his spring note but little changed
amid the trees?' Doubtless it is, but I must see him in the very act. So
I watched and waited, but to no purpose, till one day, while bee-hunting
in the woods, I heard the sound proceeding from the leaves at my feet.
Keeping entirely quiet, the little musician presently emerged, and
lifting himself up on a small stick, his throat palpitated, and the
plaintive note again came forth. 'The queerest frog that ever I saw,'
said a youth who accompanied me and whom I had enlisted to help solve
the mystery. No, it was no frog or toad at all, but the small red
salamander commonly called lizard."[64]

[64] Gibson, _Sharp Eyes_, pp. 105, 106; quotation.

The sound of the piccolo is very pleasing to these little creatures, and
I have frequently collected about me as many as ten or a dozen by
sounding this instrument in the still depths of a wood which I knew
these salamanders frequented.

Certain snakes are very susceptible to the charm of harmonious tonal
vibration; witness the performance of the Hindu snake charmer, who,
while handling that deadly poisonous creature, the cobra-de-capello,
plays continuously on flageolets, fifes, or other musical
instruments.[65] I, myself, have often held tree lizards completely
entranced until grasped in my hand, by whistling shrilly and
continuously.

[65] It has been claimed by some that the cobra is not influenced by
the music, but by movements of the Hindu performer, who dances,
salaams, etc., continually while giving exhibitions. Very recently,
however, Momsen has proven the contrary by actual experiment.

I remember, on one occasion, when I was quite young, that a large black
snake crawled through a ventilating hole in the wall of the "quarters"
or row of brick cottages occupied by the negroes, and took shelter
beneath the floor. It was seen by myself and some of my dusky playmates,
who immediately carried the tidings to the negro gardener. He called one
of the hands from the field, and, after placing him with a loaded
shotgun at one side of the hole in the wall, took his station just
behind him and commenced to play on his fiddle. In a few moments the
snake came out, and was killed by the discharge of the gun in the hands
of the other negro. I have been informed, time and again, by negroes
that they could charm snakes from their holes with music, but the
instance related above is the only one of the snake being led to its
death by the bew