ring this bird screaming half the day--for it is, perhaps, more
easily excited than any other feathered creature. But, if you have ever
noticed, it utters a very peculiar cry when there's something unusual
`in the wind.' When some much-dreaded enemy is at hand, its note
becomes extremely shrill and disagreeable. So it was then; and for that
reason it drew my attention, as well as that of my companions.

"We looked towards the spot whence the cry came. We could see the
branches of a low tree in motion, and the beautiful sky-blue wings of
the bird closing and spreading again as it fluttered through them. We
could see nothing else upon the tree--that is, no enemy of the bird--nor
on any of the trees near it. On lowering our eyes to the ground,
however, we perceived at once what had set the jay to scolding. Slowly
drawing itself along the earth, gliding through the grass and over the
dry leaves--without causing even the driest of them to rustle--went a
hideous reptile--a snake. Its yellowish body, dappled with black
blotches, glittered as the sun glanced from its lubricated scales; while
it rose and fell in wavy undulations as it moved. It moved slowly--by
vertical sinuosities, almost in a direct line, with its head slightly
raised from the grass. At intervals, it stopped--elevated its neck--
lowered its flat coffin-shaped head, like a feeding swan--gently
oscillated it in a horizontal direction--touched the crisp leaves with
its red tongue, as though it was _feeling for a trail_--and then moved
on again. In its frequent pauses, as it lay stretched along the ground
it appeared cylindrical, as long as the tallest man, and as thick as a
man's fore-arm. Its tail ended in a horny appendage about a foot in
length, and resembling a string of large yellowish ill-shaped beads, or
a portion of its own vertebrae stripped of the flesh, this peculiarity
told us its species. We saw before us the dreaded rattlesnake--the
_crotalus horridus_.

"My companions were eager to rush forward and at once attack the
monster. I restrained them, dogs and all. I had heard--who has not?--
of the power of fascination which these reptiles possess. I knew not
whether to believe or disbelieve it. Here was an opportunity to test
its truth. Would it charm the bird? We should see. One and all of us
remained motionless and silent. The snake crawled on.

"The bird followed over-head, pitching itself from branch to branch,
from tree to tr