SNAKES AND SNAKE STORIES 415 



ing a piece of ground near Wild Lands for the pur- 

 pose of erecting a cabin I was picking up the stones 

 and casting them in a heap we used for a founda- 

 tion. In a space fifty by fifty feet I found over 

 a dozen of these little snakes. If they are as plenti- 

 ful as this all over the country a little calculation 

 will show you what immense numbers of these little 

 insect-eating creatures inhabit the unimproved land. 

 Snakes are very much more plentiful than the 

 majority of people imagine, and some varieties are 



TO BE FOUND EVEN IN OUR CITY STREETS. 



The little brown snake known as De Kay's snake, 

 from which the drawing on page 422 is made, I 

 picked up on the sidewalk on Amity Street, in 

 Flushing, Borough of Queens, New York City. I 



FOOD OF THE LITTLE BROWN SNAKE 



