Ain’t Nature Sumpin?
During springtime Marjorie and I often search the woods near
our house for morel mushrooms. This year we found 20 or 30 of the tasty morsels
in our front yard and along the trail to the river. We ate them all in two
settings and they were delicious.
After these two gastronomic treats, we never found any more ‘shrooms’
after the original harvest of morels. Nor have we found the other wild
mushrooms that we occasionally find known as Shaggy Manes and they are equally
as tasty as the morels. These mushrooms have an interesting characteristic –
after reaching maturity they secret a black liquid that digests their fibrous structure
leaving the original shroom an unappetizing mess should the black liquid begin
its flow before you eat it.
He was a full-grown Hog Nosed Snake, the first I had ever
encountered. Unlike the water snakes that live in our pond, this critter turned
his head to look at me instead of making a fast break for safety. He looked me
in the eye, no doubt assessing his chance of slithering away before he could be
further disturbed. He began his performance without taking his eyes off me, moving
slowly, lifting his head and his neck in an exact replica of a Cobra. His
performance was like those shown in any number of movies where an orchestra
plays fearful music first quietly and then with increasing intensity as if the
lead character in the movie must surely be facing his end.
My snake did not have a sound track nor did he make any sudden
moves away from either Marjorie or I as we stood over him quietly. He pointed
his raised head first at me and then at Marjorie, while he flattened his head, making
it seem larger and his nose more prominent. Then, suddenly he flopped over to show
his belly, unmoving, and, as I learned later, playing dead. Marjorie and I
waited, neither speaking and nor moving. After another moment, the snake moved
again to his prior position, belly down, stretched to full length, and his head
slowly moving to the Cobra stance, the better to see us. In another instant he
flopped over again, as if to say “I am really, really dead.” He stayed dead for
a brief moment before slowly slithering away into the deeper recess of the
woods. We went home to ask Mr. Google if this was normal behavior for a Hog
Nose Snake. We learned that all Hog Nosed Snakes behave in this pattern to
confuse and escape from predators.
‘Aint nature sumpin.’