194 Life and Immortality. 
being of a uniform steel-blue color, with a rich tessellated 
arrangement of scales. They are of wild and untamable 
natures, powerful and active as foes, often engaging in en- 
counters with other snakes, especially the Rattlesnakes, whom 
they kill or force to disgorge their prey. In their move- 
ments they are so rapid that they are often called the Racer. 
It is in the breeding season that they manifest their greatest 
boldness, and have often been known to go out of their way 
to attack a passer-by. They will chase an intruder for a long 
distance, and will even descend a tree to attack the one who 
is teasing them. 
It is the Black Snake that appears the most frequently in 
the guise of a charmer. But, as has been remarked before, 
this power, so often imputed, is merely imaginary. The 
reptile preys upon birds in their nests, penetrating the 
thickets in quest of them, and often the cat-bird and the red- 
winged blackbird, which are so prone to attack, are seen 
acting strangely, crying and fluttering before the reptile in 
fear and rage, while thus charmed, and frequently falling 
a victim in their endeavors to protect their young. At such 
times the cries of distress of the old birds bring birds of 
different genera together, who join their forces against the 
common enemy, finally compelling him to retreat. Like other 
snakes mentioned, the Black Snake has the same remarkable 
habit of taking her young into her mouth for protection. 
Among the most attractive forms are the Green Snakes. 
Leptophis estivus, so common in the South, and occasionally 
to be met with in Southern New Jersey, is of a brilliant 
green color, and so perfectly mimicking a vine that it would 
rarely be taken for a living creature when lying around the 
branches of a tree. They have a habit of coiling in the 
nests of birds, often surprising the egg-hunter by bounding 
swiftly away. Allied species, further to the South, have been 
observed, when approached, to leap twenty feet in the air, 
falling to the ground and making their escape. They are 
perfectly harmless creatures, and, like the Green Snake of the 
