33 



happen to be out at that time. If the antheap 

 happens to be on the side of a hill the snake is 

 almost certain to retreat downhill after breaking 

 cover. The earth from the anthill should be thrown 

 on the lower side so as to form a kind of barricade. 



It is seldom that a snake will show itself until 

 the last hole of the anthill has been dug out (and 

 thereby thoroughly explodes the theory of the 

 vicious disposition of serpents). Care should be 

 taken that all the holes of the antheap are either 

 watched or blocked up ; sometimes there is a long 

 underground passage terminating in an exit in 

 some adjoining jungle, and the cobra escapes by 

 this exit, which has probably not been detected by 

 the watchers. 



Cobras are very clever in escaping detection, 

 and as you dig out the different portions of the 

 antheap the snake will escape unperceived by a 

 passage into a different portion, and will probably 

 be eventually discovered coiled up at the extreme 

 end of the last hole. It is nearly always necessary 

 to dig out practically the whole antheap before the 

 snake is seen, and very often the entrance of the 

 occupied hole gets stopped up by earth from the 

 rest of the antheap, and one goes away in disgust, 

 under the impression that the entire antheap has 

 been dug out, and that it was unoccupied at the 

 time of digging. 



After everyone has gone, and when night is 

 falling, the cobra burrows its way out of the hole 

 (probably laughs, if a snake is capable of such an 

 action) and betakes itself to a safer habitation. 



A cobra seldom breaks cover at once. It 

 usually puts its head out of the hole and then 

 withdraws it. When it makes a dash for liberty it 

 will be somewhat delayed by the barrier of earth 

 (formed from the portion of the anthill that has 

 been broken up). 



