书城教材教辅科学读本(英文原版)(套装1-6册)
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第248章 第三册(73)

"Like all other snakes, they swallow their prey whole, their scaly skin stretching till it almostbursts with the meal. They then creep away to some quiet spot and sleep till the pangs of hunger awaken them, and send them out to look for another victim.""We have some non-poisonous snakes in this country," said Will, "but they are small and quite harmless. Here is a picture of a common snake. Black snakes are non-poisonous, and, it may amuse you to know, they are the greatest enemies of the rattlesnake, with whom it is said they wage fierce battles. Then we have milk snakes, bull snakes, the common garden snake, which likes to sun itself under rose bushes and catch the insects attracted by the foliage. The black snake seeks high dry hills, and curls itself upon boulders warmed by the summer sun. Most of the non-poisonous snakes seek the lower lands, however, and not uncommonly make their home in damp woods and in banks by the sides of ponds, where their favourite food, the frog, is to be found."SUMMARY

The non-poisonous snakes have no poison fangs; many spring at their victim, wind their long bodies round it, and crush it to death. Some of them are huge serpents, ?fty and sixty feet long.