Show SAY SAY SNAKES COMMIT SUICIDE Indian Theories of Why the Country Is Is' Not Overrun With Reptiles In the dialect of the Maine Indians the word which stands for tor November contains eight os o's and six Is I's and Its meaning Is the the month snakes commit suicide So far tar as Indian Indian Indian In In- dian observation goes there Is no creature which preys upon snakes from preference A few tew small hawks will eat snakes when very hungry but all other creatures of prey reject them As the fem female le snake lays from sixty to eighty eggs every year all of which hatch the prospects of having the woods and fields overrun with snakes would be excellent the Indians say were It not for a suicidal habit which takes them just before It Is time for them to crawl away and spend the winter In sleep In remote meadows and lots the lean snakes climb Into crab apple trees and hawthorne bushes where they pierce their own bodies with the sharp spines and nd remain remain remain re re- main dangling until they are dead In Inthe Inthe Inthe the country towns the snakes crawl into the wheel tracks trackS' and are run over The Indians account for tor this by saying that none but the fatt fattest st and most Lost vigorous snakes can withstand the cold of the northern winters and that the feeble members of the race prefer preter suicide to a lingering death |