too jOtTRNAL AND PROCEEDINGS 



ground-hog, just deep enough in some dry sand or loamy ridge to 

 be out of the reach of severe cold. About two years ago, some 

 acquaintances of ours who were engaged digging out several badgers, 

 skunks, which had sought a temporary refuge in a woodchuck's bur- 

 row, found a black snake of average size occupying a space in the 

 deepest part of the excavation. His snakeship was reported as 

 showing symptoms of languor, but was by no means in a torpid 

 state, though the season was January and wintry snowstorms raged 

 above ground. No unfriendliness was manifested moreover among 

 the strange denizens of the burrow. 



Mention might also be made of the alleged proclivities of black 

 snakes for going into the water in pursuit of their prey, it being fre- 

 quently asserted that this is a custom of theirs. Some of my 

 acquaintances, however, say that the species most commonly seen in 

 the water is somewhat darker in color than the variety most gen- 

 erally found in dry situations. At any rate, snakes larger than the 

 milk snake, and of a very dark brown color, with almost an absence 

 of striped markings, have been often seen by us pursuing and 

 capturing the common crayfish that inhabit shallow streams and 

 ditches. It is mostly the smaller fry of the crustaceans that they 

 capture, and when they have seized one they generally go out of the 

 water to some lurking place, under a log or stump, to enjoy their 

 meal. Near these spots, the debris, consisting of refuse fragments of 

 the young crayfishes' shelly covering or nippers, gives evidence of 

 what has been going on. 



The black and other snakes can move with considerable speed 

 in the water, but their motions are undulating and have not quite 

 the directness or celerity of the finny tribe. 



Some years ago, my brother saw a large black snake pursue a 

 frog, which took refuge in the water of a creek near by. He struck 

 the snake with his fishing rod, severely bruising its body, as it swam 

 on the surface of the stream, and the blood, which flowed from the 

 wounded ophidian, was in such quantities as to redden the water 

 for the space of several yards around. 



A curious belief among bush workers is that the common bird 

 eating black snake has a habit, when up among the tree branches in 

 orchards and other similar places, of springing by bounds from branch 

 to branch across an open space, and some individuals have assured 

 me that they have repeatedly seen such a feat performed by it. 



