THE POWER OF FASCINATION IN SERPENTS. 



557 



taught different animals wliat animals are their 

 enemies ; and us the Rattlesnake occasionally de- 

 vours birds aud squirrels, to these animals he 



must necessarily be an object of fear. Some- 

 times the squirrel drives away the serpent, but 

 occasionally approaching too near his enemy, 



C?-^^^^%#f^fe 



"^M- 



[Baltimore Oriole defending ber Nest from the Black Snake.l 

 These 



I he is bitten or immediately devoured 

 hostilities, however, are not common. 



" In almost every instance, I have found that 

 the supposed fascinating faculty of the serpent 

 was exerted upon the birds at the particular 

 season of their laying their eggs, or of their 

 hatching, or their rearing their young, still ten- 

 der and defenceless. 1 now began to suspect. 

 that the cries and fears of birds supposed to be 

 fascinated originated in an endeavor to protect 

 their nest or young. My inquiries have con- 

 vinced me that this is the case. 



" I have already observed, that the Rattlesnake 

 does not climb up trees; but the black snake and 

 some other species of the Coluber do. When im- 

 pelled byhungerand incapable of satisfying it by 

 the capture of animals on the ground. they begin to 

 glide up trees or bushes upon which a bird has 

 its nest. TliC bird is not ignorantof the serpent's 

 object. She leaves her nest, whether it contains 

 eggs or young ones, and endeavors to oppose tiie 

 reptile's progress. In doing this, she is actuated 

 by the strength of her instinctive attachment to 

 her eggs, or affection to her young. Her cry is 

 melancholy, her motions tremulous. She ex- 

 poses herself to the most imminent danger. 

 Sometimes she approaches so near the reptile 

 that he seizes her as his prey. But this is far 

 from being universally the case. Often she 

 compels the serpent to leare the tree, and then 

 returns to her nest. 



It is a well-kno-vvn fact, that among some spe- 

 cies of birds, the female, at a certain period, is 

 accustomed to compel the young ones to leave the 

 ne.st ; that i.s, when the young liave acquired so 

 much strength that they are no longer entitled 

 to all her care. But they still claim some of her 

 care. Their flights are awkward, and scon 

 (1145) 



broken by fatigue : they fall to the ground, when 

 they are frequently exposed to the attacks of 

 the serpent, which attempts to devour them. In 

 this situation of affairs, the mother will place 

 herself upon a branch of a tree, or bush, in the 

 vicinity of the serpent. She will dart upon the 

 serpent in order to prevent the destruction of her 

 young ; but fear, the in.stiuct of self-preservation, 

 will compel her to retire. Siie leaves the ser- 

 pent, however, but for a short time, and then re- 

 turns again. Oftentimes she prevents the de- 

 struction of her young, attacking the snake with 

 her wing, her beak, or her claws. Should the 

 reptile succeed in capturing the joung, the 

 mother is exposed to less danger. For, while 

 engaged in swallowing them, he has neither in- 

 clination nor power to .seize upon the old one. 

 But the appetite of the serpent tribe is great: 

 the capacity of their stomachs is not less so. 

 The danger of the mother is at hand when the 

 young are devoured ; the snake seizes upon her; 

 and this is the catastrophe which crowns the 

 talc of fascination ! 



" Some years since, Mr. Rittenhouse, an accu- 

 rate ob.server, was induced to suppo.se, from the 

 peculiar melancholy cry of a rcdinncrcd maize- 

 thief, that a snake was at no great distance from 

 it, and that the bird was in distress. He threw 

 a .stone at the place from which the crj- proceed- 

 ed, which had the effect of driving' the bird 

 away. The poor animal, however, immediately 

 returned to the same spot. Mr. Rittenhouse now 

 went to the place where the bird aliglited, and. 

 to his great astonishment, he found h perched 

 upon the back of a large black .snake, which it 

 was pecking with its beak. At this very time 

 the serpent was in the act of swallowing a 

 young bird, and from the enlarged size of the 



