98 JOURNAL ELISHA MITCHKLL SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY. 



DO SNAKES CHARM BIRDS? 



COLLIER COBB. 



On the 15th of May I happened upon an interest! nof 

 thino- which throws some li^^-ht on the alle^'ed power of 

 snakes to charm birds. A few days before this, a snake, 

 ag-arter, {^Eutcoiia), about the size of a man's fing-erand 

 little over ei«-hteen inches in leng'th, had been killed in 

 the walk leading- from the New East Building- to the 

 eastern side of the Universit}^ campus, at Chapel Hill. 

 The head of the snake had been pushed into the hole 

 made by the end of the cane with which it was killed, 

 and the snake was in this position with its head pressed 

 down in the hole, when I came upon it, surrounded by 

 seven quails {Ortyx virj^'hihuMt). The quails were 

 g-azing- upon the snake, very much as "charmed" 

 chickens will g-aze upon the chalk line or the crack in 

 barn floor, taking- no notice whatever of my presence 

 until I lifted the snake up with a stick. They remained 

 in the position in which I found them long- enoug-h for 

 a boy to run from the Episcopal church to the walk, 

 which must have taken two or three minutes. This 

 observation is valuable as showing- that, in this instance 

 at least, the "charming-" is in the bird itself, and is 

 not a power possessed by the snake. 



