Reptile Study 



20: 



The water snake attains a length of about four feet. The young do 

 not hatch from eggs, but are born alive in August and September; they 

 differ much in appearance from their parents as they are pale gray in 

 color, with jet-black cross-bands. 



LESSON LI 

 THE WATER SNAKE 



Leading thought The water snake haunts the banks of streams because 

 its food consists of creatures that live in and about water. 



Method If water snakes are found in the locality, encourage the boys 

 to capture one without harming it, and bring it to school for observation. 

 However, as the water snake is very local in its habits, and haunts the 

 same place year after year, it will be better nature-study to get the children 

 to observe it in its native surroundings. 



Observations i . Where is the water snake found ? How large is the 

 largest one you ever saw? 



2. Why does the water snake live near water 5 What is its food? 

 How does it catch its prey? 



3. Describe how the water snake swims. How far does its head 

 project above the water when swimming? How long can it stay com- 

 pletely beneath the water? 



4. Describe the markings and colors of the water snake. How do 

 these colors protect it from observation? How do the young look? 



5. Does each water snake have a favorite place for sunning itself? 



6. Where do the water snakes spend the winter? 



May 12, 



Found a large water adder by the edge of Farmer's large mudhole, which abounds 

 with tadpoles and frogs, on which it was probably feeding. It was sunning on the bank 

 and would face me and dart its head toward me when I tried to drive it from the water. 

 It is barred above, but indistinctly when out of the water, so that it appears almost 

 uniformly dark brown, but in the water, broad, reddish brown bars are seen, very dis- 

 tinctly alternating with very dark-brown ones. The head was very flat and suddenly 

 broader than the neck behind. Beneath, it was whitish and reddish flesh-color. It was 

 about two inches in diameter at the thickest part. The inside of its mouth and throat 

 was pink. They are the biggest and most formidable-looking snakes that we have. It 

 was awful to see it wind along the bottom of the ditch at last, raising wreaths of mud 

 amid the tadpoles, to which it must be a very sea-serpent. I afterward saw another, 

 running under Sam Barrett' s grist-mill, the same afternoon. He said that he saw a 

 water-snake, which he distinguished from a black snake, in an apple tree near bv, last 

 year, with a young robin in its mouth, having taken it from the nest. There was a cleft 

 or fork in the tree which enabled it to ascend. 



-THOREAU'S JOURNAL. 



