SNAKES AND BLOODSUCKERS 



whole lithe body was washed over with a wonderful metallic lustre. 

 Especially after moulting this snake was really astonishingly beautiful. 

 He was very clean ; his droppings were white and dry, and seemed to 

 consist entirely of lime from the bones of his victims. 



It was not easy to find suitable prey for the boa, and we had to 

 invent various traps for rats and mice before he could be fed. Then 

 all went well, and the boa was frequently given three mice in rapid 

 succession. I had no trouble in getting him to eat. He took his meals 

 in the dark ; for the boa is a nocturnal reptile. 



If I dropped a mouse into the snake's cage, the following drama 

 was played: The prisoner scampered uneasily to and fro, scarcely 

 noticing its dangerous companion, and finally sat in a corner and 

 cleaned itself. Now the snake slowly and silently crept closer; his 

 cat-like eyes sparkled, and his tongue darted out as though feeling 

 its way. With a jerk the head assumed the proper position of attack. 

 Now the mouse became aware of its peril ; it ceased to move, sitting 

 rigid and silent, not because it was "fascinated" by the snake's eyes, 

 but because instinct told it that immobility might save it, since the 

 reptile does not recognize a motionless quarry. So for some time the 

 two creatures faced one another, the mouse in the corner, the snake 

 in front of it, his neck retracted like a spiral spring. 



At last the mouse grew tired of the comedy; thinking that the 

 danger was over, it tried to escape ; but at its first barely perceptible 

 movement the snake lunged forward in a flash; the mouse was 

 seized and snatched back, and in a moment the snake had noisily 

 thrown two or three coils round it. One saw these coils contract 

 twice or thrice ; the black eyes of the mouse protruded, the whiskers 

 quivered once or twice, and the victim was motionless : stifled in 

 a few seconds, before it realized what was happening. 



Now the narrow head of the snake, which had quite disappeared, 

 emerged again, and wandered over his coils, seeking the victim's 

 head. The boa uncoiled himself, and touched the mouse here and 

 there with his tongue; an action which may have given rise to the 

 legend that snakes beslaver their prey. It looked as though the boa 

 was delighting in his booty ; he rubbed his nose on the soft fur, and 

 smoothed it all over, constantly touching it with his tongue, and even 

 passed his open mouth a few times over the body. He seemed to 

 derive a peculiar pleasure from touching the rosy little mouth of 

 the mouse. 



Now he pressed the still somewhat distorted body of the mouse 

 straight, opened his jaws wide, and pushed them over the mouse's 



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