A Florida Rattler. 
A\'est Palm Beach, Fla., Jan. 20. —Editor Forest, 
and Stream: Residents of Florida will tell you 
that, after years spent here, they have not seen 
a rattlesnake alive, except in captivity; but the 
newcomer will often see one that has appar¬ 
ently but awaited his arrival. The small boy 
found his a few days after, our arrival here in 
November, and in this wise: 
Fishing from the wharf extending into Lake 
Worth, in front of one of the beautiful homes 
near West Palm Beach, the small boy ran in 
to visit the orange grove for refreshments. 
Speeding up the walk to the front entrance he 
had arrived within a few feet of the door, when 
a hissing and buzzing sounded at his feet, and 
looking down he found his passage disputed by 
a large snake, rapidly coiling and showing fight. 
With a frightened yell the boy backed off, and 
—with primeval instinct—took a tree. “Papa ! 
a snake! A great big snake!’’ he shouted, and 
his voice was vibrant with terror. 
“Coming,” I shouted, as I rapidly reeled in 
my line, for it is not safe to leave several dol¬ 
lars’ worth of good fishing tackle to be carried 
off by a voracious fish. Others had heard the 
cry, and I heard the front door opened by the 
boy’s uncle, while a negro, working near by, 
called out: “That’s a rattler. I just run him out 
from down here where I cuttin’ down bushes.” 
Getting in the line I hurried to the scene of 
disturbance and found the uncle calmly looking 
down from the steps upon an angry rattlesnake 
coiled in the path near the steps, the boy from 
his perch in the tree, and the negro from a safe 
distance, looking on in fascinated terror. I 
immediately joined the frightened squad. 
Although the man had a bill-hook, which is 
a big, strong knife on a long handle, used for 
cutting out brush, he did not dare attack the 
snake, but stood off at safe distance. 
Pelting it with small sticks, bits of gravel and 
other harmless missiles, to show us how it acted 
when angry, the uncle, who is blessed with 
nerves proof against snake terrors, then picked 
up a bit of common lath, left lying by a bed of 
flowers the man had been working in, and wait¬ 
ing until the snake uncoiled and started to re¬ 
treat, calmly walked in and struck it on the 
head a blow that I thought barely sufficient to 
rouse it to anger and stunned it so that he could 
cut off its head with a bill-hook. 
Five feet in length, as thick as a man’s arm, 
and with eight rattles, we thought it quite a 
snake, but the uncle says it is only a fair sam¬ 
ple of the medium grade. Pie also says it was 
not at all a dangerous feat to kill it with a little 
stick when it was stretched out, as then it could 
not strike without stopping to coil. Also that 
its head is so tender that a smart tap, properly 
placed, will stun the largest snake. 
The local taxidermist, who gladly took charge 
of the remains, pronounced it one of the bright¬ 
est, most Beautifully marked skins he had seen 
this season. I was urged to have it mounted, as 
a beautiful ornament to adorn my den, but if 
I was compelled to choose between having it 
near me, even dead and stuffed, at a cost of ten 
dollars, and being without it at many times that 
amount, I would not hesitate to take the most 
expensive alternative. Lewis Hopkins. 
A Remarkablo Winter for Birds. 
If the reports that come in from many parts 
of New England can be relied upon, this has 
been a remarkable winter for birds. The lireed- 
ing season of igo8 was unusually favorable for 
the birds in most sections, and this has resulted 
in increasing their numbers. The fall was late 
with fine dry weather, and the flights of small 
birds came in numbers and stayed long. The 
largest flight of woodcock that has been seen 
for years went through the New England States 
in November. Woodcock were plentiful for a 
few days all along the Atlantic seaboard, as far 
south at least as southern New England, and the 
flight extended well back into the interior. In 
southeastern New England’ most birds moved 
south very reluctantly. Bluebirds and swallows 
were reported in Plymouth and Bristol counties, 
Massachusetts, late in December, and a good 
many robins were seen up to the first week in 
January. 
The Carolina wren, which seems to have in¬ 
vaded New England in recent years and which 
has extended its range even to Maine, has been 
reported in some localities this winter. A few 
kingfishers were observed where the streams 
were still open, and wild geese were reported 
late in December. Notwithstanding the fact 
that many birds have remained with us longer 
than usual, unusual numbers of certain winter 
birds have come down from the North, and far¬ 
mers report “lots of small birds” in the fields 
and woods this winter. Flocks of the rarer 
white-winged crossbill, pine siskins and redpolls 
are reported. Tree sparrows and juncos have 
been seen in large numbers. The season has 
been so open in Massachusetts that these birds 
have found a plentiful supply of weed seeds 
in the fields. Snowy owls are reported from 
along the coast. 
One correspondent from Maine claims to have 
seen that very rare bird, the Bohemian waxwing. 
Maine ornithologists should be on the lookout 
for this bird, for one is fortunate to get a sight 
of it in a lifetime. 
Everyone who lives in the country should feed 
the birds in winter. It is very little trouble to 
keep a few pieces of suet or some beef bones, 
with shreds of meat attached, tied up in the or¬ 
chard trees out of the reach of cats and dogs, as 
food for the birds. We shall be well paid for 
our trouble by the destruction of the insect 
enemies of the trees. The birds attracted by the 
bait hung out will frequent the vicinity, and 
while feeding a part of the time on the animal 
food thus provided for them, will spend the 
rest of the time hunting insects on the trees. 
The little chaff from the barn floor should be 
thrown out under a shed or in some sheltered 
place to provide food for the seed-eating birds. 
Montana Bison Herd. 
SunscRiPTioNS to the fund for the Montana 
National Bison Herd secured through Forest 
AND Stream from Nov. 10, 1908, to Jan. 20, 1909, 
are given below: 
1908. 
Subscriptions received previous to Nov. 
10, igo8 . $72.00 
Nov. 13. Jared G. Baldwin, Jr., 33 Wall 
street, N. Y. City. 5-00 
“ 30. George Shiras, 3d, Stoneleight 
Court, Washington, D. C. 25.00 
Phillip T. Bell, Hudson, New 
York . 2.00 
Dec. II. John S. Sutphen, 311 West 72d 
street, N. Y. City. 10.00 
1909. 
Jan. 2. Collected by William Barker, 
Jr., Troy, N. Y.: Walter F. 
Mead, Broadway, Watervliet, 
N. Y.. $i; W. P. Dauchy, 
River street, Troy, N. Y., $i : 
R. H. Gillett, Cannon Place. 
Troy, N. Y., $1; Thos. J. 
Hurley, 77 Third street, Troy, 
N. Y., $i; O. L. Fisher, Haw¬ 
thorne street. Troy, N. Y., $1. 5.00 
13. Chas E. Heed, 119 South 4th 
street, Philadelphia, Pa. S-OO 
15. A. i\I. IMacnab, Captain Philip¬ 
pine Scouts, U. S. Army, 
Los Banos, Laguna, Philip¬ 
pine Islands. 2.00 
$54.00 
Total to date .$126.00 
Jan. 20, 1909. 
At the annual meeting of the Bison Society, 
held recently. Dr. W. T. Hornaday, the presi¬ 
dent, announced that the fund for the purchase 
of the herd already amounted to more than $7,600 
and that gifts of bison, eight in all, have been 
received from J. J. Hill, of St. Paul, Minn.; 
Mr. Phillips, of Ft. Pierre, South Dakota, and 
Chas. Goodnight, of Texas. 
Bird Legislation. 
Boston, Mass., Jan. 21 .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: Every Legislature in New England is 
in session this winter. This is the time to get 
legislation to protect those birds which are now 
in danger of extermination. Among these are 
the woodduck, the upland plover, the kildeer 
plover and the piping plover. These birds are 
disappearing rapidly in all these States. The 
woodduck and the upland plover are now pro¬ 
tected by a close season of five years in New 
York, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. All 
shooting of the kildeer and the piping plover 
should be prohibited, as they are rapidly near¬ 
ing extinction in the North from spring and 
summer shooting on their breeding grounds. 
Edward Howe Forbush. 
