WAYS OF NATURE 



that it uses the snake-skin as a kind of scarecrow, to 

 frighten away its natural enemies. But think what 

 this purpose in the use of it would imply. It would 

 imply that the bird knew that there were among its 

 enemies creatures that were afraid of snakes — so 

 afraid of them that one of their faded and cast-off 

 skins would keep these enemies away. How could 

 the bird obtain this knowledge ? It is not afraid of 

 the skin itself ; why should it infer that squirrels, 

 for instance, are ? I am convinced there is nothing 

 in this notion. In all the nests that have come 

 under my observation, the snake-skin was in faded 

 fragments woven into the texture of the nest, and one 

 would not be aware of its presence unless he pulled 

 the nest to pieces. True, Mr. Frank BoUes reports 

 finding a nest of this bird with a whole snake-skin 

 coiled around a single egg; but it was the skin of 

 a small garter-snake, six or seven inches long, and 

 could not therefore have inspired much terror in 

 the heart of the bird's natural enemies. Dallas 

 Lore Sharp, author of that delightful book, " Wild 

 Life Near Home," tells me he has seen a whole skin 

 dangling nearly its entire length from the hole that 

 contained the nest, just as he has seen strings hang- 

 ing from the nest of the kingbird. The bird was 

 too hurried or too careless to pull in the skin. Mr. 

 Sharp adds that he cannot " give the bird credit for 

 appreciating the attitude of the rest of the world 

 toward snakes, and making use of the fear." More- 

 18 



