The Seamy Side of Bird-Life 



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Even worse are the snakes. An African ser- 

 pent feeds so exclusively upon eggs that it has 

 a mouth especially fitted for breaking and con- 

 suming them. Birds breeding on the ground 

 are especially liable to this foe, and it is the 

 natural hostility all birds feel toward this enemy 

 that leads them to attack it, often with such 

 recklessness that people say the snake " fas- 

 cinates " them within reach of its stroke. 



In our country the most persistent and suc- 

 cessful nest-hunter is the blacksnake, which is 

 an expert climber. Every ornithologist can tell 

 of dozens of nests he has known to be despoiled 

 by this sable marauder; yet it often fails. I 

 saw one knocked from a high limb within a yard 

 of our house porch by a couple of robins who 

 came home just in time to protect their prop- 

 erty. Blacksnakes will ascend to astonishing 

 heights, explore the tree-tops with great skill 

 in festooning their weight across the slender 

 branches, and search woodpeckers' holes and 

 every cranny for a variety of prey. It is this 

 serpent, instead of the rattlesnake, which never 

 climbs trees, that Audubon should have repre- 

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