Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 54, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 March 1899 — SNAKES PLAN A ROBBERY. [ARTICLE]

SNAKES PLAN A ROBBERY.

An Insentoan Arrangement by Which Bank Swallows Were to Be Cangrht. A number of Baltimore naturalists had an unique experience the other day while on an ornithological excursion. They were searching' for bank swallows in the neighborhood of Tolchester beach, about a mile from the pier where the excursion boats land. The nests of bank swallows are built in holes in perpendicular banks, generally in colonies, dozens of holes being only a few inches apart. The bank the young men were exploring was about 30 feet in height, with the nests averaging seven feet from the top. The bank was almost perpendicular and the nests were reached by means of ladders constructed of trees. One of the naturalists, after working for some time at one of the nests, felt his hand come in contact with some thing unusual. Drawing out his hand and looking into the hole he was surprised to find, coiled down at the bottom a bugte Iblacksnake, which, after being gotten out and killed, proved to be nearly seven feet in length. Afterward two other snakes, equally as long, were found in different holes. The surface of the bank was perfectly Bmooth, so the only possible way for the snakes to have reached the nests was to have let themselves down from some short overhanging roots at the top of the bank. The snakes seemed to have worked along the bank from nest to nest, as several nests were found in which were eggs that had been emptied of their contents. In a nest with one of the snakes was a bird which had been lately killed, and which the snake evidently was about to devour when its own end came. The naturalists said they had been collecting eggs for many years, but had never before seen anything so like a well-planned attack of 6nakes upon birds* eggs.—Baltimore Sun.