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Title
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Scottsbluff Narratives, 1937_031
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Alternative Title
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1937 Scottsbluff Narratives
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Date
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1937
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Creator
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Frank Shoemaker
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Description
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Frank Shoemaker - Sandhills Narratives
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Identifier
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321301
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Transcription
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2 June 12, 1937 I wonder why! Beyond doubt, its tongue was exploring the crevice; but again, why? Even if the exploring tongue encountered insects, pupae, or larvae, suitable for food what enlarge the hole. And I can hardly believe that its tongue-a mere thread-carries a glutinous salvia (as does that of the Flicker; a bird which runs its amazing tongue two inches into the galleries of an ant-hill-the ants, or ant's-eggs encountered, stickering to its sticky togue, and affording food. .) I have trained the kids to spend time watching . So for ten minutes we three were motionless-and all of us deeply interested⦠Then, the snake reached a hole about three inches in diameter (made by Bank Swallows in some recent year.) And the snake went into this hole to explore. That is to say-half of it did.-Then I laid hold upon the tail, and pulled the snake out of the hole.-It was a finely-marked snake, evidently having shed a skin recently.-I let the boys examine the snake in detail; calling attention to the arrangement of the plates on the head-which afford scientists a basis for separating genera and species; explaining how each of the belly-plates (gastrosteges) is attached to muscles-the action of these muscles, and the fact that these horny-edged plates press against any surface irregularity which will afford leverage, making it possible for the snake to move.-Of course, My explanations are in the simplest possible words; and the boys seem to understand.. Our released snake faded away in a thicket A half-hour later, I saw a bull-snake, in the cover of a small rose-brush, not five feet from the site of our earlier observations.-I thought that "our" snake had come back; but, capturing the snake, I found it a foot shorter, and with a dark instead of a very light-colored head.-We played with this new-comer for five minutes, and let it go. I already have the boys and girls of my groups quite sympathetic towards snakes. I tell them: If you find a snake with rattles on its tail, kill it; for it is poisonous and dangerous. But, all the others are harmless to human beings; so just shake hands with 'em, and let 'em go!-And all of my youngsters have adopted that point of view. We explored today, quite in detail, the greater part of the Bad-lands north of the Country Club. Found several points of interest-which I shall photograph later: (1) A most durable "cast" of a fossil turtle, about 18 inches long. All but remnants of the carapace have weathered away, but the cast holds its form. (2) A veritable "box canyon" area, where softer formations have been cleared out by erosion, and where one may look down 50 feet, into a chasm six feet wide.
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Rights
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To inquire about usage, please contact Archives & Special Collections, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries. These images are for educational use only. Not all images are available for publication.
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Is Version Of
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frank_h_shoemaker_321301-03847.jpg
