THE SNAKES 269 



is best not to awake their cannibalistic temperament by 

 placing snakes of other species in their cage; they feed 

 readily enough upon small rodents. At feeding time 

 it is well to watch them, preventing an entanglement 

 that might accidentally crush the weaker members. 



Surprising indeed is the amount of pugnacity dis- 

 played by even a small King Snake toward serpents of 

 other species. The writer was once assisting a half- 

 grown specimen to shed its skin. Relieving the King 

 Snake of the old epidermis, he turned to show this to 

 some friends. The snake meanwhile glided along the 

 tier of cages and quite accidentally worked its way 

 through the ventilating apparatus into the cage of a 

 water moccasin fully four times the thickness of the 

 wanderer ; incidentally, the mocassin was a deadly snake. 

 A thrashing of bodies in the moccasin's cage attracted 

 the writer's attention. He discovered the King Snake 

 to have seized the moccasin in its miniature, bull-dog hold 

 and coiled its body three times about the bulky adver- 

 sary. Twice the moccasin turned, burying the fangs in 

 the body of its relentless combatant. The attack pro- 

 voked never a flinch, but several more wraps of the glit- 

 tering yellow and black body. Embraced in the merci- 

 lessly squeezing spiral, the moccasin turned again, biting 

 savagely. The light, scintillating along the King 

 Snake's folds, showed it to have tightened its hold. In 

 desperation the moccasin sought to wound once more 

 with its fangs. Its strength was fast failing. The 

 head wavered from side to side. It opened its mouth 

 in a helpless gasp for air. Two or three minutes more 

 and it would have been dead. As it was an exceptionally 

 fine specimen, the writer decided to save its life. Press- 

 ing a stick across the head of the poisonous snake, he 

 grasped it by the neck. An assistant, with difficulty, un- 



