THEY FOUGHT TO A FINISH.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 5612, 24 August 1889, Page 2 (Supplement)

THEY FOUGHT TO A FINISH.

A party of Illinois sportsmen witnessed a savage contest on the banks of BarnettLako, opposite Elizabeth, 111., recently between a large hawk and an immense rattlesnake that had evidently crawled from an adjoining hillside to the lake after water.

Their attention was first attracted to the hawk suddenly darting from his position in a pecan tree to the ground, and then rising again to repeat the saim. operation. Seeing tho hawk repeat this a dozen or more aroused the curiosity of tho sportsmen td ascertain the cause of its strange actions. ! Creeping through the bushes they at the edge of a small opening aud won. surprised to find a large rattlenake witl 1 blood oozing from several wounds iv it. back and sides. With head crest thfe enraged reptile was watching the over)' movement of its feathered enemy. i

The hawk seemed to instinctively reali/.a that it had the sympathy of the hunters, and as they took their position within a fef yards of tho rattles it iimdo another dai't at its dangerous foe. [ To avoid the reptile's deadly fangs thjo hawk would swoop down as if to attack th° snake, and suddenly wheel to one side to avoid tho stroke and then return and make his attack before the snake had time to recoif • this was repeated time after time, and the rattler, evidently realizing that it wrfs getting the worst of this straniro engagement, suddenly uncoiled and started on [a hasty retreat for a log heap near by. j

Taking in the situation the hawk made a sudden dart, and catching the reptile behind the head with its sharp talons jt raised the snake from tho ground and soardd away to the northeast, the frantic movements of tho snake's body being visible i»s far as tho eye could discern. j