nning along each side, and a second row of smaller
spots of golden yellow, alternated with larger ones. The lower portion
of the body is silvery white, checkered with black.

THE THUNDER SNAKE.

No fiercer-looking member of the snake family exists in North America--
with its mottled head, and black and white body, four feet at least in
length--than the quarrelsome thunder snake. From the chain-like
markings on its body, it is sometimes called the chain snake; and by
others the king snake, on account of its tyrannical disposition.

Though fangless, it is fierce and bold, and has been known to attack,
kill, and eat a rattlesnake; indeed, it will assault any member of its
family, if not of its own species, even though but little smaller than
itself. It feeds on small quadrupeds, birds, and reptiles; and few
human beings who see it moving amid the shady places it inhabits, would
fail to get out of its way as quickly as possible.

THE CHICKEN SNAKE.

The bright golden brown chicken snake--marked with narrow stripes along
the back, and from four to seven feet in length--in spite of its
beautiful and fangless mouth, is an unwelcome visitor in farmhouses when
it comes as a stranger, for it is apt to carry off fowls from their
roost--as well as their eggs--and will eat up a brood of ducklings
without ceremony.

However, as it is of an amiable disposition, it can easily be tamed; and
then, having learned good manners, it becomes a favourite, and
recompenses its protectors by killing the rats and mice which frequent
their premises.

THE MILK OR HOUSE SNAKE.

The beautiful blue house snake--four feet in length, with rows of spots
on its side--is often mistaken for the corn snake, its habits being very
similar. The lower part of the body is of a silvery white, tesselated
with oblong marks of black. The ignorant fancy that it sucks the milk
from the udders of the cows, and hence its name; though, probably, it
has no objection to a little milk, if it finds it in a pan. Its object,
however, in entering houses and farms, is to search for mice and
insects, on which it in reality feeds, never interfering with the cows
or other animals.

THE BLACK SNAKE.

In many parts of the country, the black snake, on account of its rapid
movements, is called the "racer." Though fangless, it often, in
consequence of the way in which it rustles its tail among the dry
herbage, making a sound similar to that of the rattlesnake, gives no