APPENDIX. - 48S 



Arlington, Feh. 1 795. 

 IN your Natural Hiftory of Vermont, you have mentioned lome« 

 thing concerning the rattle and black fnakcs charming birds, which doea 

 not reduce the matter to ablolutc certainty. If you ihink the following 

 account on the fubjcft any way interefting, it is at vour fervice. 



TIMOTHY TODD. 

 WHEN I was a lad, in ranging the fields for birds eggs, I heard a 

 tVirulh making her ufual noife of diUrcfs, and fiippofed fome boy was ta> 

 king its neft or young : 'Approaching towards her noife, I difcoveicd hct 

 circling the air not many feet from the ground, fhcwing every fign of dif. 

 trefs. Having viewed her fome minutes, being unable to account for the 

 phenomena, I at length difcovercd the largeft black fnakc which I had 

 ever fecn, lying ftretched out under the centre of the bird's motion : Being 

 ftruck with horror at the (ight, I ran off, and believe the fnake did not fee 

 me. My father, hearing the circumflance on my return home, told me the 

 fnake was charming the bird. — Some years afterward, when nearly arrived 

 to the age of manhood, walking in a field in Connefticut, near a fmall 

 grove of walnut trees, 1 faw a fparrow ciicling the air juft in the margin of 

 the wood, and making dreadful moans of diflrcfs. Immediately the for- 

 mer circumRancc occurred, and I approached with caution within twenty 

 feet of a black fnake, about (tien feet long, having a while throat, and of 

 the k'nd which the people there call runners, or choking fnakes.* The 

 foake lay flretched out in a ftill poflure ; I viewed him and the bird near 

 half an hour. The bird in every turn in its flight delccnded nearer the 

 objeft of its terror, until it approached the month of the ferpent. The 

 fnake, by a quick motion of its head, felled the bird by the feathers, and 

 plucked out feveral. The bird flew off a few feet, but quickly returned. 

 The fnake conrinucd to pluck the feathers at every flight of the bird, until 

 it could no longer fly : The bird would then hop up to the fnake and 

 from him, until it had not a feather left, except his wings and on its head. 

 The fnake nov/ killed it by breaking its neck, by an am9zing fudden mo- 

 tion ; he did not devour it, but call it a little off, and continued his fl:atioR. 

 Now the tragedy was again to be repeated ; for another bird of the fame 

 iind, who had fliewn figns of diftrefs during the firft tragedy, was fafcina- 

 ted to the jaws of the monflf.r in the fame circling manner as the former, 

 and fufFered the lofs of fome feathers. I could no longer ftand neuter. 

 With indignation I attacked the hated reptile, but he efcapcd me. The 

 living bird was liberated from his fangs. The dead one 1 picked up and 

 fiiewed to my friends, deflitute of feathers as before raentioned. 



Brandon, July I, 1795. 

 Dear Sir, 



I find you follcitous of information refpefting the charm of the 

 foike or fcrpcnt — perhaps the following account, which I received from 

 the moutli of a lady, who was herfelf an unliappy fufferer, may not be 

 araifs or unacceptable. 



* It is faid that this kind of fnake will entwine himfelf round the 

 body or neck of a perfon, and choke him : It may be a vulgar errr-v : This, 

 however, is certain, they will often purluc a perfon who runs from them. 

 I have heard that they frequently charmed fquirrels 3»)d fome other ani- 

 mals, and in fome inftariceg the human fpecies : An inHancc or two which 

 happened to boys, will perhaps before long be prefeuted, with the proper 

 vouchers. 



VOL. I. M 3 



