File:Animals in action; studies and stories of beasts, birds and reptiles; their habits, their homes and their peculiarities (1901) (14568753838).jpg

Identifier: animalsinactions00broo (find matches)
Title: Animals in action; studies and stories of beasts, birds and reptiles; their habits, their homes and their peculiarities
Year: 1901 (1900s)
Authors: Brooks, Elbridge S. (Elbridge Streeter), 1846-1902
Subjects:
Publisher: Boston, Lothrop pub. co
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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lant, but attacksany living creature that may be in the vicinity of its gliding body.It is, therefore, the particular terror of laborers who work inswampy places, such as the rice fields. The venom of this ser-pent is frightful in its effect. It kills warm-blooded, as v/ell ascold-blooded, creatures, and even some species of poisonoussnakes have been known to succumb to it. Fish and frogs arethe favorite food of the water moccasin; but while trappingthese creatures, the squirming hunter is sometimes caught in adilemma, as is shown in our picture, for the serpent has alreadyseized the fish in the water when it catches sight of a frog.Thereupon it deserts the old prey, and with unerring aimattacks the new. The general color of the water moccasin con-sists of brown stripes upon a light ground, but it often varies;for, like other snakes, water moccasins adapt themselves to thecolor scheme of their surroundings. Thus there are black,earth-brown, chestnut-brown, and olive-colored varieties.
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Water Moccasin Snake frog-hunting. THE GREAT TURTLE. 93 The water moccasin can live on dry land, and is a prolificbreeder. Even in captivity he does not lose his murderousinstincts, and poisons in a short time any creature that may beplaced in the same cage with him. The fierce rattlesnakesthemselves do not escape its deadly bite. The Great Turtle. ALMOST all the travellers of the sixteenth and seventeenthcenturies who have published accounts of their discoveriesin the Pacific Ocean dwell at length upon the strangenessof the Galapagos or Turtle Islands. Upon these islands the trav-ellers found neither human beings nor any of the larger mammals,but in their stead a countless number of great turtles. Nowadaysthe animals are well-nigh extinct, and upon the Galapagos Islands,which now belong to the republic of Ecuador, there is to befound but a single variety of this mighty land turtle, — the GreatTurtle, as it is called, —which is becoming rarer and rarer eachyear. When Charles Darwi

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