BUCEPHALUS CAPENSIS. 



birds, &c., while they are only partially within the mouth ; and from the circumstance of 

 these fangs being directed backward, and not admitting of being raised, so as to form an angle 

 with the edge of the jaw, they are well fitted to act as powerful holders, when once they 

 penetrate the skin and soft parts of the prey which their possessors may be in the act of swal- 

 lowing. Without such fangs escapes would be common ; with such they are rare. 



The natives of South Africa regard the Boom-slange as poisonous ; but in their opinion we 

 cannot concur, as we have not been able to discover the existence of any glands manifestly 

 organized for the secretion of poison. The fangs are enclosed in a soft pulpy sheath, the 

 inner surface of which is commonly coated with a thin glairy secretion. This secretion 

 possibly may have something acrid and irritating in its qualities, which may, when it enters 

 a wound, occasion pain and even swelling, but nothing of greater importance. The Boom- 

 slange is generally found upon trees, to which it resorts for the purpose of catching birds, upon 

 which it delights to feed. The presence of a specimen in a tree is generally soon discovered 

 by the birds of the neighbourhood, who collect around it, and fly to and fro, uttering the most 

 piercing cries, until some one, more terror-struck than the rest, actually scans its lips, and 

 almost without resistance becomes a meal for iis enemy. During such a proceeding the snake is 

 generally observed with its head raised about ten or twelve inches above the branch round which 

 its body and tail are entwined, with its mouth open, and its neck inflated, as if anxiously 

 endeavouring to increase the terror which it would almost appear it was aware would sooner 

 or later bring within its grasp some one of the feathered group. Whatever may be said in 

 ridicule of fascination, it is nevertheless true that birds, and even quadrupeds, are, under certain 

 circumstances, unable to retire from the presence of certain of their enemies; and, what is even 

 more extraordinary, unable to resist the propensity to advance from a situation of actual 

 safety into one of the most imminent danger. This I have often seen exemplified in the case 

 of birds and snakes ; and I have heard of instances equally curious, in which Antelopes and 

 other quadrupeds, have been so bewildered by the sudden appearance of Crocodiles, and by 

 the grimaces and contortions they practised, as to be unable to fly or even move from the spot, 

 towards which they were approaching to seize them. 



