54 FASCINATING POWER OF SERPENTS. 



traces of it may be discovered in the mythology of Asia and 

 Africa. Some have referred it to the American Indians ; 

 while others, who have travelled amongst them, never heard 

 any mention of the circumstance, although they heard them 

 praise the ingenuity of these reptiles in catching birds, squir- 

 rels, &c. 



M. de la Cepede, in his Histoire Naturelle des Serpens, 

 has paid great attention to this subject ; and he offers two 

 suppositions for the explanation of this miraculous power. 

 One is, that the pestiferous breath of the snake agitates the 

 animal which it means to devour, and prevents its escape. 

 Many persons assert that they never knew any disagreeable 

 smell to proceed from these animals, even after they had been 

 some time shut up in a box ; while others say that a very of- 

 fensive stench is continually arising from the body of the 

 rattle-snake. Some have ascribed the motions of the birds 

 that are introduced into the cages of these animals to the ef- 

 fect of their breath ; but they were probably caused by fear. 

 The rattle-snake has been known to continue for days coiled 

 round a tree, in which the thrush or cat-bird were rearing 

 their young, which, upon this supposition, must have perished. 

 The other supposition is that these animals have been slightly 

 bitten. But their actions are totally different from those ob- 

 served in animals bitten by a rattle-snake ; besides that the 

 agitation of the bird has ceased on the death of the snake. 

 Nor is this power of fascination ascribed exclusively to the 

 venomous serpents ; for almost every species is supposed to 

 be endued with it. Blumenbach ascribes it to the rattle on 

 the tail of the rattle-snake ; but this has been observed to be 

 perfectly quiet at the time when the supposed charm is work- 

 ing : and this explanation cannot apply to the other snakes. 



Hence it appears that none of these explanations are satis- 

 factory. If we examine the species of birds that are generally 

 observed to be enchanted, and the season when it takes place, 

 we may perhaps arrive at a more probable solution of the 

 problem. 



Those birds that are led by instinct to build their nests on 

 the ground, or on trees near the ground, have most frequently 

 been observed to be under the enchanting influence of the 

 rattle-snake ; for it is well known that each kind of bird 

 builds its nest in the same situation, at least in anyone par- 

 ticular country. Upon inquiry concerning the time of the 

 year when any bird had been seen under this influence, it was 

 found, in almost every instance, to be that at which it was 

 either laying its eggs or rearing its young. From these con- 

 siderations it appeared probable that the cries and fears of 



