130 EYE-BEAMS 



branches, uttering now and then their despair- 

 ing note. Looking more intently at the nest, 

 I became aware in the dim light of the tree of 

 something looped about it, or else there was a 

 dark, very crooked limb that partly held it. 

 Suspecting the true nature of the case, I threw 

 a stone up through the branches, and then an- 

 other and another, when the dark loops and 

 folds upon one side of the nest began to disap- 

 pear, and the head and neck of a black snake 

 to slowly slide out on a horizontal branch on 

 the other; in a moment the snake had cleared 

 the nest, and stretched himself along the 

 branch. 



Another rock-fragment jarred his perch when 

 he slid cautiously along toward the branch of a 

 large pine-tree which came out and mingled its 

 spray with that of the hemlock. It was soon 

 apparent that the snake was going to take 

 refuge in the pine. As he made the passage 

 from one tree to the other we sought to dis- 

 lodge him by a shower of sticks and stones, but 

 without success; he was soon upon a large 

 branch of the pine, and, stretched out on top 

 of the limb, thought himself quite hidden. 

 And so he was; but we knew his hiding-place, 

 and the stones and clubs we hurled soon made 

 him uneasy. Presently a club struck the 

 branch with such force that he was fairly dis- 

 lodged, but saved himself by quickly wrapping 

 his tail about the limb. In this position he 

 hung for some moments, but the intervening 

 branches shielded him pretty well from out 



