CHAPTER XXXI. 



SHORT STUDIES OF SNAKES. 



WEEE this a fitting opportunity, I should be glad 

 to give in detail the scores of marvelous snake-stories 

 which from time to time have been related in my hear- 

 ing, or which I have clipped from newspapers. These 

 stories have not come solely from ignorant and supersti- 

 tious people, but they have been told fully as often by 

 those who were well informed on other subjects, and who 

 would be considered people of average intelligence and 

 education. 



The prevalent absurd accounts of our common snakes 

 show what an amount of ignorance prevails concerning a 

 class of animals whose undoubted merits should be prop- 

 erly understood and appreciated. 



My aim, therefore, in referring to them, is to break 

 down, if possible, long-established prejudices. It is, per- 

 haps, a hopeless task, a kicking against the pricks, but I 

 shall not desist. 



Unfortunately for the snakes, and for ourselves too, 

 we grow up so imbued with unjust suspicions of all 

 creeping things that, in later years, but few of us seem 

 disposed to listen to the plain truth concerning the habits 

 and capabilities of these most interesting and generally 

 very useful animals. 



Because one serpent is very dangerous, and capable of 

 inflicting deadly wounds, it does not follow that all ser- 



