serpent-eater of the Cape, the kite, laughing falcon, and buzzard, are their implacable enemies; while man wages incessant war against them wherever he and they come in contact.”
Though the number of poisonous Serpents does not amount to more than one-fifth of the whole, the malignity of those causes the whole to be looked on with aversion; and as the means of discrimination between the harmless and the noxious are scarcely known to any but naturalists, it is considered safe to wage a war of extermination against the whole Order; and a Snake is therefore commonly killed, as a sort of duty, wherever it can be met with. Yet it has been shown that not only are the majority of species harmless, but some (probably most) are capable of being domesticated, and are susceptible of personal affection. Professor Bell observes of our British species, that “it is easily tamed, and may be made to distinguish those who caress and feed it. I had one many years since, which knew me from all other persons; and, when let out of his box, would immediately come to me, and crawl under the sleeve of my coat, where he was fond of lying perfectly still, and enjoying the warmth. He was accustomed to come to my hand for a draught of milk every morning at breakfast, which he always did of his own accord; but he would fly from strangers, and hiss if they meddled with him.” In the Dictionnaire d’Histoire Naturelle, there is related an instance of a Snake which had been so completely tamed by a lady, as to come to her whenever she called it, to follow her in her walks, writhe itself round her arms, and sleep in her bosom. One day, when she
