Texas Nature Observations and Reminiscenses Page: 151
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TEXAS NATURE OBSERVATIONS AND REMINISCENCES. 151
ai stick that its head was nearly
torn off, at the same time making
a large rent in the snake's lower
neck parts and exposing the tip
end of a rat's tail. The photo
shows this snake with its de-
voured victim in nearly normal
size. and it exposes the outlines
of both the snake and the rat
nicely, the photo as seen being
prepared with near-focasing lens,
of my own use. The smashed-up
head, on examination, had shown
two very large poison fangs,
partly covered by the whole cover
membrane, and a large amount of
venom was expelled through the
fangs by pressing the poison(1 1ieted in some other pages had
lbeen prepared by this method,
and some exposed only one-sixth
of a second. Live animals, in-
oluding birds and reptiles in their
haunts in the woods can be re-
produced in all their natural
beauty by this procedure; but it
usually takes lots of time and ex-
perience and patience to accom-
plish a good exposure, as we
know, wild animals are always
suspicous and on the lookout for
depredators around their secluded
"sanctums;" and therefore, one
has to hide the camera, or cover
it with green ve getation, etc., and
the operator himself must seek aYoUs I MOCCASIN \VITH SW AI. O1 ED \ ATER-RAT IN STOMACH
bladders with a stick-under care-
ful handling, of course.
Before closing. may I call atten-
tion to- the manner some of the
views in other pages and both of-
fice views herein had been se-
cured; First, a long string is at-
tached to the trigger of the shut-
ter mechanism, and then the ca-
mera is placed in focus distance
of the objects to be reproduced.
The first pull of the string
opens the closed shutter and
exposes the plate, and the
second pull closes it again.
Any length of time exposure or
an instantaneous view can thus
be taken-depending on light con-
ditions and mobility of the ob-
jects to be reproduced. Some of
the hunting ' scenes described andhidden place from whence he can
observe the objects in front of the
"loaded" camera-and pull the
trigger at the right moment, when
the camera victim or victims
emerge from their haunts. Birds
on their nest or feeding their
young offspring or rodents in
and outside their subterranean
haunts: and all sorts of other ani-
mals of the woods can thus he
photo-produced-after the se-
cluded camera had been set in
fo using distance.
It is an interesting study, and
eone not familiar to even many oh1-
se rvant naturalists, that the crota-
lus family. as well as the morcasin
snake. swallow their offspring
during threatening dang>e', aindi
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Menger, R. Texas Nature Observations and Reminiscenses, book, 1913; San Antonio, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth143558/m1/155/: accessed May 7, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting University of Texas Health Science Center Libraries.