snake, which he had disturbed in his walks; it immediately coiled itself up, opened its jaws, and in an instant, five small ones that were lying by it, rushed into its mouth. He retired in order to watch the snake, and in a quarter of an hour saw her again discharge them. He then ap proached a second time, when the young ones rushed into its mouth more quickly than before, and the animal immediately moved off and escaped.

The Rattle-snake is known to devour several of the smaller species of animals, and by many persons is considered to be endowed with the power of fascinating its prey, until they even run into its jaws. Mr. Pennant, from Kalm, says, that this snake will frequently lie at the bottom of a tree on which a squirrel is seated, He fixes his eyes upon the little animal, and from that moment, it cannot escape: it begins a doleful outcry, which is so well known, that a person passing by, on hearing it, immediately knows that a snake is present. The squirrel runs up the tree a little way, comes down again, then goes up, and afterwards comes still lower. The snake continues at the bottom of the tree, with its eyes fixed upon the squirrel; and his attention is so entirely taken up, that a person accidentally approaching, may make a consi derable noise, without so much as the snake's turning about. The squirrel comes lower, and at last leaps down to the snake, whose mouth is

already wide open for its reception. The poor little animal then, with a piteous cry, runs into his jaws, and is swallowed.

Some colour is given to this account by M. Le Vaillant, who says that he saw, on the branch of a tree, a species of shrike, trembling as if in convulsions, and at a distance of nearly four feet, on another branch, a large species of snake, that was lying with outstretched neck, and fiery eyes, gazing steadily at the poor animal. The agony of the bird was so great, that it was deprived of the power of inoving away; and when one of the party killed the snake, it was found dead upon the spot-and that entirely from fear-for on examination, it appeared not to have received the slightest wound.

The same gentleman informs us, that a short time aftewards, he observed a small mouse, in similar agonizing convulsions, about two yards. distant from a snake, whose eyes were intently fixed upon it; and on frightening away the reptile, and taking up the mouse, it expired in his hand.

A remarkable instance of the fascinating power of snakes, is given in Lichtenstein's tra vels in Southern Africa. In rambling in the fields near Cape Town, he saw, at the brink of a ditch, a large snake in pursuit of a field mouse. The poor animal was just at its hole, when it seemed in a moment to stop, as if un able to proceed, and, without being touched by

the snake, to be palsied with terror.

The snake had raised its head over him, had opened its mouth, and seemed to fix his eyes steadfastly upon him. Both remained still awhile; but as soon as the mouse made a motion as if to flee, the head of the snake instantly followed the movement, as if to stop his way. This lasted four or five minutes, till the author's approach put an end to it: the snake then snapped up his prey hastily, and glided away with it into a neighbouring bush. "As I had," he observes, "heard a great deal of this magic power in the snake over smaller animals, it was very interesting to me to see a specimen of it. I think it may be made a question, however, whether the poisonous breath of the reptile might not really have had the effect of paralysing the limbs of the mouse, rather than that its inability to move, proceeded either from the fixed eye of the snake, or the apprehension of inevitable death. It is remarkable and very certain, that serpents will sport with their prey, as cats do, before they kill it."

Dr. Barton of Philadelphia, however, after having examined, with some care, into the subject, is of opinion, that the report of this fascinating property has had its rise in nothing more than the fears and cries of birds, and other animals, in the protection of their nests and young.

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In summer, the Rattle-snakes are generally found in pairs in winter, they collect in multitudes, and retire into the ground, beyond the reach of the frost. Tempted by the warmth of a spring day, they are often observed to creep out in a weak and languid state. Mr. Pennant mentions, that a person has seen a piece of ground covered with them, and that he killed, with a rod, between sixty and seventy; till, overpowered with the stench, he was compelled to retire.

The American Indians often regale on the Rattle-snake-When they find these animals asleep, they put a small forked stick over their necks, which they keep immoveably fixed to the ground, giving the snake a piece of leather to bite; and this they pull back several times with great force, until they observe that the poisonous fangs are torn out. They then cut off the head, skin the body, and cook it as we do eels; and the flesh is said to be extremely white and good.

The following are the remarks, with which Buffon concludes his account of this justly dreaded animal.

Favoured inhabitants of our temperate regions! how happy are we in being placed at a distance from those countries, where heat and moisture exert so powerful an influence. Here we have no dreadful serpent to infect, with its venom, the water in which it swims with facility-the trees whose boughs it glides over with

agility-the earth whose caverns it fills--and the solitary woods, where it exercises the same cruel sway, as the tiger in its burning deserts. Let

us not regret the natural beauties of their warmer climates, their more shady and majestic trees, their more verdant foliage, their more beautiful flowers, which yield a richer perfume: These flowers and trees with all their gay foliage, often conceal the Rattle-snake beneath their deceitful beauties.

THE GREAT BOA.

THIE ground colour of the great Boa is yel lowish-gray, on which is distributed along the back, a chain of large reddish-brown, and sometimes red variegations, with other smaller and more irregular marks and spots.

It is the largest of all the serpent tribe, is frequently from thirty to forty feet in length, and of a proportionate thickness, Carli descitbes it making its track through the tall grass, like mowers in a summer's day. He could not without terror, behold whole lines of grass lying levelled under the sweep of its tail. In this manner, it moved forward with great rapidity, until it found a proper situation frequented