ent
she seemed dazed; she stood motionless, staring at the invader as if
uncertain whether he were alive. Then she appeared to be interested; she
came a little nearer, still gazing into the face of her enemy, whose
erect head and glittering eyes were turned toward her. We could not see
that he made the slightest movement, while she hopped nearer and nearer;
sometimes on one division of the trunk, and sometimes on the other, but
always, with every hop, coming a little nearer. She did not act
frightened nor at all anxious; she simply seemed interested, and
inclined to close investigation. Was she fascinated? Were the old
stories of snake power over birds true? Our interest was most intense;
we did not take our eyes from her; nothing could have dragged us away
then.

Suddenly the bird flew to the ground, and, so quickly that we did not
see the movement, the head of the snake was turned over toward her,
proving that it was the bird, and not us, he was watching. Still she
kept drawing nearer till she was not more than a foot from him, when our
sympathy with the unfortunate creature, who apparently was unable to
tear herself away, overcame our scientific curiosity. "Poor thing,
she'll be killed! Let us drive her away!" we cried. We picked up small
stones which we threw toward her; we threatened her with sticks; we
"shooed" at her with demonstrations that would have quickly driven away
a robin in possession of its senses. Not a step farther off did she
move; she hopped one side to avoid our missiles, but instantly fluttered
back to her doom. Meanwhile her mate appeared upon the scene, hovering
anxiously about in the trees overhead, but not coming near the snake.

By this time we had lost all interest in the question whether a snake
can charm a bird to its destruction; we thought only of saving the
little life in such danger. We looked around for help; my friend ran
across the street to a house, hurriedly secured the help of a man with a
heavy stick, and in two minutes the snake lay dead on the ground.

The bird, at once relieved, flew hastily to her nest, showing no signs
of mental aberration, or any other effect of the strain she had been
under. The snake was what the man called a "bull snake," and so closely
resembled the rattler in color and markings that, although its
exterminator had killed many of the more famous reptiles, he could not
tell, until it was stretched out in death, which of the two it was. This
tragedy sp