294: RAMBLES ABOUT HOME. 



of a large size are seized in this manner and dragged to the 

 shore, when, after dying from exposure to the atmosphere, 

 they are again taken to the water, buried in the mud, and 

 devoured by the snake at its leisure. Frogs, too, form a 

 not inconsiderable part of their food, which I am in- 

 clined to think is sought as well on land as in the water, 

 though I have never found them so engaged. Nor have 

 I ever discovered any evidence that they preyed upon 

 mice the principal food of land-snakes in the many 

 dissections that I have made. 



There is another species of water-snake which I have 

 occasionally seen in our creeks and ditches seen it swim- 

 ming by, and that is all. 



Occasionally, late in April and throughout the month 

 of May, several small species of snakes (collectively called 

 " garter-snakes " by the country people) may be seen in 

 the shallow waters of our ditches. There is a family 

 likeness running through the series, and it is often diffi- 

 cult to identify them. One of the prettiest and most 

 active of these is called De Kay's little brown snake. It 

 is fully as active as the foregoing when in the water, and 

 far more agile and rapid in its movements when on land. 

 My last opportunity of observing them was in May, 1881, 

 when I found three of them on the bank of a shallow 

 ditch, each occupied in slowly swallowing a little frog or 

 " peeper." Frequent observations, made some years ago, 

 convince me that the several species of grasshoppers con- 

 stitute their principal food-supply in summer. 



Like the true water-snakes, they are excellent fishers, 

 and, gliding through the shallow waters with marvelous 

 celerity, they catch minnows and young pike in large num- 

 bers. Late in the summer I find that they retire to the 

 upland woods, where they are often seen in sunny nooks, 



