88 THE RETURN OF THE BIRDS. 



beneath which, in long festoons, rested a huge black 

 snake ; a bird two thirds grown, was slowly disap- 

 pearing between his expanded jaws. As he seemeo 

 unconscious of my presence, I quietly observed the 

 proceedings. By slow degrees he compassed the bird 

 about with his elastic mouth ; his head flattened, his 

 neck writhed and swelled, and two or three undula- 

 tory movements of his glistening body finished the 

 work. Then, he cautiously raised himself up, his 

 tongue flaming from his mouth the while, curved over 

 the nest, and, with wavy, subtle motions, explored 

 the interior. I can conceive of nothing more over- 

 poweringly terrible to an unsuspecting family of 

 birds than the sudden appearance above their domi- 

 cile of the head and neck of this arch-enemy. It is 

 enough to petrify the blood in their veins. Not find- 

 ing the object of his search, he came streaming down 

 from the nest to a lower limb, and commenced ex- 

 tending his researches in other directions, eliding 

 stealthily through the branches, bent on capturing 

 one of the parent birds. That a legless, wingless 

 creature should move with such ease and rapidity 

 where only birds and squirrels are considered at 

 home, lifting himself up, letting himself down, run- 

 ning out on the yielding boughs, and traversing with 

 marvelous celerity the whole length and breadth of 

 the thicket, was truly surprising. One thinks of the 

 great myth, of the Tempter ana the " cause of all our 

 woe," and wonders if the Arch One is not now play- 

 ng off some of his pranks before him. Whether we 



