Frazer. "I have seen
the garter-snake open her mouth and let the little ones run into it when
danger was nigh. The snake also lays eggs: I have been and handled them
often. They are not covered with a hard, brittle shell, like that of a
hen, but with a sort of whitish skin, like leather: they are about the
size of a blackbird's egg, long in shape; some are rounder and larger.
They are laid in some warm place, where the heat of the sun and earth
hatches them. But though the mother does not brood over them, as a hen
does over her eggs, she seems to take great care of her little ones, and
defends them from their many enemies by hiding them out of sight in the
singular manner I have just told you. This love of offspring, my dear
child, has been wisely given to all mothers, from the human mother down to
the very lowest of the insect tribe. The fiercest beast of prey loves its
young, and provides food and shelter for them; forgetting its savage
nature to play with and caress them. Even the spider, which is a
disagreeable insect, fierce and unloving to its fellows, displays the
tenderest care for its brood, providing a safe retreat for them in the
fine silken cradle she spins to envelop the eggs, which she leaves in some
warm spot, where she secures them from danger: some glue a leaf down, and
overlap it, to insure it from being agitated by the winds, or discovered
by birds.
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