20 BIRDS. 
were within two or three inches of the mouth of the 
snake ; when I threw a stone, and though not hitting 
the snake, yet struck the ground so near as to frighten 
him, and he gradually started off. The quail, how- 
ever, fell to the ground, apparently lifeless. I went 
forward and picked it up and found it was thoroughly 
overcome with fright, its little heart beating as if it 
would burst through the skin. After holding it in 
my hand afew moments it flew away. I then tried 
to find the snake, but could not. I am unable to say 
whether the snake was venomous or belonged to the 
constricting family, like the black snake. I can well 
recollect it was large and moved off rather slow. As 
I had never seen anything of the kind before, it made 
a great impression on my mind, and after the lapse 
of so long a time, the incident appears as vivid to 
me as though it had occurred yesterday.” 
It is not probable that the snake had its mouth 
open ; its darting tongue may have given that impres- 
sion. 
The other incident comes to me from Vermont. 
“While returning from church in 1876,” says the 
writer, “as I was crossing a bridge .. . I noticed a 
striped snake in the act of charming a song-sparrow. 
They were both upon the sand beneath the bridge. 
The snake kept his head swaying slowly from side to 
side, and darted his tongue out continually. The 
bird, not over a foot away, was facing the snake, hop- 
ping from one foot to the other, and uttering a dis- 
satisfied little chirp. I watched them till the snake 
seized the bird, having gradually drawn nearer. As 
he seized it, I leaped over the side of the bridge; 
the snake glided away and I took up the bird, which 
he had dropped. It was too frightened to try to fly: 
