CROTALUS HORRIDUS. 



her eggs, or affection to her young. Her cry is melancholy, 

 her motions tremulous. She exposes herself to the most im- 

 minent danger. Sometimes she approaches so near the rep- 

 tile that he seizes her as his prey. But this is far from being 

 universally the case. Often she compels the serpent to leave 

 the tree, and then returns to her nest. 



" It is a well-known fact, that, among some species of birds, 

 the female at a certain period is accustomed to compel the 

 young ones to leave the nest ; that is, when the young have 

 acquired so much strength that they are no longer entitled to 

 all her care. But they still claim some of her care. Their 

 flights are awkward, and soon broken by fatigue ; they fall to 

 the ground, when they are frequently exposed to the attacks 

 of the serpent, which attempts to devour them. In this situa- 

 tion of affairs, the mother will place herself upon a branch of 

 a tree or bush in the vicinity of the serpent. She will dart 

 upon the serpent, in order to prevent the destruction of her 

 young; but fear, the instinct of self-preservation, will compel 

 her to retire. She leaves the serpent, however, but for a short 

 timej" and then returns again. Oftentimes she prevents the 

 destruction of her young, attacking the snake with her wings, 

 her beak, or her claws. Should the reptile succeed in cap- 

 turing the young, the mother is exposed to less danger. For 

 while engaged in swallowing them, he has neither inclination 

 nor power to seize upon the old one. But the appetite of the 

 serpent tribe is great ; the capacity of their stomachs is not 

 less so. The danger of the mother is at hand when the young 

 are devoured ; the snake seizes upon her, and this is the ca- 

 tastrophe which crowns the tale of fascination. 



" Some years since, Mr. Rittenhouse, an accurate observer, 

 was induced to suppose, from the peculiar melancholy cry of 

 a red-winged maize-thief, that a snake was at no great dis- 

 tance from it, and that the bird was in distress. He threw a 

 stone at the place from which the cry proceeded, which had 

 the effect of driving the bird away. The poor animal, how- 

 ever, immediately returned to the same spot. Mr. Ritten- 

 house now went to the place where the bird alighted, and to 

 his great astonishment he found it perched upon the back of 

 a large black snake, which it was pecking with its beak. At 

 this very time the serpent was in the act of swallowing a young 

 bird, and from the enlarged size of the reptile's belly, it was 

 evident that it had already swallowed two or three other 



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