e further movements
of the serpent. They kept as well as possible behind the screen of
leaves and bushes.

The snake, after having killed the lizard, remained out in the open
ground; and, stretching himself along the grass, commenced devouring it.
Snakes do not masticate their food. Their teeth are not formed for
this, but only for seizing and killing. The blood-snake is not
venomous, and is, therefore, without fangs such as venomous snakes
possess. In lieu of these he possesses a double row of sharp teeth;
and, like the "black snake," the "whip," and others of the genus
coluber, he is extremely swift, and possesses certain powers of
constriction, which are mostly wanting in serpents of the venomous
tribes. Like all the others, he swallows his prey just as he kills it--
whole. So with the one in question. Having placed the nose of the
lizard _vis-a-vis_ with his own, he opened his jaws to their full
extent, took in the head, and commenced gradually sucking the body down
his throat. It was a curious operation; and the boys watched it with
feelings of interest.

But other eyes were bent upon the reptile. His bright blood-coloured
body lying along the grass had caught the far-seeing eye of an enemy,
whose dark shadow was now seen moving over the ground. On looking up,
the boys beheld a large bird wheeling in the air. Its snow-white head
and breast, the far spread, tapering wings, but, above all, the long
forked tail, told them at a glance what bird it was. It was the great
Southern kite (_Falco furcatus_).

When first seen he was sailing in circles,--or rather in a spiral curve,
that was constantly contracting downward and inward. The centre of that
curve was the spot occupied by the snake.

It was a beautiful sight to behold this creature cutting the thin air.
His flight was the _beau ideal_ of ease and gracefulness--for in this no
bird can equal the kite. Not a stroke of his long pointed wings
betrayed that he needed their assistance; and he seemed to glory that he
could navigate the air without them. Besides, the motion of these, had
he used them, might have caught the eye of his intended victim, and
warned it of the danger. I say it was a beautiful sight to watch him as
he swam through his aery circles, at one moment appearing all white--as
his breast was turned to the spectators--the next moment his black back
and purple wings glittering in the sun, as sideways he guided himself
down the spiral cu