"The sharp teeth not only make a wound, but at the same time they leave some of the poison in the wound, and that soon kills the victim, or makes it insensible, so that the snake may gorge it at its leisure. "Now I want you to look at the snake in the picture once more. Notice the long forked tongue. If you could see the animal alive, its tongue is never still. It is always on the move. It is the snake"s feeler. "It is a curious thing that some people have thought this restless tongue to be poisonous. This isnot true; the tongue is quite harmless. The poison comes only from the bite of the fangs.""I am very glad," said Norah, "that there are so few poisonous snakes in the world.""Ah," said Will, "but you are not quite right, Norah. We have a number of poisonous snakes in this country, chief among them are the moccasin, copperhead, and rattlesnake. The moccasin and copperhead are much more dangerous than the rattlesnake, for they strike whom they meet without warning, while the whiz of the rattlesnake tells he is waiting.
