6 14 OPHIDIA CHAP. 



breeding season it is extremely irascible, and will frequently 

 attack persons passing at a distance of several steps ; the tail 

 then quivers with rage, making a quick vibrating motion, which 

 in forests and among dead leaves sounds not unlike the Eattle- 

 Snake ; it now elevates the head one or two feet from the 

 ground, and darts upon its adversary ; luckily its bite is harm- 

 less, and not more painful than the scratch of a pin. 



" It will even descend from trees to attack its enemy if 

 teazed, yet it does not twine itself around the legs, as is 

 commonly supposed. 



" The same power of charming its prey has been attributed 

 to the Black as to the Eattle-Snake, and with still less appear- 

 ance of reason ; for this is a nimble animal, and can pursue its 

 prey, while the Eattle-Snake must lie in wait for his. It is 

 remarkable that the birds most commonly found ' charmed ' are 

 the Cat-bird {Turdus carolinensis) or red-winged Black-bird 

 (Icterus phoeniceus). These birds choose thick and shady places 

 on the margins of streams for their residence, and generally 

 build their nests on such shrubs as the alder ; the latter bird not 

 unfrequently takes the precaution to select such bushes as are 

 on small islands, or such as have their roots surrounded by 

 water, and thus their home is more secure. Now the Black 

 Snake chooses precisely the same localities, knowing probably 

 the haunts of its prey. The serpent begins the war by besieging 

 the nest ; the old bird, aware of its intention, attacks it with 

 fluttering and uncertain motions, accompanied by a plaintive cry 

 of distress, and is then said to be ' charmed.' The snake is a<o 

 last either driven off, or it captures the young and not iinfre- 

 quently the old bird too. 



" Sometimes the old bird, by her cries, calls in the assistance 

 of her neighbours to drive away the aggressor. I have seen 

 more than a dozen birds thus engacred with a large Black Snake 

 that had probably just committed some depredation, but was 

 now quietly stretched on a rock, basking in the sun ; and it was 

 not a little singular that birds of very different genera, and 

 those seldom seen together, all united in this warfare against a 

 common enemy, and finally compelled him to seek shelter among 

 some low, thick shrubs, by the violence of their assault." 



Zaocys, with about half-a-dozen species in South-Eastern 

 Asia, is closelv allied to ZiDiicnis. Z. carinatus, of the Malav 



