SEEING A SNAKE FEED. 29 



hollow tree, in which he can hide if alarmed ; but he cannot 

 set his frog down for one instant, nor can he relax his jaws 

 in the slightest degree, or his dinner hops away, and he has 

 to pursue it, or wait for another frog, when the same thing 

 may happen again. He has only his teeth to trust to, and 

 these have all the work of paws and claws, and nails and 

 talons, to accomplish, while yet, not for one instant, must 

 they relinquish their hold. 



'Besides! — how much too big that frog is for Coluber's 

 small mouth ! ' And we continue to gaze in wonder- 

 ment, filled with amazement . that brings us to the book- 

 shelves, to endeavour to comprehend the phenomenon. 

 Not, however, until we have seen the end of that frog on 

 the banks of the stream, where the reader is supposed 

 to be waiting. 



First, let me explain that in the manner of feeding, snakes 

 may be divided into three classes, viz. those that kill their 

 prey by constriction or by smothering it in the coils of 

 their body ; those that kill by poison ; and some smaller 

 kinds, which, like the ring snake, eat it alive — the latter a 

 quick process, which may also be said to be death by 

 suftocation. Our little Coluber is in a spot where we can 

 watch it easily ; so we keep rigidly still, and soon perceive 

 that though the snake just now had hold of froggie's side, 

 he now has the head in his mouth. How can this be } and 

 how has he managed to shift it thus, almost imperceptibly, 

 while seeming to hold it still } Now the head begins 

 to disappear, and the snake's jaws stretch in a most dis- 

 torted fashion, as if dislocated ; its head expands out of all 

 original shape, while slowly, slowly, the frog is drawn in as 



