APRIL DAYS 65 



hunt for prey in the crevices ; and between the 

 fallen arches of the windows, through which 

 Beauty has so often smiled, the snake will raise its 

 head, peering forth to ask the sun if summer has 

 returned. 



Showery weather is the best for snake-hunting ; 

 for when the sun shines after rain the reptiles 

 come out to warm themselves, and are then com- 

 paratively inert. A captured snake may be 

 carried in a small flannel bag filled with grass, or 

 elsewhere, as may be convenient. Individuals 

 vary in their willingness to feed ; and one per- 

 sistently refusing to eat should be liberated, or it 

 v/ill die of want. Indeed, so obviously does even a 

 docile snake pine for freedom, that to retain it for 

 long in captivity is but a miserable success. The 

 winter especially is trying to such captives. 



At the period of the autumnal migration of the 

 summer birds, the snake seeks some warm retreat, 

 which it generally finds in a hollow tree, a stack of 

 dead wood, or similar protection, in which to 

 hibernate. Some of them in my possession, and 

 withheld from natural opportunities, bored into a 

 bank of mould in their cage. Each, tightly coiled, 

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