" CHEEP CHEEP"


   Went to lunch one fine day at my friend Julies cortijo. We were all
   seated outside around a laden table and were about to eat, when
   the lady opposite said to me "Hope you don't mind snakes, but there
   is one dangling from the roof just above your head ! "

   I was sitting with my back to the wall. I turned and looked up. Sure
   enough a snake was dangling from the eves with it's head under the
   tiles. " Oh " l said and moved away to the other side of the table, not
  wanting it to land on my head.!

   We sat back and watched. It was not a ladder snake. It had diamond
   patterns down it's body. Oh a Viperine we thought. But l must admit
   l have never seen one away from water. Julies house stands quite high
   and away from the river bed.

   We coulld hear little nestling sparrows saying " cheep cheep" All at once a
   nestling shrieked, then all was quite. Next we heard another scream .
  A deathly silence followed for sometime. The parents arrived. They protested
   and hopped about. The snake came out. The parents bombarded it. The
   snake left across the roof.

   The parents never entered that nest again. Strangely enough Julie has had
   a few chicken fatalities in the past. On one  autopsy a bird was found
   with two puncture marks on its body. Snake bite had been thought at
   the time.!