54 COLUBRID^E. 



and after this food was digested, and the remains were 

 voided, any corn which might happen to have been in the 

 crop of the fowl when it was taken, was always found 

 mingled with the excrement, but wholly unchanged. 



Snakes are extremely fond of water, taking to it readily, 

 and swimming with great ease and elegance, holding the 

 head and neck above the surface. It is very probable that 

 it resorts to the water in search of frogs. 



Snakes, like most other Reptilia, shed their cuticle or 

 outer skin at greater or less intervals. It is a mistake to 

 assign a particular period to this process ; some have stated 

 it to occur once, some twice in the summer ; but I have 

 found it to depend upon the temperature of the atmosphere, 

 and on the state of health, and the more or less frequent 

 feeding of the animal. I have known the skin shed four or 

 five times during the year. It is always thrown off by re- 

 versing it ; so that the transparent covering of the eyes, 

 and that of the scales also, are always found concave in the 

 exuviae. Previously to this curious circumstance taking 

 place, the whole cuticle becomes somewhat opaque, the 

 eyes are dim, and the animal is evidently blind. It also 

 becomes more or less inactive ; until at length, when the 

 skin is ready to be removed, being everywhere detached, 

 and the new skin perfectly hard underneath, the ani- 

 mal bursts it at the neck, and creeping through some 

 dense herbage, or low brushwood, leaves it attached, and 

 comes forth in far brighter and clearer colours than before. 



Like most Serpents, the Snake has the power of expel- 

 ling from certain glands, situated within the vent, a most 

 disgusting stinking secretion. This is only done when 

 alarmed or irritated, or when under sexual excitement ; in 

 the latter case it is most probably intended as a means of 

 directing the other sex in the pursuit. 



