NATURE IN LITTLE 



of his body back upon himself and twined it around 

 the forward, Hke a vine doubling upon itself. If he 

 was taking precautions against my stick as another 

 snake trying to swallow him, it was good tactics; it 

 would have made the problem of swallowing him 

 much more diflBcult. I do not think it at all probable 

 that the snake had ever experienced such uncivil 

 treatment before, and the emergency was met by 

 the best resources the poor half -benumbed creature 

 had. "Swallow me, if you will, but I will stick in 

 your throat if I can." I left him unharmed, doubled 

 and twisted in self-defense. 



Jokes in nature, no! but there are curious and 

 amusing forms and incidents, grotesque shapes, 

 preposterous color schemes and appendages, from 

 our point of view, but all a serious part of the com- 

 plex web of animal life. 



The transparent trick of the ground-building 

 birds to decoy you from their nests or young is very- 

 amusing, but the heart of the poor mother bird is 

 in her mouth. 



The cock, or mock, nests of the house wren and 

 marsh wren look like jokes; in fact the wrens them- 

 selves seem like jokes, they are so pert and fussy 

 and attitudinizing, but whether these extra nests 

 are sham nests, or whether they are the result of 

 the overflowing measure of the breeding-instinct, 

 or are decoy nests, serving a real purpose in con- 

 cealing or protecting the real nest, is a question. 



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