e 



. 



96 DAYS AND NIGHTS BY THE DESERT. 



it would have been charity to frighten them, and so 

 caused them to wing their way to some place of 

 greater security ; but I did not do so, the better to 

 learn the ways and artifices of a creature alike 

 dreaded by man and beast. 



Has a snake the power of scenting its prey : 

 I never heard this point mooted, but from what I 

 noted on this occasion I believe it has. The birds 

 were directly to windward of the reptile, and with 

 unerring instinct it directed its course for them ; it 

 could not see its prey, for its head never appeared to 

 rise above an inch from the ground. At length the 

 puff-adder was within a couple of feet of the game ; 

 slowly and imperceptibly its body was drawn up 

 into a coil, of which the head appeared the centre, 

 when, with a dart as sudden as it was swift, it threw 

 itself forward. One of the sand-grouse, on rapid 

 pinions, sought safety in flight ; the other for some j 

 seconds ineffectually flapped its wings, as if strug- 

 gling to escape, for it was in the grasp of the 

 enemy; but soon these efforts ceased, and all was still. 



I doubt not that the bird was poisoned by its ( 

 destroyer's fangs, or why should death have come j 

 so rapidly, for there was no crushing process adopted 

 by the foe by enveloping the body with repeated 

 folds ? 



Many a person doubts that poisonous reptiles 

 inject their virus into the animal they seize with 

 the intention of feeding upon. For my part, I do 



