544 Fascination. [December, 



snake, and, in the same instant, threw itself backward, alighting 

 upon the ground at the distance of about ten feet. Before the male 

 had closed this feat, the female had commenced a similar movement. 

 All the motions of both birds were made with extended wings, as if 

 ready to fly in a moment. By the time the female had thrown itself 

 back from the snake, the male was in position again, repeating the 

 same movements as at first. In the meantime my horse had car- 

 ried me some four or five rods into a cedar thicket, where I dis- 

 mounted and tied him to a tree. All this took place in a minute or 

 two, and as I had only an indistinct view of the action of the birds 

 in passing, I took a favorable position for observation, noting all 

 that occurred with the strictest care, so as to make up an opinion as 

 to the scene before me. From the first movement of the male bird, in 

 thrustins: its head forward into close contact with the snake, I believed 

 I had at length hit upon a case of the so-called fascination, and was 

 determined to observe it in a philosophical manner. 



It was half past one o'clock, P. M. The birds were still eagerly at 

 work when I turned my eye upon them, after the interruption of hitch- 

 ing my horse. They were panting as if greatly fatigued by long ex- 

 ertion, but manifested not the least disposition to remit their efforts. 

 They were, if not fascinated, at least so earnestly enlisted in the 

 affair on hand, as to disregard every thing around them. I soon 

 found that I could choose my position, in the open space, where all 

 their motions could be observed. 



The snake lay in its coil, with head erect and drawn back, so as 

 to be in the best possible position to strike and seize *the birds as 

 they advanced. The many convolutions of its lengthened body 

 moved in graceful curves as its glittering head followed their motions. 

 Its eye sparkled in the sunlight as the polished diamond, while its 

 movements gave to its ever-shifting scales the brilliant hues of the 

 rainbow. Ever and anon, as the birds approached, it would strike 

 at them with extended jaws exhibiting a malignity of disposition 

 that portended death to them, had thoy been within its grasp. 



A few minutes satisfied me that I was present at a battle, and not 

 at a scene of fascination. At each approach of the birds they struck 

 the snake with their beaks, or else with their talons, when, generally, 

 but not always, it darted forward at them, only to find that they 

 were gone. The snake in striking, could never project itself 

 more than about two thirds of its length, but its defense was 

 made with determined courage. Its position by the stump protected 



