256 THE SNAKES -OF SOUTH -APRIGA. 
ancestors, we have come to regard snakes with the profoundest 
awe and dread. Writers have not been slow to profit by this 
universal interest in snakes and their venom, and thrilling anec- 
dotes and other writings have been the outcome. Remarkably 
interesting and imagination-stirring articles have frequently been 
written on the powers of fascination supposed to be exerted by 
snakes. 
Practically all the popular beliefs in regard to snakes have very 
little foundation in fact. This belief, however, is so widespread, 
and its truth insisted upon so strongly, that many naturalists 
have unquestioningly accepted it as true, and recorded it in 
literature as being a fact. 
Now, I have had much experience of snakes, and have made it 
my business to observe carefully their habits and ways, both in 
their natural condition in the wild state and in captivity, and in 
no instance have I ever known a snake to fascinate an animal in 
the manner it is alleged they do. 
I have seen Boomslangs and Mambas many a time in trees, 
surrounded by a crowd of fluttering, chattering, excited birds. 
The birds were not fascinated by the snake ; they were endeavour- 
ing to intimidate it in order to frighten it from their haunts. 
WHAT REALLY HAPPENS. 
Carefully concealing myself one day, I watched a Mamba 
(Dendraspis angusticeps) surrounded by several chattering birds, 
mostly Bulbuls and Flycatchers. The snake, with elevated head, 
and body bent in a favourable position for a forward spring, 
remained amongst the branches as immovable as the Sphinx, its 
lidless, unwinking, shiny eyes giving forth a stony stare. Pre- 
sently a Bulbul, which had worked itself up into a frenzy of excite- 
ment, fluttered within striking distance. Like a stone from a 
catapult, the head and forepart of the snake shot forward, 
and next instant I saw the struggling bird in the serpent’s 
jaws. The rest of the birds instantly fled. Now, the snake did 
not throw out any mysterious, mesmeric or hypnotic power. 
It simply awaited its opportunity, cool and collected, and 
captured an excited and venturesome bird. The bird was 
