May 1, 1897,J 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
348 
SNAKE LORE. 
Lowell, Mass., April 6— Occasionally the columns of the 
FoE_EST AND Stream have contained queries concerning the 
habits and food of snakes, none of which have ever 
brought out any data that shed much light on this inter- 
esting subject. 
Many years of hunting, fishing and camping, coupled 
with an interest for investigation, has furnished the writer 
with considereble matter at hand to draw from. In the 
small space that the crowded columns of the Forest and 
Stream can afford, it will be impossible to treat a subject 
which covers so wide a range other than in a general way, 
and I shall only try to give some of the most important 
instances that have come under my observation; some of 
them separated by many years, and long distances. 
Like everything else living, the habits of snakes are 
governed very much by the nature and quantity of their food 
supply, which varies very much during the yearly change of 
seasons. They are governed also by conditions which 
vary with change of locality and climate. These facts 
render it impossible to establish rules to gauge the habits 
not only of snakes, but of almost every species of life hav- 
ing fur, fins or feathers that may exist over a wide extent 
of country, and where food is obtained under differing con- 
ditions. 
That most of the common varieties of the snakes of the 
Atlantic States from Maine to Florida are voracious and 
predatory is quite well established, but the wonderful 
variety of their food, which embraces almost every living 
thing that is not too great for swallowing, is not generally 
known. During many years I made it a practice to kill 
all the snakes I met with when possible— especially those 
of the larger species— and have cut open the stomachs of 
many hundreds of them, and after consulting my notes I 
find this surprising medley of food noted during a number 
of years: young chickens and ducka, young birds of almost 
every kind— especially ground and bush-nesting birds- 
mice, moles, young squirrels of various kinds, weasels 
young of muskrats, mink and rabbits, the young of grouse' 
quail and woodcock, frogs, toads and tadpoles, often young 
snakes of the larger species, old ones of all the smaller 
varieties, grasshoppers, crickets, most kinds of butterflies, 
and fish of every known variety, and of all sizes from 
J-pounder down to the smallest minnow. Is not this a 
most astonishing assortment? And the list is not yet com- 
plete. 
Once, while fishing a trout brook that flowed through a 
meadow, my attention was attracted to the erratic behavior 
of a few bumble bees that were making much ado around 
a small tussock of grass. On closer inspection I found a 
small snake of the adder family ducking to avoid the on- 
slaughts of the bees while stealing out of the little grass- 
hidden nest the young bees. I attended to him at 
once, and after his troubles were over I found in his maw 
the fat young bumble bees that he was caught in the act 
of swallowing. 
I am not aware that snakes held in captivity ever take 
into the stomach any substances other than flesh, but on 
many occasions I have found in the stomachs of snakes 
that were cut open considerable vegetable matter, mainly 
in the form of buds, if in the early spring, and later in the 
summer often a profusion of small green leaves, oblong in 
shape, and in all cases appearing to be the same leaf. I 
have found these not only in stomachs that were nearly 
empty, but also in others that were full of animal food, a 
condition which would seem to preclude the possibility'of 
heir presence being due to hunger. These observations 
have led me to beheve that snakes, like many animals act 
as their own physicians, and know when and what to take 
mto the stomach to correct any u-regularities from which 
chey may be ailing. 
As flesh-eating gluttons, snakes have no equal, and when 
gorged to the utmost they act as if in a trance, and appear 
ierfectly helpless, as the following cases would show 
ibout fifteen years ago, while fishing the outlet of a shal- 
ow lake m ]\f aine, near the Canadian line, I had occasion 
o visit a small, partially dried up bog to replenish my sup- 
3ly of httle frogs for bait. While doing this I routed a 
arge, red-bellied water snake. He acted as if trying to 
,yoid the customs oflicials. I soon slit him up with my 
>ig knife, and emptied from his stomach about a quart of 
irge tadpoles, many of which had the legs well developed 
8 occurs when commencing to assume frog citizenship ' 
Some years ago, while fishing at the Hebron Meadows 
lewfound Lake, N. H., my companion and I were inter- 
sted spectators of a very fierce battle between two mottled- 
ack, red-bellied water snakes over the possession of a 
ellow perch of about Sin. in length, which one of them 
ad captured and both wanted. The battle continued 
ith great fury; first one, then the other waa in temporary 
ossession of the fish; then both would secure a firm hold 
ad tug fiercely for possession. At times the perch seemed 
irgotten, and lay helplessly flopping in the mud and 
:a88, while its captors writhed and twisted in the fierce 
eat of battle for the mastery. At length the smaller 
lake abandoned the conflict, and the victor, seizing his 
rey, made his way toward higher ground, only to encount- 
■ a more formidable foe, armed with a paddle. His snake- 
up measured 51t. 4in. The perch was Sin. long and pulled 
3wn my pocket scales to 6ioz. Although some the worse 
r his experience, we returned him to the water and 
ter a few erratic movements he slowly swam off 'into 
;eper water. 
On one occasion, while hunting, a large blacksnake was 
icountered. J saw from his swollen abdomen that he 
id only recently dined. I ripped bun up with my knife 
Ld found in his stomach an enormous green fros that 
easured 13in. in length. ^ 
Some yeare ago, one Sunday morning found us cooking 
eakfast m camp, which was situated on a low bluff by 
e side of a river that for a nimiber of miles flowed 
rough a succession of meadows. This occasion furnished 
with a tragedy never to be forgotten. A splashing in 
e water on the opposite bank of the river attracted our 
tention; the reeds and rushes, with the tall grass ren- 
red it impossible to see the cause, while the noise' con- 
lued so long that all thoughts of muskrats were ban- 
led Irom our minds, and the writer, with a companion 
pped over m a canoe to learn the cause of bo unusual a 
sturbance. We found a large blacksnake over 6ft. in 
length with a catfish or horned pout stuck fast in his 
throat; about 4in. of the fish's tail protruded from his 
mouth, while the head and the remainder of the body 
was fast m the snake's throat, held there by the stiff, bony- 
spines of the dorsal and pectoral fins that were protruding 
through the neck, one at the top just back of the head 
and one on either side of the neck. The struggles of this 
snake, both on land and in the water, were frightful to 
behold. Such thrashing around in the bushes and grass- 
such writhing and twisting as took place in the water' 
amazed us. Fon a number of minutes we watched this 
awful struggle of the snake to free himself from his equally 
distressed victim. Tiring at last of witnessing so much 
suffering, we put the snake out of his misery. The head 
and forward part of the snake's body was badly scratched 
and cut up from so much thrashing around among the 
bushes. The fish's tail and body were also badly scratched 
and torn from the same cause. The bony spines pro- 
truding through the neck, and the cause of the snake's 
downfall, were stripped bare of fins and skin. 
It is not generally known that snakes move about and 
feed during the night, but after many years of observation 
I am quite certain that some of the common species, both 
North and South, especially those that hve near, and 
freely take to the water, not only move around consider- 
ably, but also feed during the hours of darkness. 
I have often encountered them at night while on the 
water during the warm months of summer, but after the 
c!t)lder nights of autumn arrive I have never seen them 
abroad after dark. 
I have found some of the water snakes caught onset 
lines that were put out at night and taken up in the morn- 
ing, and well remember once while fishing for big-mouthed 
bass at least two hour^ before sunrise in the morning of 
having a little frog that I was casting on the surface of the 
water taken by a red-bellied water snake. He was.hooked 
and landed in the boat, and there was no chance of mis- 
taking his identity, and it was yet so dark that you could 
see only a few feet on the water. I am afraid that this 
admission will show me up the same as once happened to 
Mr. Cheeney, and go to prove that there are fish other than 
trout that can be caught on the surface of the water during 
the silent hours of the night. 
During a moonlight summer^night I once listened to the 
awful cries of distress and anguish that came from a lar^e 
green frog that was slowly being swallowed by a black- 
snake. This was proven, for on pushing out from camp in 
our punt and making our way up a slough, guided by the 
mourns and cries of terror from his victim, we arrived in 
time to take part in the tragedy, and add 'to the already 
long list another snake victim, and give Ufe and liberty to 
one whose song we had been used to listening for o' nights 
while happy in his home in the bog. 
George W. Dearbokn. 
noticed a fine 
and an expert 
from the wild 
the owner of 
The Crocodile's Upper Jaw. 
In the crocodile notes in the last Fobest and Stbeam 
Mr. Le Baron is right about the crocodiles lying in the sun 
with their mouths wide open. I have seen it many times 
and put a good charge of buckshot down their throats • but 
what I am trying to find out is if a crocodile's upper iaw is 
hinged any different from any other creature. I don't think 
there la anything— bird, beast, fish or reptile— that has the 
upper jaw hinged. Geo. A. Boardman. 
e?5 
CAMP BOUILLON. 
In looking through some papers to-day I ran across a pen- 
cil sketch that reminded me of a camping expedition partici- 
pated in by the members of the Old Saginaw Crowd a num 
ber of years ago, how many I will not attempt to say 
It was our custom to have a camp annually near Saginaw 
giving as an excuse that we wanted to hunt partridges and 
quail, when, in reality, it was for the purpose of getting to- 
gether under the leafy boughs to enjoy the crisp, fresh air 
of the woodlands, toast our shins before a roaring campfire 
and last, but not least, to sleep beneath canvas and let off 
steam. 
This particular trip I have reference to was taken early in 
November m the midst of the most delightful autumn 
that existed anywhere. Packing up our tents and belong- 
ings one Friday morning, and putting them aboard the Nar- 
row Gauge baggage-car, we went down to a little station 
caUed Kmtner. The advance guard going with the dunnage 
was Briggs, Jack Morley, or Section 37, Lindsley and my- 
self. Lindsley was a lumberman of Morristown, IST J who 
in a rash moment, had expressed a desire to come up into 
the wilds of Michigan and kiU half a dozen deer and a bear 
or two. 
We explained to him that we would have more fun by 
confining ourselves to partridge and quail shooting, and he 
arrived one morning with his brand new paraphernaha a 
happy smUe and a cheerful disposition, and the next day we 
were m camp alongside of a little stream about three miles 
from the station above mentioned, our truck havino- been 
transported to the campmg-ground by means of a farmer's 
wagon. 
The forenoon was used up getting the camp in order. We 
ihad taken along two tents; the rear one had the cook sto^e 
pn, and the cookmg was presided over by George, our csr 
fcorter. The front end of one tent was left open, and fast- 
ned to this was the other tent with both ends open so it 
was really one long tent about 24:U. deep, giving us nlentv 
of room for sleeping, .cooking and eating. " f j 
You all know how to make a camp, and can imagine what 
was done to get things in order. 
In the afternoon we went out for a little shoot, and I have 
forgotten how many birds we got, but partridges were plenti- 
ful, and we had enough for a rousing big supper that night 
when some new arnvals came mto camp. I remember one 
of them was McCarty. the other George Morley, and I think 
Ferd Ashley was also one of the late arrivals— poor old 
i erd! he has since -passed to the happy hunting ground 
I remember George had a rather exciting time finding us 
It was dark when the last train arrived, and he had a white 
paper bag filled with supplies for camp. He noticed a man 
approaching in the darkness cariying a lantern, and all of a 
sudden the stranger stepped and threw up a gun; Georee 
called to him just in time to save being peppered with a 
charge of shot, for the farmer had mistaken the white paper 
bag for a dog, and as some sheep had recently been killed by 
a vagrant cur, be was out watching for him. The farmer 
felt quite crestfallen over this imjident. 
The next day was spent in shooting, and it was a day full 
of incidents. McCarty, Lindsley and myself made up one party 
m the forenoon. I remember getting into a fence corner 
where a covey of partridge, I do not know how many, be- 
gan getting up one at a time until all of us had blazed away 
to our heart's content. Indeed, those were great days for 
shooting right around home; far better than it has been in 
later years. 
In the afternoon Jack and I started out after wild tm-keys. 
tor a hght snowfall had come on that forenoon, We had 
not gone far before we struck the tracks of a flock, and fol- 
lowed them until late in the afternoon; but as we were quite 
awayfrom camp Jack decided to give it up, and started 
back. 1 followed on but a short distance and the tracks dis- 
appeared, but whether from the birds flying or the rapidly 
melting snow I have forgotten which, I, too, started home- 
ward. Ihe camp must have been three or four miles away 
and 1 took the road for it. In passing by a farmhouse I 
flock of turlseys. They were black, 
•would have been required to tell them 
article. Striking up a bargain with 
>,^o^ f 11 * iT . . ^°^^> ^ ^^^ed one big gobbler's 
Head lull of shot, slung him over my shoulder, and eventu- 
ally brought up at camp. Instead of following the road I 
cut across lots and came on to the camp from the woods 
side. 1 he boys were all sitting around the camp-fire ; it was 
lust getting dusk, and I commenced calling out as loudly as 
.could when I got within earshot, telling Jack he had 
missed it by not staying a little longer, and the clamor I 
made brought them all out to see what occasioned that ex- 
■ . , suppose for an instant 
that the turkey I had was a tame one. Lindsley was in 
ecstacies and after they had aU admhed the bird, and 
asked all sorts of questions as to where I got it, how I got 
It, and all that sort of thing, I presented it to Lindsley He 
was delighted with the gift, and expressed it home to Mor- 
ristown to his wife. A letter received soon after his return 
informed me his wife said it was the finest turkey she had 
ever eaten ; far better than any tame turkey that ever lived 
Lindsley has quit the lumber business, is now editor of a 
newspaper, and I suppose if lie sees this, it will be the first 
intimation he has ever had that even an Eastern lumberman 
was not safe from the jokes of a Saginaw sportsman. 
But you are all anxious, I suppose, to know why we 
ctiristened the camp Camp Bouillon, and I am in a lone:- 
winded way approaching that part of it. 
I had promised the boys I would make them a woods' 
stew, so at noon time when we started away from camp I' 
had fixed up a kettle containing shoes of onions, potatoes, 
salt pork, turnips, and in fact everything that was around 
the camp, including a fox squirrel and a rabbit. This had 
been put over a slow fire to cook and sputter away until 
night time, and the boys were ravenous, having sniffed its 
eavoiy odors for some time, and were only waiting for me to 
put m an appearance to literally fih themselves full. They 
were tired out, as hungry as wolves, and after they were all 
seated at our woods' table I noticed they were partaking 
ot the stew, smacking their lips and sending back for 
more. & ux 
onmf^'^i^ ^ hearty eater, and as he weighs considerably over 
<imb8., he has a large cellar wherein to store an enormous 
quantity of food. When his plate had made the thhd or 
lourth trip to the bouiflon kettle Jack rather intimated that 
he thought he had had his share of it. 
We sat round_ the camp-fire that night, told stories and 
smoked, and as it had turned very cold, we gradually one by. 
one crawled into bed. =. j j 
Ferd was of about the same build as McCarty, and I know 
that Jack slept between the two, and claimed they stuck up so 
high that the blankets did not touch him at all, so he rattled 
around like a pea in a pod between these two fat men, who 
^^ the clothes about a foot higher than his frail form, and 
allowed the cold wind to whistle in around him in a disagree- 
able manner. ° 
I do not know how long I had been asleep, certainly not 
a great while, before McCarty began to groan, and how he 
did groan; then he got up and went out into the cold starry 
night, and glancing out, I noticed he was leaning with his 
brow firmly pressed against the bark of a maple tree He 
came hack to bed only to groan and twist and go out again 
and cool off in the starry moonlight. Finally Mack's ?av- 
mgs became less frequent, and he at last settled down to a 
troublesome sleep. 
The next victim of wakefulness was Lindsley It harl 
gotten awfully cold by this time; the moon had gone nearly 
down and it was getting dark. An old owl on a tree near 
by began hooting, and I could almost hear Lindsley's ears 
K^"^^ ^"^'^y ^^^^d ^ hollow whisper ' ' What's 
that? and theye was a tremor in his voice that seemed to in- 
dicate he thought his time had come. I whispered to him 
It is a great horned owl," and he asked me whether I sun' 
posed he could shoot it. I said, "Of course; nothing is 
easier; just follow the sound and you will see him sittmg uo 
on a hmb and blaze away at him." ^ ^ 
Up he got; how his teeth did chatter; I guess the ther- 
mometer had gotten down to zero by that timl. He hunted 
around for his boots, and, after a good deal of diflaculty 
dressed himself; his benumbed fingers fished out the car- 
tridges, and he started out. 
I could hear him banging his shins and falling over loa-q in 
the darkness. The hooting of the owl seemed f urther awav 
andlwas lust dozing off when Lindsley came in frozen 
nearly to death, and crawled mto bed. ' 
The next morning bright and early, before we had finished 
breakfast, we had visitors. It was Sunday morning and the 
farmers were coming to see what kind of a c/owd was 
camping among them. They could hardly understand to 
what purpose business men could be living in tents so neaJ 
their back yards. McCarty had not gotteS up y?? he was 
pale and unsteady. Lindsley was hunting for a pair of 5fk 
stockmgs that he had gotten wet the dfy before ai^d had 
hung on a little branch to dry. They had dTsapiaied 
One of the farmer visitors suddenly remarked that some one 
must have been mighty sick in this camp last night Se was 
standing suspiciously near the maple tree) • Whv " T 
asked.. "Well "he said, "I have heard of people throwini 
up their socks before now, but I never saw it dine ■•^''^ 
Alas for Lindsley's silk socks. We will draw the curtain 
of charity on the scene. McCarty took the first Sin horn? 
?Kf leaving the reit of us to pa?k up amUo 
this day if a rabbit stew is mentioned, his memSy lakpJ 
bun back to that night when he destroyed SnS's hc5. 
W. B. Meesbojt. 
