396 



UNITED STAtES. 



at the sight of the brilliant eyes of the snake, pro- 

 ducing dementation. This position he supports in 

 a very ingenious manner, and offers the following 

 case to shew the actual possession of this extraordi- 

 nary power in snakes, 



" Some years ago, Joseph Sandford, who lives near 

 Newark in New Jersey, about the last of August, 

 near the side of a large meadow, heard some cat 

 birds complain exceedingly. 



He asked of Reuben Carter, who was near him, 

 * What| can be the matter with the birds?' Carter 

 replied, ' A snake is charming them/ It seems 

 that a large black snake, of the family that are called 

 racers, frequented that place, and Carter had often 

 seen him catch birds. He ran for a gun, and 

 Sandford approached the tree round which the birds 

 were flying. It was a plum tree that stood upon 

 clear ground. He discovered a snake upon a large 

 limb of the tree, that extended nearly parallel to 

 the horizon. The birds, four in number, were flying 

 near to one another, at a moderate distance from" 

 the tree, complaining exceedingly, but every time' 

 they surrounded the tree, they came nearer the 

 snake ; their eyes were fixed on him ; he presently 

 seized one of the birds and swallowed it, without 

 changing his position ; the other three birds con- 

 tinued to fly round him, and to complain : he seized 

 a second bird, and a third, and devoured them in 

 the same manner ; the fourth bird was at his mouth 

 •when Sandford, having obtained the gun, cut the 

 snake in pieces with small shot. In this ease, there 

 was not a bird's nest on the tree; there was not an 

 old bird protecting her young, for the birds were 



