858 
I raised one in captivity that brought forth 30 
young ones, and a jolly bunch they were; they 
would fight for the possession of angle worms 
thrown into their cage as jealously as young 
chickens, chasing each other around the cage to 
get the worm. When it reaches full size there 
is nothing the garter snake relishes more than 
frogs or a good fat toad. I have never known 
it to eat birds or mice and I have tried it on the 
latter numerous times. 
I wonder if you have ever noticed a toad 
when placed in a cage with a snake. If there is 
earth on the bottom of the cage the first thing 
the toad will do is to dig vigorously with both 
hind legs, continuing the excavation until, in an 
incredibly short time it has crowded itself into 
the earth and is completely buried from view. It 
does this to escape the snake, which it instantly 
and intuitively seems to recognize as an enemy, 
and its main desire is to hide as soon as pos¬ 
sible. But woe betide the toad if the snake hap¬ 
pens to be hungry and spies it before it has 
tunnelled itself into safety. There is a sudden 
flash of the snake’s body toward the toad, and 
the jaws of the snake fasten upon it. Often the 
jaws strike it midway of the body and the toad 
lies crossways of the snake’s mouth. In such 
an event there is a desperate struggle. The 
toad I have seen grasp a snake’s jaws with its 
fore feet and push against them to prevent it¬ 
self being swallowed, while the snake was mak¬ 
ing the most desperate efforts to continue the 
process by turning the toad around in its jaws 
that it might swallow it head first and that once 
accomplished, a few strong muscular contortions 
of the body would suffice to send the toad down 
the snake’s throat. 
One day in passing along a country path I 
came upon a water snake, Natrix fasciata sip- 
edon, from whose mouth protruded what seemed 
to be two long horns. Examination, however, 
showed them to be the hind legs of an enormous 
bullfrog, which was all there was visible of the 
body of the big frog and that soon after dis¬ 
appeared down the snake’s throat. I captured 
the snake and kept it three months in captivity 
to study its peculiarities and found it well worth 
the trouble. The specimen was one of the larg¬ 
est of its species, four feet long and quite thick. 
The usual size is from two to three feet in 
length. Its body is stout, and has the scales 
strongly keeled. The color is brown, with 
broad, irregular cross-bands of reddish brown 
which show more distinctly on the sides. The 
underside is yellowish white, brightly marked 
with red spots and blotches. In the young of 
the species there is a notable difference from 
the adults, especially in coloration. The body is 
gray with very distinct black cross-bands. The 
female is viviparous and forty young at a litter 
is not uncommon. They breed the last of Au¬ 
gust and early September. You will find them 
near ponds and streams. They feed on frogs, 
toads and fish. 
There is a snake often confounded with the 
garter snake and that is the ribbon snake, Tham- 
no phis saurita. Its markings are similar to the 
garter snake. The body, however, is very slen¬ 
der with distinctly keeled scales and it has dis¬ 
tinct white spots along its sides when distended. 
The body color is dark brown or black with a 
bright and very clearly defined stripe of yellow 
down the back and a similar stripe on each side. 
FOREST AND STREAM 
It differs from the garter snake in this respect. 
The side stripes are on the third and fourth 
row of scales from the plates of the crawling 
surface, whereas with the garter snake the lat¬ 
eral stripe is on the second and third row of 
scales. The underside of the ribbon snake is 
immaculate, while the abdomen of the garter 
snake shows a row of small black spots on each 
side. The ribbon snake is likewise much slen¬ 
derer than the garter. It is rarely over three 
feet long. It lives on fish, tadpoles and frogs. 
It is viviparous but rarely gives birth to more 
than a dozen young at a litter. It loves damp 
meadows and woods. 
The hog nose snake, Heterodon platyrhinns 
has a sharp, turned up snout which is most con¬ 
venient for burrowing in the sandy soil where it 
lives. Its markings are variable, but its general 
color is yellowish brown, with dark brown or 
black irregular cross-bands. Now and then a 
species is found which shows brilliant shades of 
yellow and red; others are entirely black. Such 
belong to the Niger variety. This snake is stout 
bodied, has keeled scales and if annoyed it be¬ 
comes very formidable in appearance. It flat¬ 
tens its head and neck and hisses loudly. Rare¬ 
ly does it bite. It is the biggest bluffer of the 
harmless snake family and seems desirous of 
frightening people by its eccentricities and noise. 
Milk Snake and Its Eggs. 
(I ampropeltis Doliatus Triangulus.) 
It is the politician of the snake family. Like the 
Quaker’s dog, it has been given a bad name that 
it doesn’t deserve, such as “Flat-head Adder,” 
“Blowing Viper” and “Spreading Adder.” 
The average farmer can’t seem to be con¬ 
vinced that this harmless snake is not equal to 
the copperhead in venomous qualities. I have 
seen the hog nose feign death and allow itself 
to be picked up by the tail and thrown down 
without showing life, and all the while it was 
simply bluffing and waiting for a chance to get 
away unobserved. It is the opossum of the 
snake tribe. Oviparous, it deposits from 20 to 
24 eggs. The largest adult species measure 
three feet long and are about an inch and a 
half in diameter. 
The little green snake, Cyclophis vernalis, is 
one of the daintiest and handsomest and most 
inoffensive of all the snakes common to this 
region. The color above is a uniform pale 
green and beneath is light yellow or white. The 
scales are smooth and satiny in lustre. It is 
insectivorous, feeding largely upon hairless cat¬ 
erpillars, crickets, grasshoppers, spiders, etc. It 
is two feet long at its full size, but is often found 
much smaller. It will readily coil around the 
hand and is very timid and quick. It is ovipar¬ 
ous or egg laying. 
Another of our egg laying snakes is the hand¬ 
somely marked Milk snake, Lampropeltis dolia¬ 
tus triangulus. Its body is yellowish brown or 
gray, with a series of irregular chestnut brown 
or reddish spots, edged with black, to the num¬ 
ber of fifty or so; on the sides are smaller spots 
in alternation with those of the back. It is white 
beneath, with numerous small, oblong spots of 
black. At maturity it is from three to four feet 
long. Its scales are smooth and polished. Al¬ 
though called a milk snake, and by some ac¬ 
credited with milking cows, there is no evidence 
to substantiate that claim that has ever stood 
the light of investigation. It is closely related 
to the Southern King snake, being a constrictor. 
It lays from 24 to 28 eggs and is found more 
generally in woodland places. 
Bearing these facts in mind, with the illustra¬ 
tions herewith given, it should be an easy matter 
for any reader of this sketch to distinguish be¬ 
tween our venomous and harmless snakes, and if 
he will but give to this subject a little observa¬ 
tion, coupled with a common sense view, he 
will have no fear of the harmless snakes so com¬ 
mon in country places and so often abused and 
maligned. 
If the farmer would use as much sense in re¬ 
fraining from killing these harmless snakes as 
he does in his ordinary farm management he 
would be the gainer, because many of our snakes 
are a real help to him in destroying vermin 
about the farm and outbuildings. Don’t kill 
every snake you see. A snake has a right to 
live, especially if it is of the harmless species, 
as 20 out of an average of 22 found in the coun¬ 
try are. 
Snakes have their appointed tasks in the world’s 
great economic problem of nature, to rid man¬ 
kind of numerous vermin pests, which otherwise 
would destroy much that is valuable to the hus¬ 
bandman. Give the harmless snake a chance. 
He’s your friend. 
THE GREAT HORNED OWL. 
HEN the snow lies deep in the fields and 
woods, and the streams are running si¬ 
lently beneath their bridges of ice, the 
Great Horned Owls are busy with their home- 
building. 
Along in early February, before the robin and 
the grackle have come to us from the southland 
they are carrying twigs to the top of some tall 
oak, or into the dense shade of hemlock or cedar 
tree. 
The nest is made almost entirely of coarse 
twigs, built up in a compact mass. On the top 
of this, in but a slight depression, a few softer 
materials are placed and it is in readiness for 
the eggs. These are two or three in number, of 
a dull white color, and almost spherical. 
Here for four long weeks, during some of the 
coldest and stormiest weather of the winter, the 
parent birds take turns at housekeeping—one go¬ 
ing out to hunt for food, while the other broods. 
You may hear their answering notes booming 
through the forest all through the nights or even 
on the darkest days. 
And it is to my ear one of Nature’s finest 
sounds, in keeping with the solitude of the forest 
and the overshadowing gloom of the night. 
The baby owls, when hatched, are simply little 
balls of yellowish white down, which they re¬ 
tain for several weeks. 
