CREATURES OF MYSTERY 
267 
There is not the slightest trace of insincerity to be found in 
his entire makeup. No charge of hypocrisy can be truthfully 
leveled at him, neither can it be said that he ever sails under 
false colors. He presents himself to the whole world for ex¬ 
actly what he is—a deadly creature. All in all he is not a bad 
fellow, especially when compared with those serpents of the 
human kind who greet you with a smile, plant a kiss upon your 
cheek, but all the while are secretly planning your Gethsemane. 
Compared with other beasts of the field, he occupies a posi¬ 
tion of high honor. The hyena deliberately follows the lion, 
knowing him to be a good hunter. Not a single hyena, but two. 
When the lion makes a kill the two draw in to share it with 
him and then the fight starts. One of the pair engages the lion 
in battle while the other feasts upon the carcass—the hyena 
does not particularly care whether he kills the lion, but is 
merely fighting a delaying action. When the one at the carcass 
has had his fill they change positions. When both their appe¬ 
tites are fully satisfied they slink away into the underbrush. 
Unlike the eagle, he is no hi-jacker. The latter will sit by 
playing the role of gentleman of leisure while the fish-hawk 
beats his brains out diving for fish. When at last his efforts are 
rewarded the eagle “dive-bombs” the poor fish-hawk out of his 
just earnings, carrying it away to his own unfeathered clan 
awaiting his return upon a ledge on some lofty mountain peak. 
The rattler will labor with patience and persistence after 
the manner of his kind for his own food. He will hunt rabbits 
by the moonlight all night long, or perhaps in the cool of the 
day lie in wait for a squirrel for days and days for the purpose 
of determining just what path he is following, and if possible 
learn where he is obtaining his food supply, all of his patient 
energies directed to the end that their paths may one day cross. 
Roger Conant, Curator, Philadelphia Zoological Garden, 
and William Bridges, Curator of Publications, New York 
Zoological Park, pay eloquent tribute to the virtue of reptiles 
in a volume published by D. Appleton Company, New York, 
titled, “What Snake Is That?” 
“Each year Nature puts on ‘The Greatest Show on Earth’. 
For lovers of the spectacular she displays her flaming sunsets 
and her woods in autumn glory. Flowers and storms and the 
