Note 1649 — BOOK VIII. THE NATURE OF THE TERRESTRIAL ANIMALS.

This account is entirely without foundation. The same statement is made by Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. ii. c. 21, who probably copied it from Metrodorus. There are stories of the power which serpents possess of fascinating birds by the eye, but they are not improbably without foundation.—B. There is little doubt, however, that some serpents have the power, by some means or other, of fascinating the birds which they make their prey.