THE LADIES* SNAKE. ig$ 



The Ccinmcn Snaks in England is of the fame nature j remarkably fond 

 of milk, and is faid to fuck cows when lying down. 



The Black Snake is the largeft of Englifh ferpents, fometimes exceed- 

 ing four feet in length. The neck is (lender ; the middle of the body 

 thick ; the back and lides covered with fmall fcales ; the belly with ob- 

 long, narrow, tranfverfc plates : the colour of the back and fides is a 

 dufky brown ; the middle of the back marked with two rows of fmaH 

 black fpots, running from the head to the tail i the plates on the belly 

 are dulky j the fcales on the fides are of a blueifh white; the teeth arc 

 fmall and ferrated, lying on each fide of the jaw in two rows. The 

 whole fpecies is perfectly inoffenfive ; taking fheiter in dunghills, and 

 among bufhes in mioift places j from whence they feldom remove, unlefs 

 in the midft of the day, in fummer, when they are called out by the heat 

 to bafk themfelves in the fun. Ifdifturbed or attacked, they move away 

 among the brambles with great fwiftnefs ; but, if too clofely purfued, they 

 hifs and threaten, and thus render themfelves formidable, though incapa- 

 ble of offending. 



Preys upon frogs, infeds, worms, mice, and young birds; and, con- 

 fidering the fmallnefs of the neck, it is amazing how large an animal it 

 will fwallow. The black fnake of Virginia, which is larger than ours, 

 and generally grows to fix feet long, takes a prey proportionable to its 

 fize; partridges, chicken, and young ducks. It is generally found in the 

 neighbourhood of the hen rooft, and will devour the eggs even while the 

 hen is fitting upon them: thefe it fwallows whole; and often, after it has 

 done the mifchief, will coil itfelt round in the nefl:. 



-Are oviparous, excluding eighty or an hundred eggs at a time, which 

 are laid in dunghills or hot-beds; the heat of which, aided by that of 

 the fun, brings them to maturity. During winter they lie torpid, in 

 banks or hedges, and under old trees. 



THE LADIES' SNAKE 



SEEMS to enjoy a name which unites contrary ideas; few of thefair 

 fex, in thefe climates, being fond of this genus of animals : but, on 

 the coaft of Malabar, the ladies carefs this Inake, warm him in their 

 bofoms, keep him there without fear, and the little creature feems fen- 

 fible of their good-will, and returns carefs for carefs : this is during the 



rainy 



