256 THE SNAKES OF SOUTH AFRICA 



ancestors, we have come to regard snakes with the profoundest 

 awe and dread. Writers have not been slow to profit by this 

 universal interest in snakes and their venom, and thrilling anec- 

 dotes and other writings have been the outcome. Remarkably 

 interesting and imagination-stirring articles have frequently been 

 written on the powers of fascination supposed to be exerted by 

 snakes. 



Practically all the popular beliefs in regard to snakes have very 

 little foundation in fact. This belief, however, is so widespread, 

 and its truth insisted upon so strongly, that many naturalists 

 have unquestioningly accepted it as true, and recorded it in 

 literature as being truth. 



Now, I have had much experience of snakes, and have made it 

 my business to observe carefully their habits and ways, both in 

 their natural condition in the wild state and in captivity, and in 

 no instance have I ever known a snake to fascinate an animal 

 in the manner it is alleged they do. 



I have seen Boomslangs and Mambas many a time in trees, 

 surrounded by a crowd of fluttering, chattering, excited birds. 

 The birds were not fascinated by the snake ; they were endeavour- 

 ing to intimidate it in order to frighten it from their haunts. 



What Really Happens. 



Carefully concealing myself one day, I watched a Mamba 

 {Dendraspis angiisticeps) surrounded by several chattering birds, 

 mostly Bulbuls and Flycatchers. The snake, with elevated head, 

 and body bent in a favourable position for a forward spring, 

 remained amongst the branches as immovable as the Sphinx, its 

 lidless, unwinking, shiny eyes giving forth a stony stare. Pre- 

 sently a Bulbul, which had worked itself up into a frenzy of excite- 

 ment, fluttered within striking distance. Like a stone from a 

 catapult, the head and forepart of the snake shot forward, 

 and next instant I saw the struggling bird in the serpent's 

 jaws. The rest of the birds instantly fled. Now, the snake did 

 not throw out any mysterious, mesmeric or hypnotic power. 

 It simply awaited its opportunity, cool and collected, and 

 captured an excited and venturesome bird. The bird was 



