36 THE LAND-MARKS OF 



front of the snake, which now strikes. I then 

 smartly extend my arm above, so that when the 

 snake rebalances itself, the palm of my hand 

 nearly touches its head, and lastly, I bring my 

 hand down gently towards the table. * 

 Manipulation Since the foregoing was written, I have read 



of 6iiakes. ^ . 



the following amusing account of snake mani- 

 pulation by Dr. Nicholson. " To take a snake 

 out of the box, when he is not sufficiently do- 

 mesticated to be taken up with the hand, lift 

 his body with a hooked stick, and, as his tail glides 

 over, take hold of it and deposit him on the 

 floor or in a spare box. If you wish to tame the 

 snake, he must be taken out daily, and gradually 

 accustomed to being handled ; if you could per- 



* I had several little birds, Moonidhs, and I found 

 that they would go through the following performance 

 by themselves. On taking one on to an index finger, 

 and putting the otber index fiuger before it, the bird 

 would step or hop from one to the other as often as I 

 changed them, if I just touched its breast. If I wanted 

 the bird to fly for a short distance, I brought the dis- 

 engaged finger sharply up to its breast, and at the same 

 time I lowered the engaged finger. If I removed,one 

 fingei' and held the bird some distance from the cage, it 

 would fly from my finger into the cage. Nearly every 

 bird would go through this performance. 



