174 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XVI. 



which could not be mistaken in the deep soil, the latter followed it across the 

 field to an old Umra tree, near my tent, where he discovered the snake lying, 

 coiled up, amongst the roots. On hearing him call out " Samp " I rushed out 

 with a gun and killed the reptile. On drawing it out and measuring it, it 

 turned out to be a Daboia no less than 5'-4|" in length. 



I have killed a good many of these snakes at different times, but this one was 

 by far the largest I have ever come across. 



On examining the mango tree under which my man had been sleeping I dis- 

 covered a hole in it at the very base of the trunk, for which the snake had 

 evidently been making when its path was blocked, for a few days later the 

 same man saw another snake — probably the mate — peeping out of the same 

 hole. Unfortunately I arrived too late to despatch it, too. 



In the Dantra district the Daboia is known as the " Kh?:d chitra " — " Khad " 

 being the G-uzerati for grass and " chitra " may stand (?) for " cheetah, " the 

 ordinary term (with " dipdo " — " the spotted one ") in these parts for the pan- 

 ther, but of this I am not quite sure. In the Konkani districts of Savant Vidi, 

 where a large number of deaths are annually put down to the bite of this 

 snake, it is known as the " Gharias." I find the same name is applied here in 

 Kashmir to a snake which the natives tell me is very venomous. This cannot, 

 I think, also be the Daboia of India, but so far I have not seen a specimen 

 although the snake is said to be fairly common. 



L. L. FENTON, Lieut.-Colonel, I.A. 



Kashmir, September 1904. 



The specimen above recorded by Colonel Fenton was undoubtedly a very 

 large one, but in this Journal, Vol. VIII (page 565), Mr. F. G-. Brook-Fox 

 stated that he had killed two which measured 5'-6" each. The largest 

 specimen in our collection was obtained by Mr. J. C. Anderson, at Hurda, C. P. 

 and measured 5'-2". 



According to the standard authority, Fauna of British India Reptiles, by G. A 

 Boulenger, the Daboia (Vipera russellii) is found in Kashmir up to 6,000 feet. 



EDITOR. 



No. XXII— A COBRA FEEDING ON EGGS. 



A cobra attacked, at 10 a.m. the other day, the nest of a Guinea-fowl sitting 

 in my compound, and as none of the servants would kill it my wife sent for me. 

 I arrived about 40 minutes afterwards, and found the cobra coiled up within 24 

 inches of the nest and the Guinea-fowl still sitting. I shot the cobra and press- 

 ed two eggs out of the dead body, one of these eggs hatching. The curious 

 thing was that the Guinea-fowl wasstil! sitting on her nest within a couple 

 of feet of the cobra after it had taken two eggs and that one of the eggs 

 should have hatched after having been inside the snake for from 30 to 40 

 minutes. 



C. P. GEORGE, 



Secundekabad, \Wi September 1904. 



