54 COLUBRID, 
and after this food was digested, and the remains were 
voided, 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 ~ 
exuvie. 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 perfectly hard underneath, the ani- 
mal 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 expel- 
ling from certain glands, situated within the vent, a most 
disgusting 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. 
