REPTILES. 28T 



Wherever man takes up his abode, there the serpents 

 have to engage in an unequal contest, which ends in their 

 extirpation. Man not only attacks them in open combat, 

 with the lance, the sword, or the musket, but he falls 

 upon them, when gorged with food, and prepared only for 

 slumber, or when in a lethargic state in consequence of 

 cold. He likewise drains the marshes where they procured 

 their food, and cuts down the forest to which they were 

 accustomed to retire. 



But while man is their personal foe, wages against them 

 a war of extermination, and thus powerfully influences 

 their geographical distribution, he receives powerful sup- 

 port from many of the domestic animals which accompany 

 him in his dispersion over the globe. The hog is not 

 afraid to give battle even to the most venomous ; and, in 

 general, comes off victorious. The goat, likewise, readily 

 devours the smaller kinds of serpents, and hence the Gaelic 

 proverb, " Cleas na gaoi ther githeadh nathraeh,"" like the 

 goat eating the serpent, — importing a querulous temper in 

 the midst of plenty *. 



When unrestrained by opposition from man, and the 

 physical conditions of their life, they are well qualified for 

 extending their geographical limits. Neither forest, moun- 

 tain, marsh nor rivulet, can retard their progress. Almost 

 all the species can swim, and many of them with great 

 ease. Indeed it is probable, that many of those sto- 

 ries which have been propagated, regarding vast sea 

 snakes, have originated, in the appearance of some of the 

 larger serpents at sea, where they have been driven by ac- 

 cident. Some of the Asiatic species reside almost constant- 

 ly in the waters, either fresh or salt. 



Independent of the claim which serpents have to our no- 

 tice as constituting an extensive division of the animal king- 



• Statistical Account of Scotland, vol. xii. p. 449. 



