104- 



Faits and ob- 

 fervations Tt- 

 fpedling the 

 power or fafci« 

 nation afcribed 

 t* fnakes. 



ON THE Fascinating faculty 



wonder in the bufinefs ; the wonder that the ftory (houH 



ever have been believed by a man of underftanding, and of 

 obfervation. 



In condufling my inquiries into this curious fubjeft, I 

 thought it would be proper, and even neceflTary, previoufly 

 to my forming a decided opinion, to afcertain the two follow- 

 ing points, viz. firft : what (pecies of birds are moft frequently 

 obferved to be enchanted by the ferpents ? and, fecondly, at 

 what feafon of the year has any particular fpecies been moft 

 commonly feen under this wonderful influence ? I was in- 

 duced to believe that the folution of thefe two queftions would 

 ferve as a clue to the inveftigation of what has been long con- 

 fidered as one of the moft myfterious operations in nature. I 

 am perfuaded that I have not been miftaken. Poffibly, the 

 credulous may not think as I do. 



It is a curious circumftance in the hiftory of birds, that 

 almoft every fpecies, in the fame country at leaft, has an 

 almoft uniform and determinate method of building its neft, 

 whether we confider the form of the neft, the materials of 

 which it is conftru6led, or the place in which it is fixed *. 

 Some obfervations on this fubjed are neceflarily conne6led 

 with the point under invefligation, in this memoir ; — indeed, 

 they are involved in the queftion concerning the fpecies of 

 birds which have moft generally been obferved to be enchanted 

 by the rattle-fnake, &c. 



Some birds build their nefts on the fummits of (he loftiefl 

 trees; others fufpend them, in a pendulous manner, at the 

 extremity of a branch, or even on a leaff, whilft others build 



them 

 • I do not mean, by this obfervation, to affert, that birds are 

 jaeceffarily impelled to conftru6l their nefts of the fame materials, 

 or to place them in the fame fituations; yet fuch is the language of 

 fome writers en natural hiftory, and on morals, who talk of the 

 .«• determinate inftinft" of animals, and who think it impoflible 

 that ** animals of the fame fpecies fliould any where differ." *'The 

 groufe in America, we are told, perch upon trees ; the hare bur- 

 rows in the ground j and we have, in thefe inftances, fulHcient 

 reafon to deny that the fpecies of either is the fame with thofe of a 

 like denomination, with which we are acquainted, in Europe." 

 Thefe are the words of the celebrated author. See Dr. A. Fergu- 

 fon's Principles of Moral and Political Science, vol. i. p. 59 & 60. 

 quarto edition. 



f See a very interefting account of the Motacilla futoria, or 



Taylor* 



