500 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



a similar set of actions. All the movements of the birds were made 

 with extended wings, as if ready to fly in a moment. By the time 

 the female had thrown itself back from the snake, the' male was in 

 position again, repeating the same movement as at first. In the meantime 

 my horse had carried me some four or five rods into a thicket of bushes, 

 whilhor my hand had guided him, and where I dismounted and secured 

 him. All this took place in a minute or two; and as onl3'' an indistinct 

 view had been gained of the action of the birds in passing, a favorable 

 position for observation was taken, so that all that occurred could be noted. 

 The first movement of the male bird, in thrusting its head forward into 

 close contact with the snake, impressed me with the conviction that a case 

 of the so-called fascination was enacting before me, and I determined to 

 observe it in a philosophical manner. 



It was half-past one o'clock p. m. The birds were still eagerly at work, 

 when I turned my eye upon them after the interruption of hitching ray 

 horse. They were panting, as if greatly fatigued by long exertion, but 

 manifested not the least disposition to remit their efforts. If not fascina- 

 ted, they were at least so earnestly enlisted in the affair on hand as to dis- 

 regard every thing else around them. The snake lay in its coil, with head 

 erect and drawn back, so as to be in the best possible position to strike and 

 seize the birds as thej advanced. The many convolutions of its lengtlicned 

 body moved in graceful curves, as its glittering head followed their motions. 

 Its eye sparkled in the sunlight like the polished diamond, while its move- 

 ments gave to its ever-shifting scales the brilliant hues of the rainbow. 

 Again and again, as the birds approached, it would strike at them, with 

 open mouth, exhibiting a malignity of disposition that portended death to 

 them, had they been seized in its jaws. 



A few minutes sufficed to show that a battle, and not a scene of fascina- 

 tion, was presented before me. The birds at each approach, struck the 

 snake with their beaks, or with their talons, when generally, but not 

 always, it darted forward at them, only to find that it was aiming at a 

 moveable target. This can be easily explained. The snake in striking, 

 could never project itself more than about two-thirds of its length, but its 

 defense was made with determined courage. Its position by the stump 

 protected it in the rear, so that the birds could only approach it in the 

 front. They were as adroit in their attacks as it was resolute in its 

 defense. In attempting to seize them, it could not curve to either side 

 after starting, so as to follow their motions, but invariably shot forward 

 in a straight line to the point the^^ occupied when it made its spring. The 

 birds in advancing to the attack by a circular movement, were certain of 

 being away from the spot at which it aimed, and when its teeth smacked 

 together where it expected its prey, it had nothing in its grasp. 



The warfare lasted after I had reached the spot, about twenty-five 

 minutes by the watch. Once or twice during the contest, the reptile 

 made a movement to escape up the hillside, but the birds, as at its first 

 attempt, immediately brought it into position again. At last, seeming to 

 despair of success in securing a dinner in that locality, it darted oft" down 

 the hill toward a grove of trees and bushes, nor turned to the right or 

 left, The birds swept after it, pecking, scratching and striking it with 



