76 
BIRDS 
the proceedings. By slow degrees he 
compassed the bird about with his elastic 
mouth; his head flattened, his neck 
writhed and swelled, and two or three un- 
dulatory movements of his glistening 
body finished the work. Then, with mar¬ 
vellous ease, he cautiously raised him¬ 
self up, his tongue flaming from his 
mouth the while, curved over the nest, 
and, with wavy, subtle motions, explored 
the interior. 1 can conceive of nothing 
more overpoweringly terrible to an un¬ 
suspecting family of birds than the sud¬ 
den appearance above their domicile of 
the head and neck of this archenemy. 
It is enough to petrify the blood in their 
veins. Not finding the object of his 
search, he came streaming down from the 
nest to a lower limb, and commenced 
extending his researches in other direc¬ 
tions, sliding stealthily through the 
branches, bent on capturing one of the 
parent birds. That a legless, wingless 
creature should move with such ease and 
rapidity where only birds and squirrels 
are considered at home, lifting himself 
up, letting himself down, running out 
