Reptile Study 205 



LESSON L. 

 THE MILK SNAKE, OR SPOTTED ADDER 



Leading thought The milk snake is found around stables where it 

 hunts for rats and mice but never milks the cows. 



Method Although the snake acts fiercely, it is perfectly harmless and 

 maybe captured in the hands and placed in a glass-covered box for a study 

 in the schoolroom. 



Observations i. Where is the milk snake found? Why is it called 

 milk snake? Look at its mouth and see if you think it could possibly 

 suck a cow. See if you can get the snake to drink milk. 



2. What does it live upon? How does it kill its prey? Can the 

 milk snake climb a tree? 



3. Where does the mother snake lay her eggs? How do the eggs 

 look? How large are they? How long are the little snakes when they 

 hatch from the egg? Are they the same color as the old ones? 



4. Describe carefully the colors and markings of the milk snake and 

 explain how its colors protect it from observation. What are its colors on 

 the under side? 



5. Have you ever seen a snake shed its skin? Describe how it was 

 done. How does the sloughed-off skin look? What bird always puts 

 snake skins around its nest? 



I have the same objection to killing a snake that I have to the killing of any other 

 animal, yet the most humane man I know never omits to kill one. 



Aug. 5, 1853. 



The mower on the river meadows, when he comes to open his hay these days, en- 

 counters some overgrown water adder, full of young (?) and bold in defense of its 

 progeny, and tells a tale when he comes home at night which causes a shudder to run 

 through the village how it came at him and he ran, and it pursued and overtook him, 

 and he transfixed it with a pitchfork and laid it on a cock of hay, but it revived and came 

 at him again. This is the story he tells in the shops at evening. The big snake is a sort 

 of fabulous animal. It is always as big as a man's arm and of indefinite length. 

 Nobody knows exactly how deadly is its bite bitt nobody is known to have been bitten and 

 recovered. Irishmen introduced into these meadows for the first time, on seeing a snake, 

 a creature which they have seen only in pictures before, lay down their scythes and run 

 as if it were the Evil One himself and cannot be induced to return to their work. They 

 sigh for Ireland, where they say there is no venomous thing that can hurt you. 



THOREAU'S JOURNAL. 



