The New Student's Reference Work/Black Snake

Black Snake, in many localities called blue racer, is common in nearly all parts of the United States. Its length varies from four to six or seven feet, and it moves very rapidly. It feeds on frogs, lizards, mice and eggs, occasionally captures a young chicken, and drinks cream and milk in dairies. It has no poison fangs, but the embrace of its coils is powerful. The name is also applied to poisonous black or blackish serpents of the eastern hemisphere.