SHORT STUDIES OF SNAKES. 301 



its own account, there was a very different state of affairs. 

 There was still great deliberation, but only until the mo- 

 ment for action arrived, and then with a snap the fly was 

 gone. 



Occasionally this pet snake would creep among a 

 number of pots of flowers, and coil about the green 

 branches. At such times, it would frequently extend 

 some three or four inches of its body outward and beyond 

 any support, and thus remain as rigid and apparently 

 lifeless as a twig. This, probably, was a habit common to 

 the snake when free, but why it should be indulged in 

 under such changed surroundings I can not imagine. 

 Certainly, it was not for the sake of seizing its food, for I 

 noticed that the snake would assume this position after a 

 hearty meal, and it did not ordinarily assume it when 

 asleep. In its proper home, such a habit on the part of a 

 small snake of this color would render it, for the time, 

 very secure against such enemies as were guided only by 

 sight. Even when standing very near the rose-bush upon 

 which my pet rested, I found it, when in this position, a 

 very inconspicuous object. 



A very common species, and one that is found over 

 the whole United States, east of the Mississippi River, is 

 the handsome ring-snake. In my immediate neighbor- 

 hood, however, they are not often seen. This, I believe, 

 arises more from the care with which they conceal them- 

 selves than from their scarcity. Being naturally very 

 timid, they are ever on the alert, and, hearing an ap- 

 proaching footstep long before there is any chance of see- 

 ing them, they scuttle away and burrow beneath the dead 

 leaves, or seek a hidden recess in some half-rotten log. A 

 favorite locality with them is beneath the loose bark of a 

 fallen tree. Here they not only find shelter, but an 

 abundance of food, as they feed largely upon insect larvsB 



