THE COMMON SNAKE. 49 



snake, little dreaming that they have only been 

 shuddering at its old clothes. 



What does the snake eat ? Undoubtedly it 

 delights in frogs, young birds, birds 7 eggs, and 

 even mice. Imagine the little shudder and 

 start in which we indulged in boyhood, on 

 putting our hand, with felonious intent, into 

 a bird's nest (we couldn't see into it), and find- 

 ing our fingers come in contact with the smooth 

 cold folds of a coiled-up snake ! It was the last 

 time we felt for eggs before seeing them. That 

 was an experiment too satisfactory in its results 

 to require repetition. The author already quoted 

 gives an interesting account of a snake's meal : 

 "If it be a frog, it generally seizes it by the 

 hinder leg, because it is usually taken in pursuit. 

 As soon as this takes place, the frog ceases to 

 make any struggle or attempt to escape. The 

 whole body and legs are stretched out, as it were, 

 convulsively, and the snake gradually draws in 

 first the leg he has seized and afterwards the 

 rest of the animal, portion after portion, by 

 means of the peculiar mechanism of the jaws, so 

 admirably adapted for this purpose. When a 

 frog is in the process of being swallowed in this 

 manner, as soon as the snake's jaws have reached 

 the body, the other hind leg becomes turned 

 forwards ; and as the body gradually disappears, 

 the three legs and the head are seen standing 



