6o 



The sense of The eyesight of the python is extremely bad 



s^eH ^" i^ the daytime, and, Hke other nocturnal snakes, it 

 possessed by finds its prey (if fed during the day) by its sense of 

 smell, and by touching with its tongue the ground 

 over which its food has passed. So greatly is a 

 snake dependent upon its sense of touch, that if 

 anyone sees a snake stalking its prey in the jungle 

 they will notice that the serpent will not go straight 

 for the frog or rat, but will follow the track along 

 which the latter has passed, touching the ground 

 every now and then with its flickering tongue, 

 which transfers to the nostrils the smell of the rat. 

 Therefore, when feeding even a tame python, great 

 care has to be exercised lest the snake should seize 

 your hand in mistake for a rat, especially if your 

 hand has just been in contact with the latter. 



When a snake has once seized anything in its 

 mouth the action of swallowing is almost purely 

 mechanical, and the serpent is scarcely aware of 

 what it is swallowing, its palate being almost 

 devoid of any sense of taste or feeling. 



A curious incident occurred when I was feeding 

 one of my pythons, which bears out this theory. 



I had flung a dead rat into the cage, and was 



moving it about with a bamboo stick, which I 



afterwards placed near the snake's head. The 



latter saw something dimly moving and smelt the 



rat, so it straightway seized and coiled round the 



bamboo, which it eventually proceeded to swallow. 



After it had got about two feet of the stick down 



its throat it discovered its mistake and disgorged it. 



When looking over a copy of Country Side I 



came across the photograph of a rug that had been 



accidentally swallowed by a python and disgorged. 



The rug was rolled up, with the fur inside, and 



Accidental comprcssed into the shape of a sausage. 



Cannibalism Several years ago, in the Zoological Gardens 



aVJthon.^^ °^ in London, a python accidentally swallowed another 



