380 On the fascinating Power of Snakes. 



to elucidate what has caused so much astonishment and 

 vague conjecture, may not prove unacceptable to the readers 

 of your Magazine. 



That various animals do possess the power of rendering- 

 others motionless and afterwards devouring them, is so well 

 attested by individuals of different ages and countries, that 

 it is an unreasonable piece of scepticism to deny it. It ap- 

 pears to have been the belief of mankind at a very early 

 period, as it is mentioned by Homer, one of the oldest 

 writers extant. 



T^v Q£ke\i%au,evo.s iflepvyo$ Aafsv ap<pia.yviaLv. 



II. B. 315. 

 While hovering round with miserable moan, 

 The drooping mother wail'd her children gone : 

 The mother last, as round the nest she new, 

 Seiz'd by the beating wing, the monster slew. Pope. 



Toads, hawks, cats, owls, and various other animals, 

 have been observed at times to possess the faculty of draw- 

 ing towards them such small animals as serve them for 

 food, by intently looking at them. That tigers have this 

 power, is attested in the very entertaining account of the 

 manner of hunting and sporting in Bengal, written by co- 

 lonel Ironside, and inserted in the Philosophical Magazine, 

 vol. xiv. p. 319- 



u It is somewhat extraordinary, but nevertheless a fact," 

 says that writer, " the influence of fascination possessed by 

 the tiger and all of his (the feline) species over many other 

 creatures. Spied by deer particularly, they stop at once, 

 as if struck by a spell ; * bile the tiger lies still, his eyes 

 fixed on them, and quietly awaiting their approach, which 

 they seldom fail to make gradually within his spring; for 

 the large royal tiger cannot run speedily or far. 



" Wherever tigers roam or couch, a number of birds 

 continually hover or couch round about them, screaming 

 or crying, as if to create an alarm. But the peacock seems 

 to be particularly allured by him ; for the instant a flock of 

 peafowl perceive him they advance toward him directly, and 

 begin strutting round him with wings fluttering, quivering 

 feathers, and bristling and expanded tails. 



" Of this enticement the fowlers also make their advan- 

 tage ; for, by painting a brown cloth screen, about six feet 

 square, with black spots or streaks, and advancing under 

 its cover fronting the sun, the birds either approach towards 

 them, or suffer them to steal near enough to be sure of their 

 * mark by a hole left in the canvass for them to fire through. 

 ,5 " BeyoncJ 



