MR. BUCK LAND OiV ENGLTSH SNAKES. 



on the trees when the snakes 

 climbed up to them and began their 

 charming, the various stages of 

 which are unfortunately left to the 

 imagination. Neither gentleman 

 could see the "countenance " of the 

 reptile, which doubtless presented 

 to its victim a yawning abyss that 

 threw out forked lightning, and had 

 a glowing coal on each side of it, 

 sufficient to paralyse any simple 

 bird. Very probably the snakes on 

 climbing the trees had first amused 

 the birds by their serpentine move- 

 ments, and gradually magnetised 

 them, like the one on the outer 

 part of the branch, till, perhaps, 

 making a premature effort to seize 

 its prey, it drove it off the tree in 

 the other case, which did not break 

 the spell, for the bird most probably 

 returned to its charmer, and if left 

 alone would very soon have drop- 

 ped into its mouth. The shot and 

 the throwing of the piece of wood, 

 however, completely broke the en- 

 chantment. 



The ~ general nature of such a 

 phenomenon, doubtless, somewhat 

 resembles that of a timid person 

 suddenly encountering a large and 

 ferocious beast from which there is 

 no escape, and rushing towards it 

 in the frenzy of the moment, after 

 the nature of a nightmare. This 



characteristic of the snake catching 

 its prey is doubtless the most 

 wonderful one to be found within 

 the range of natural history, and il- 

 lustrates that she is, in the language 

 of the Scriptures," more subtile than 

 any beast of the field ;" and is a 

 proof, besides that of her peculiar 

 way of taking care of her young, 

 that she has received from the 

 Creator a large amount of wisdom 

 and understanding. I think I have 

 seen notices of her also charming 

 rabbits, squirrels, and other animals 

 that she could not easily seize in the 

 ordinary way ; and that is not un- 

 likely to be the case with at least 

 partly-grown animals. She has no 

 occasion, however, to " cast her 

 glamour " over the frog, for she can 

 easily catch it, giving occasion to a 

 great noise on the part of the vic- 

 tim, which attracts people acquaint- 

 ed with her peculiarities in that re- 

 spect, and leads to her destruction, 

 although the noise of the frog 

 ceases as it resigns itself to its fate. 

 The snake is a dainty creature in 

 regard to her feeding, for she must 

 catch what she eats ; and so particu- 

 lar is she about the freshness of her 

 food that she swallows it alive, ex- 

 cept in the case of the constrictor, 

 which first crushes it in her folds 

 and then swallows it. 



MR. BUCK LAND ON ENGLISH SNAKES* 



IN the first series of Mr. Buck- 

 land's Curiosities of Natural 

 History, page 229, New York 

 edition of 1864, I find the follow- 

 ing : " However, though bats don't 

 lay eggs, snakes do. They are gen- 

 erally deposited in a long string 

 connected together by a sort of vis- 

 cous matter. I have seen as many 

 as thirty in one string. The mother 

 generally deposits them in a dung- 

 hill or heap of decaying vegetable 



matter, and gives herself no more 

 concern about them." It would be 

 interesting to know how Mr. Buck- 

 land arrived at that conclusion, that 

 is, how he knew that the mother 

 " gave herself no more concern 

 about them," but left the young to 

 come into the world and take care 

 of themselves in the best way they 



* Dated May 2.8th, 1873 ; printed June 

 I4th. 



