft. 8in., but very many were over 6ft., not by 

 guess, but by actual measurement. 



Now to one point, that the one regarding white on this 

 snake. I have never seen a white ring encircling this 

 snake's neck, but I have seen many times, so often, in- 

 deed, as to be to me a common thing, a white spot com- 

 mencing at the point of the under jaw and running 

 thence backward along the whole of the lower jaw to a 

 little past the junction of the head with the neck. I 

 have no doubt that this white patch may often extend 

 upward along the back of the jaw on either side, so that 

 one catching a glimpse of this white from above, and seeing 

 it on either side, would call it a ring, especially so as the 

 broad patch covering the under side of the jaw would be 

 hidden. This was not a dead white color, but a creamy 

 white, which the surrounding dark color made more pro- 

 nounced. The old people, fancying it a different species, 

 invariably spoke of it as the white-throat, black racer or 

 chaser, and it was always referred to as being quicker 

 and more rapid in its movements than the other. Of 

 that I can give no opinion, for I know of nothing more 

 rapid than the movement of the common blacksnake 

 when alarmed or after a running field mouse. 



One of my first experiences with this constrictor was 

 when whortleberrving in a dense patch of woodland 

 known as Ahred Peck's woods. The timber was heavy 

 oak and hickory. The land was low-lying and pools of 

 water were in great numbers in spring and fall. During 

 the heats of summer this water was evaporated, lea ving 

 the surface a soft damp mould, formed exclusively of 

 decomposed swamp grasses and well rotted leaves. Fronr 

 these rich spots grew the bushes of the swamp-whortle- 

 berry to a height of a dozen feet. The berry was large, 

 excellent in flavor, and much sought for by the farmers' 

 wives for summer puddings and winter pre-erves. At 

 each recurring year, as the berry ripened , parties were 

 made up to go to these woods for a supply of the fruit. 

 The locality was, however, just as well known for its 

 supply of ophidians as it was for its berries, and the 

 "snakes' den," or wintering quarters, one of which hiber- 

 nating places was in this patch of woods, was always 

 spoken of with something akin to fear. As a consequence, 

 each of the party wtnt around with a lithe but strong 

 rod, with which to battle with the snakes. Scarcely had 

 the people commenced picking on this occasion when a 

 scream was heard from a colored servant girl by the 

 name of Sarah Green, and she was running for ajar life, 

 emitting a screech with every jump. Directly after her 

 was a blacksnake, and as this race was for some hun- 

 dreds of feet, and seen by dozens of people before the 

 coluber was killed , it would seem a matter of fact. No 

 more berries were picked that day. Sarah alwaj^s said 

 that the snake came directly for her from the top of a 

 berry bush, which she had pulled downward toward her 

 so that she could reach the fruit. As the blacksnake is 

 a capital climber, there would seem to be no reason to 

 doubt her statement. 



Mr. Starkweather seems to doubt the aggressive dispo- 

 sition of the blacksnake. I always remember it as a 

 fighter when so inclined. I grant it will usually move off 

 rapidly with a rustle of leaves which is somewhat start- 

 ling, but I also know it will turn and fight with a vehe- 

 mence which fortunately its powers of injury do not 

 equal. I was sitting one day after the midday meal 

 upon the front porch of the old farmhouse which was 

 close upon the road. A fringe of spicewood and alder 

 bush separated the road from the Byram River. Hearing 

 an incessant screaming on the part of a pah- of catbirds, 

 I naturally went to discover the reason. I found in one 

 of the spicewood bushes snugly coiled about its trunk an 

 immense blacksnake. The birds were wild with excite- 

 ment, one of them especially so. Seeing them so intently 

 engaged, for they did not notice me, I stood and watched 

 them as intently as they did each other. After some mo- 

 ments of continual chaltei ing on the part of the birds, 

 one of them flew to some distance and perching upon a 

 limb, stood with head outstreached and downspread 

 wings screaming for dear life. The other bird kept at 

 its fluttering, flying around and around the snake, which 

 with sharp beady eyes kept its neck as well as tongue in 

 slow vibration. I had read of the charming power of 

 shakes and watched with an eagerness impossible to des- 

 cribe to see the end. The catbird evidently was becom- 

 ing wearied, for its wings beat hurriedly while I could 

 see the puffing out and in of the body, effect of the pro- 

 longed exertion. It has been always a matter of re- 



gret with me that I had not coolness enough to see the 

 finish, but I became so sympathetic on account of the 

 birds' sufferings that to put an end to the scene, I picked 

 tip three or four big stones and "fired" one savagely at 

 the snake. Imagine my surprise when the snake, although 

 badly hurt, dropped from the bush and came directly to- 

 ward me. Another heavy stone broke its back, when I 

 killed it with the stamp of a cowhide boot upon its head. 

 Tin's was the snake that measured the Oft. Sin written of 

 in an early part of this, it was measured by the farmer 

 I was boarding with, Peter Nusted, and in the presence 

 of a Baptist minister by the name of Thomas Richard 

 Green. 



On another occasion, when the farmers were mowing 

 a patch of meadow, a large blacksnake was started, 

 which one of them impaled by a hasty thrust of a hay 

 fork, pinning it to the earth. I secured that snake, kept 

 it for some time in a box, and finally sent it as a present 

 to a friend in New York, the late Enoch Dick, at that 

 time receiving teller of the Bowery Bank. That snake 

 would light savagely and would strike the glass of the 

 box, within which he was confined, at a pointed finger or 

 anything held toward him. Although his head must 

 have suffered from the concussion, he would over and 

 over again strike at objects. When a face happened to be 

 close to the glass looking in and the strike came, the 

 effect upon the onlooker was startling. 



Although I have never seen an enormous blacksnake I 

 still believe that occasionally one may grow to abnormal 

 dimensions. Thus in a field owned by a blacksmith 

 named David Lyon, and which bordered the river, along 

 blacksnake was" seen so often and by so many people that 

 I would be loth to doubt the accuracy of the report. 

 Another was seen for many years in a patch of low 

 meadow land, through which ran a small stream called 

 Hangrcot Brook, I am inclined to think that once in a 

 while, as in the human species, a giant specimen might 

 appear, which by its superior size would call attention 

 to itself, become identified with a certain locality and 

 being seen of many soon "acquire a habitation and a 

 name." 



A word as to hibernating holes. I know of many 

 places so designated, but never examined but one. Al- 

 most always they are found where a cleft or rift in out- 

 cropping rocks leads to open space below. In the one I 

 was familiar with the rock is not two feet above the sur- 

 face, not over a dozen feet in length, and narrow irPpro- 

 portion to its length. This body of rock had two long, 

 harrow cleavings or crevices. In the fall a snake could 

 occasionally be seen entering, but this was seldom, and 

 owing no doubt to the long time over which the period 

 of seeking repose on the part of individual snakes ex- 

 tends. I do not think, however, that I ever knew or 

 heard of the snakes leaving this winter home until the 

 frost was thoroughly out of the ground and at least mid- 

 day warmth thoroughly assured. The warrn days of late 

 April, when a little frost lingers in the air at night, fol- 

 lowed by warm sun during the day, seemed to be the 

 period chosen for going forth. They did not issue out 

 singly or in couples, but reptile would follow reptile in 

 rpiiek succession. Their movements would be quite slug- 

 gish, and often one would remain half in and half out the 

 opening until thoroughly warmed up by the heat of the 

 sun, This outgoing was all finished in two or three days. 

 Hundreds would be no synonym for the number, it was 

 thousands. One April morning— I think in 1863— the 

 late Colonel N. B. Bartram and myself killed over forty, 

 all blacksnakes, in as many minutes; and that same 

 morning over a hundred had been killed by Amos Lyon, 

 son of Purdy Lyon, who owned the farm upon which this 

 hibernating' spot is located. All kinds of snakes seemed 

 to come together here for then- winter's slumber. Adders 

 and milksnakes were the greater in number after the 

 blacksnakes. Singular to say, this pile of rock is in an 

 open field not 200ft. from a well-traveled road, and not 

 twice that distance from the front door of the Lyons 

 house. The rock is bare of cover, or was when I last 

 saw it, for not a bush or weed in any way screened it 

 from observa tion. I presume it originally had been in 

 dense woods and well hidden, but why, after being de- 

 nuded of its cover by a clearing up of its surroundings, it 

 should still be used year after year by the reptiles, is a 

 question which cannot be answered by Jacob Pentz. 

 Brooklyn, N. Y. 



Snakes Sw allowing Young.— Nevada. Sept. 16,— 

 Editor Forest and Stream: I notice in your issue of 

 Sept. 6 the notes of N. Starkweather concerning serpents. 

 Truly, there are "more things in heaven and earth" than 

 even our philosophy acknowledges. Whether or no ser- 

 pents swallow their young, I am not prepared to assert; 

 but I hereby attest and subscribe to the following: Some 

 fitteen years ago, in northern Illinois, I saw a number of 

 young snakes rim — or at least go, and go quickly — into 

 the mouth of a large one. Upon killing the large snake 

 the small ones squirmed from its body. They were a 

 species of watersnake, I think. I have since frequently 

 heard of similar cases. Doubtless others have seen as 

 much. I tender my testimony in support of Miss Wol- 

 cott's anecdote. — C. L. Paige. 



PLEASi ntville, N. Y. — Editor Forest and Stream: I 

 quite agree with Miss Emily L. Wolcott, that snakes do 

 swallow their young for protection. I have seen three 

 or four incidents of the kind. On approaching the old 

 snake she would make a peculiar noise and immediately 

 the young would run down herthroat. The snake is 

 called in this section the black watersnake. — J. O. 



A Dining Car Line to the Pacific Coast.— The completion of the all rail 

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 Clark's Fork, Spokane, Yakima and Green Rivers, for a distance of fully 

 1,500 miles, as well as lying immediately contiguous to the finest hunting 

 grounds in the United States, viz., The Big Horn, Snowy Belt, Bitter Root, 

 Coeur D'Alene and Cascade Mountains. Information in regard to this 

 region can be obtained by addressing Charles S. Kef,, General Passenger 

 and Ticket Agent, N.R. R.. P. St. Paul. Mixm.-Adv. 



Tourists seeking rest and recreation during the hot summer 

 months can obtain valuable infoiraation from the illustrated guide 

 books entitled "A Summer .taunt" and "Summer of 1S88" issued by 

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tttnt J?;*# mid §mf> 



RIFLES FOR SMALL GAME— III. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Since 1 my article under the above heading appeared in 

 FO&kSt and Stream I have had a great many letters from 

 different parts of the country, with so many inquiries 

 about the small bore rifles that I have felt obliged to ask 

 for space in the Forest and Stream to answer in part 

 the many correspondents that have requested me to do 

 so. As this may also interest some new readers who are 

 fond of rifle shooting in the woods and fields at small 

 game, I will submit it to you without any apologies, 

 merely stating that it is simply the result of careful ob- 

 servation, and it is hoped by the writer that some n-eful 

 information may be given to the young and inexperi- 

 enced sportsmen that are looking for a good rifle to do the 

 work required in a quick, thorough and decisive manner. 



First, the .22cal., which I treated of in former articles, is 

 now fitted up ready for the market with four different 

 cartridges, which are good for game shooting. There are 

 many good rifles in the market, and it is merely a matter 

 of fancy which to choose — provided of course that they 

 are chambered for the short shell. 



There is another rimfire cartridge called the .22 long 

 "rifle'" cartridge, made by the TJ. M. C. Co., that contains 

 5grs. powder and 40grs. lead. This cartridge, although 

 it has been on the market for some time, does not seem 

 to be very well known — judging from letters that I have 

 received regarding it — and to those who wish a cheap 

 rimfire cartridge and wish to do accurate work up to 

 100yds. I will say that it will fill the bill every time, for 

 it will shoot — in a good rifle — closer than any man can 

 see to hold — for hunting small game. There are two rifles 

 only, known by the writer, that handle this cartridge in 

 a satisfactory manner, viz., the Ballard and Stevens, that 

 are sold at a moderate price. There is one other make 

 that does good work, but costs too much and is no better. 

 These cartridges cost the same as the common .22 long 

 pistol cartridge, but are much more accurate and better 

 every way. The rifles, however, are made especially for 

 them and require a quicker twist in the barrel, so that 

 old rifles can seldom be rechambered to use the new 

 cartridge successfully. Next comes the .22 10-45 c. f . 

 rifle and cartridge. 



This cartridge is now made by the TJ. M. C. Co., to use 

 the No. 1 copper primer, which is a great improvement on 

 the 00 primer formerly used in it. The No. 1 primer is 

 stronger and does not blow out and go to piece-* like the 

 old one. This cartridge w-as fully described in the former 

 article, but it is now so much improved that it is on the 

 whole the equal of the .22-15-45 B. N. cartridge made by 

 the Win. R. Arms Co. Among the rifles to use the lOgr. 

 cartridge, or as it is better known, the .22 extra long 

 c. f., are the Maynard, Bullard, Wesson, Stevens and 

 Ballard. The first and last named have given the best 

 results to the writer, and a point in favor of the latter 

 is that the cost is much less. The strongest shooting 

 cartridge known to the writer in .22cal., is the .22-15-45 

 cartridge, made by the W inchester Co. The trajectory 

 is very flat up to 200 yards, as the bullet is long enough 

 to have good staying power, and having a powder pro- 

 portion of 1 to 3, it must, of course, give such speed that 

 for all distances at which small game is killed there 

 are no changes of elevation, which, by the way, is the 

 only fault to be found with both the rimfire cartridges, 

 viz., the .22 short and .22 long rifle cartridges 



Both the 10 and 15gr. cartridges can be reloaded sev- 

 eral times, while the everlasting shells for the Maynard 

 rifle can be reloaded indefinitely, the writer having 

 loaded one of them over a hundred times to test it, and 

 apparently it is in just as good condition as when it was 

 first fired.' All of these four cartridges are very accurate, 

 and are well adapted to shooting squirrels, grouse, quail 

 or any small game that comes within their range. 



There is a question — which I have worked on for a long 

 time and one which I have been asked a great many 

 times — that is worth answering here. We often hear it 

 asked what kind of a rifle can I have for all around work? 

 One that is heavy enough to kill a deer and one that will 

 do to shoot a duck or even a gray squirrel without either 

 tearing the latter all to pieces or kicking a man's head 

 off. A rifle that will down a deer at 300yds., or one that 

 will drop a red squirrel at 30yds. A rifle that can be 

 found in the market at any time with shells and all kinds 

 of reloading material, at a reasonable price, and one that 

 will do good work both with patched and naked bullets, 

 long and short, to use for both large and small game, and 

 for fine work at the target. After a great deal of hunting 

 and measuring with the micrometer caliper, study and 

 theory, I was ready to give the experiment a test, and as 

 the results were satisfactory in every respect, I will give 

 you the story. So here it is: 



The rifle used was a No. 4 Ballard with 30in. barrel, 

 .32cal., using 40grs. of powder, and a bullet of 18ogrs. 

 The results of this cartridge for target and game are too 

 well known to need any comment here, and work well 

 for deer, geese, turkeys or any of the game east of the 

 Rocky Mountains except moose or bear. For the smaller 

 game at shorter range, such as squirrels, ducks, wood- 

 chucks, grouse, etc., I loaded the shell with 10 to 15grs. 

 of F.Cr. powder, a cardboard wad, and a .32 S. & W. re- 

 volving rifle bullet, which weighs tOOgrs. The results 

 are good up to 100 yards, while the report is very light, 

 the recoil is not noticed at all and the expense of shooting 

 is rednced to a minimum, everything that is required can 

 be easily obtained, and you are ready for long or short- 

 range work for any distance at which game of any kmd 

 is killed in this part of the country. Of course, there are 

 rifles that will answer a particular purpose better, and 

 particularly for the larger game, but for an all-round 

 gun in this part of the country I have not found any thing- 

 better. We have little use for large bores for game 

 shooting, while almost all of the target work is at 200 

 yards, and the small bores are much pleasanter to use, 

 and get into the bullseye just as well. 



There are many questions of minor importance that I 

 have answered by mail, and will be happy to give any 

 further information that I can to the readers of Forest 

 and Stream regarding the use and care of small-bore 

 rifles. A letter with a stamp for it sent to the Forest 

 and Stream office I think will be forwarded to me, and 

 I find that this kind of correspondence is of mutual bene- 

 fit, as I learn of new ideas as well as help others with 

 what are to me old ones. Iron Ramrod. 



SoTsnDRvrr-LE Station, Boston, Mass, 



