108 ON THE PHYSIOGNOMY OF SERPENTSo 
curious not to merit some attention, as it shews how a fact, 
true or supposed, may be so spread as to become popular. 
Many causes might have given rise to the origin of the 
pretended power of fascination of serpents. It is true that 
most animals appear absolutely ignorant of the danger 
which menaces them, when they find themselves in the 
presence of enemies as cruel as serpents ; we often see 
them walk over the bodies of those reptiles, pick at their 
head, bite them, or lie down familiarly beside them : but 
we need not also deny, that an animal, unexpectedly sur- 
prised, attacked by so formidable an adversary, seeing his 
menacing attitude, his movements performed with such 
celerity, may be so seized with fear, as, at the first mo- 
ment, to be deprived of its faculties, and rendered inca- 
pable of avoiding the fatal blow, which is inflicted at the 
moment when it perceives itself assailed. Mr Barton 
Smith, in a memoir expressly written to refute all that 
has been advanced on the fascination of the rattlesnake, 
relates several instances which prove that birds do not 
shew themselves afraid, except when the serpent approaches 
their nests to seize their young. Then one may see the 
terrified parents fly around their enemy, uttering plaintive 
cries, just as our warblers do when any one stops in the vi- 
cinity of their nests. It may also be, that the animals 
which it is pretended had been seen fluttering around the 
snake, and at last falling into his mouth, have been already 
wounded by his poison-fangs ; a supposition which per- 
fectly corresponds to the way in which venomous serpents 
master their prey. Many tree-snakes seize their prey by 
twisting their slender tails around their victim : Dam- 
pier* has several times been a witness of this spectacle : 
observing a bird flapping its wings, and uttering cries, 
without flying, this traveller perceived that the poor bird 
was locked in the folds of a snake, when he attempt- 
ed to lay hold of it. RussELf presented one day a fowl 
to a Dipsas, and the bird in a short time gave signs of 
death ; not conceiving how the bite of a snake not poison- 
^ Voyages, iii. p. 275. 
t Russel, i. p. 20. 
