ENEMIES OF SERPENTS. 87 



ENEMIES OF SERPENTS. 



Serpents have numerous enemies among animals. Uni- 

 versally detested, man kills them, indiiFerent whether they 

 be venomous or inoffensive, wherever he detects them. All 

 the countries of the globe produce certain mammifera, that 

 pursue serpents with persevering keenness. With us, it is 

 chiefly the badger, the hedge-hog, the w^easel, the martin, 

 and the pole-cat, that contribute to the destruction of ser- 

 pents ; in the tropical countries of the ancient Continent, 

 they encounter terrible enemies in the civet, the ichneumon, 

 and other carnivora. Several birds wage on them a con- 

 tinual war, such especially is the serpent-eater of the Cape, 

 mounted on its long stilt-like legs, as it would seem on purpose 

 to render the bites of snakes ineffectual ; in South America, 

 the laughing falcon, and other birds of prey, pursue them 

 eagerly ; the large storks of India, such as the gigantic 

 Ciconia, destroy an immense number of serpents ; in Europe, 

 we should reckon among their enemies besides the storks, 

 ravens, kites, and several buzzards. In tropical seas, there 

 exist sharks that devour with avidity the sea-serpents ; and 

 lastly, many Ophidians make war on each other, not even 

 sparing their own species. 



By transplanting animals, the enemies of serpents, into 

 countries infested by them, we might perhaps prevent the 

 too great multiplication of these dangerous reptiles. This 

 attempt has been made, by transporting the Snake-eater of 

 the Cape to the French West-Indian sugar-colonies ;* per- 

 haps the mammifera. which we have mentioned, or the storks 

 might render them as good or better services. 



We can easily kill serpents by blows with a stick, and 

 breaking their vertebral column ; but besides that this method 

 could only be adopted with the smaller species, it has the 

 disadvantage that the specimens thus killed are of little 

 utility for the cabinet. To avoid this, it is better to fix 

 them to the earth with a staff provided with a sort of 

 pincers on its end, by which their bodies may be seized 



CuviER, Regne Animal, torn, i. p. 339. 



