SNAKES SWALLOWING THEIR YOUNG. 



pressed out of the adder, and about 

 the ist August (but not the same 

 year) the same gentleman saw, 

 about twenty feet from him, an- 

 other adder and five or six young 

 ones (there might have been others 

 inside of her) about six inches long 

 (so far as he could judge), enjoying 

 themselves, when he came suddenly 

 upon them. He at once made for 

 her to kill her, when his hand was 

 immediately stayed by the young 

 ones entering the mother in such a 

 hurry that he could not see the tail 

 of one from the head of another, 

 for they " flew " in, as he expressed 

 it. Immediately after they were 

 taken in, the mother made off and 

 got into a hole near a fence-post, 

 where he could not get her, to his 

 great disappointment, as he wished 

 to take the young ones out of her. 

 Another friend (a lady this time) 

 saw a black - snake swallow her 

 young; and a very respectable-look- 

 ing and well-off Negro, whom I met 

 in the company of him who saw the 

 adder swallow her young, also saw a 

 black-snake do the same. All these, 

 and others who have testified to 

 similar facts, are willing to make 

 affidavits to that effect. What then 

 become of D.'s remarks about 

 snakes swallowing their young be- 

 ing " mists " and " delusions," and 

 the other incoherent ideas in his 

 communication, which I would not 

 have noticed but for its appearing 

 in Land and Water, and also for 

 the reason that it furnishes the op- 

 portunity for saying something more 

 on the subject. 



I learned the other day that the 

 young of black and brown striped 

 or garter snakes (and most likely 

 other kinds) are found by them- 

 selves under stones and stumps of 

 trees, doubtless left there by the 

 mother when she goes out to forage 

 or enjoy herself, relieved of the care 

 of her large progeny. Several people, 

 whom I know intimately, testify to 

 this fact, for they have often found 

 them under stones. On these be- 



ing lifted, the young snakes (often 

 about the size of new-born ones) 

 are found neatly stowed away, with 

 no room for the old one, and no re- 

 mains of the eggs from which they 

 were hatched. On being disturbed 

 they at once scatter, if not imme- 

 diately crushed by the foot or other- 

 wise destroyed. There is no doubt 

 of the extremely young ones being 

 placed there by the mother for a 

 special purpose, and that it is only 

 at times she takes them abroad with 

 her. Excepting for the purpose, of 

 hybernating, the only occasions a 

 snake has for a hole is to find 

 shelter from the weather or 

 danger; and she will be more solici- 

 tous in that respect when she has 

 young, like the adder mentioned.* 



D. advances it as a reason against 

 the mother swallowing her young, 

 the inconvenience of the load she 

 would have to carry, which would 

 be as sound an argument against 

 her shedding her skin, or gorging 

 herself with a meal two and per- 

 haps three times her own width, 

 both of which she does in her usual 

 haunts. I have never met people 

 who saw snakes shed their skins, 

 but many who killed them when 

 gorged with a meal. One I killed 

 with a live frog in its mouth, when 

 it made a feeble effort to escape to 

 cover, pushing its prey before it, 

 and apparently unable and unwil- 

 ling to relieve itself of its burden. 

 A friend saw, from a window, at a 

 distance of about twenty feet, an 

 adder about thirty inches long mov- 

 ing slowly towards a medium-sized 

 toad, which stood motionless, as if 

 paralyzed, and facing it at about 

 eighteen inches from it. He im- 

 mediately sought his hat and went 

 outside, but could find no toad. He, 

 however, killed the snake, and took 

 out of it a toad, not completely 

 dead, and nearly half-way down its 

 body. The snake made no effort to 

 escape or defend itself, but seemed 



* See note at page 10. 



