52 COLUBRID.E. 



any corn which might happen to have been in the crop of 

 the fowl when it was taken, was always found mingled with 

 the excrement, but wholly unchanged. 



Snakes are extremely fond of water, taking to it readily, 

 and swimming with great ease and elegance, holding the head 

 and neck above the surface. It is very probable that it 

 resorts to the water in search of frogs. 



Snakes, like most other Reptilia, shed their cuticle or 

 outer skin at greater or less intervals. It is a mistake to 

 assign a particular period to this process ; some have stated 

 it to occur once, some twice in the summer ; but I have 

 found it to depend upon the temperature of the atmosphere, 

 and on the state of health, and the more or less frequent 

 feeding of the animal. I have known the skin shed four or 

 five times during the year. It is always thrown off by re- 

 versing it ; so that the transparent covering of the eyes, and 

 that of the scales also, are always found concave in the exuviae. 

 Previously to this curious circumstance taking place, the 

 whole cuticle becomes somewhat opaque, the eyes are dim, 

 and the animal is evidently blind. It also becomes more or 

 less inactive ; until at length when the skin is ready to be 

 removed, being everywhere detached, and the new skin per- 

 fectly hard underneath, the animal bursts it at the neck, and 

 creeping through some dense herbage, or low brushwood, 

 leaves it attached, and comes forth in far brighter and clearer 

 colours than before. 



Like most Serpents, the Snake has the power of expelling 

 from certain glands, situated within the vent, a most disgust- 

 ing stinking secretion. This is only done when alarmed or 

 irritated, or when under sexual excitement ; in the latter case 

 it is most probably intended as a means of directing the other 

 sex in the pursuit. 



This species, and indeed the whole genus, is truly ovipa- 

 rous, depositing its eggs a considerable time before the young 



