Philip
In a more objective frame of mind, I concede you
probably weren't taking a cheap shot at me.
Actually, what I meant
was that some birds may decorate their nests with snakeskin in order to deter
avian nest predators. Somewhere in my memory I thought I'd read of a southern
Australian species doing this. In 1995, I poured over a collection of birds'
nests on public display in a Chicago museum. One nest was liberally festooned
with snakeskin. It was one of the smaller North American birds but can't recall
the exact species.
John K. Layton
