Abstract
I HAVE just received the following record of an observation made on September 19 by Capt. G. D. H. Carpenter, at Itigi, about 150 miles east of Tabora, on the Central Railway of late German East Africa. Capt. Carpenter's account recalls the behaviour of small birds to a cuckoo or an owl, and suggests that they were “mobbing” an enemy rather than fascinated by it. The observation may supply the clue to the interpretation of all cases of supposed “fascination” by snakes.
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POULTON, E. “Fascination” of Birds by a Snake. Nature 100, 244 (1917). https://doi.org/10.1038/100244a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/100244a0
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