6i 



python nearly as large as itself. I say '' acciden- 

 tally," as pythons are not given to cannibalism. 

 The keeper placed two pigeons in the snakes' cage, 

 and both pythons seized the same pigeon and 

 started swallowing. The smaller of the two 

 pythons refused to let go his hold on the bird, so 

 his head was swallowed by the other snake. Still 

 feeling something in his mouth, the larger reptile 

 continued to swallow, and the keeper entering the 

 Reptile House shortly afterwards found only one 

 python, and that one very much distended. The 

 meal was digested within a month. 



In handling the python care must be taken to Handling the 

 see that after seizing the reptile behind the head it ^y^^°"- 

 does not get its coils round its own neck and 

 underneath your hand, as by doing so it can exert 

 sufficient leverage, by an upward pressure, to draw 

 its head down into the centre of its coils. If it 

 should do this, and you do not leave go, you may 

 (if the snake is a large one) get your hand crushed 

 or otherwise injured, as by using its coils as a 

 fulcrum, and your arm as a lever, it can exert a 

 tremendous pull. 



This trick of leverage is well known to the 

 snake, and it will often attempt it when held by 

 the neck. 



Should a python wind round you, never 

 attempt to pull its coils apart, it is almost impos- 

 sible (even with a young one). The snake should 

 be unwound by the tail, which is quite an easy 

 matter as far as strength is concerned. A python's 

 strength lies in an ingenious way of applying its 

 coils, and although strong enough to crush a goat, 

 can be managed, to a certain extent, by quite a 

 small child if he knows the secret of the snake's 

 strength and how to counteract it. 



The python gets its leverage for applying Catching the 

 power from its tail. To capture a python it is ^y^^°"- 



