Far Away And Long Ago A History Of My Early Life By W. H. Hudson








































































 -  For although it may be news to some closet
ophiologists, serpents are not all so mute as we think them - Page 223
Far Away And Long Ago A History Of My Early Life By W. H. Hudson - Page 223 of 355 - First - Home

Enter page number    Previous Next

Number of Words to Display Per Page: 250 500 1000

For Although It May Be News To Some Closet Ophiologists, Serpents Are Not All So Mute As We Think Them.

At all events this kind, the _Philodryas aestivus_ - a beautiful and harmless colubrine snake, two and a half to

Three feet long, marked all over with inky black on a vivid green ground - not only emitted a sound when lying undisturbed in his den, but several individuals would hold a conversation together which seemed endless, for I generally fell asleep before it finished. A hissing conversation it is true, but not unmodulated or without considerable variety in it; a long sibilation would be followed by distinctly-heard ticking sounds, as of a husky-ticking clock, and after ten or twenty or thirty ticks another hiss, like a long expiring sigh, sometimes with a tremble in it as of a dry leaf swiftly vibrating in the wind. No sooner would one cease than another would begin; and so it would go on, demand and response, strophe and antistrope; and at intervals several voices would unite in a kind of low mysterious chorus, death-watch and flutter and hiss; while I, lying awake in my bed, listened and trembled. It was dark in the room, and to my excited imagination the serpents were no longer under the floor, but out, gliding hither and thither over it, with uplifted heads in a kind of mystic dance; and I often shivered to think what my bare feet might touch if I were to thrust a leg out and let it hang down over the bedside.

Enter page number   Previous Next
Page 223 of 355
Words from 61866 to 62126 of 98444


Previous 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 Next

More links: First 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
 110 120 130 140 150 160 170 180 190 200
 210 220 230 240 250 260 270 280 290 300
 310 320 330 340 350 Last

Display Words Per Page: 250 500 1000

 
Africa (29)
Asia (27)
Europe (59)
North America (58)
Oceania (24)
South America (8)
 

List of Travel Books RSS Feeds

Africa Travel Books RSS Feed

Asia Travel Books RSS Feed

Europe Travel Books RSS Feed

North America Travel Books RSS Feed

Oceania Travel Books RSS Feed

South America Travel Books RSS Feed

Copyright © 2005 - 2022 Travel Books Online