194 Life and Immortality. 



being of a uniform steel-blue color, with a rich tessellated 

 arrangement of scales. They are of wild and untamable 

 natures, powerful and active as foes, often engaging in en- 

 counters with other snakes, especially the Rattlesnakes, whom 

 they kill or force to disgorge their prey. In their move- 

 ments they are so rapid that they are often called the Racer. 

 It is in the breeding season that they manifest their greatest 

 boldness, and have often been known to go out of their way 

 to attack a passer-by. They will chase an intruder for a long 

 distance, and will even descend a tree to attack the one who 

 is teasing them. 



It is the Black Snake that appears the most frequently in 

 the guise of a charmer. But, as has been remarked before, 

 this power, so often imputed, is merely imaginary. The 

 reptile preys upon birds in their nests, penetrating the 

 thickets in quest of them, and often the cat-bird and the red- 

 winged blackbird, which are so prone to attack, are seen 

 acting strangely, crying and fluttering before the reptile in 

 fear and rage, while thus charmed, and frequently falling 

 a victim in their endeavors to protect their young. At such 

 times the cries of distress of the old birds bring birds of 

 different genera together, who join their forces against the 

 common enemy, finally compelling him to retreat. Like other 

 snakes mentioned, the Black Snake has the same remarkable 

 habit of taking her young into her mouth for protection. 



Among the most attractive forms are the Green Snakes. 

 Leptophis astivus, so common in the South, and occasionally 

 to be met with in Southern New Jersey, is of a brilliant 

 green color, and so perfectly mimicking a vine that it would 

 rarely be taken for a living creature when lying around the 

 branches of a tree. They have a habit of coiling in the 

 nests of birds, often surprising the egg-hunter by bounding 

 swiftly away. Allied species, further to the South, have been 

 observed, when approached, to leap twenty feet in the air, 

 falling to the ground and making their escape. They are 

 perfectly harmless creatures, and, like the Green Snake of the 



