OPHIDIAN TASTE FOR BIRDS' EGGS. 6i 



this case, also, the snake had swallowed more than it could 

 conveniently manage, but either alarm, capture, or greediness 

 so impaired its digestion that all the eggs were ejected entire ! 



A similar incident was recorded in the Field newspaper, 

 in May 1867, the editor introducing the narrator as one of 

 undoubted intelligence and veracity. 



His gardener informed him that a cobra had attacked a 

 guinea-fowl's nest in the compound. He took his gun and 

 repaired immediately to the spot, where he saw the cobra 

 making off, followed by a host of screaming fowls. The 

 gentleman shot the culprit through the head, and then 

 observed a tumour-like swelling, as of an ^^^ recently 

 swallowed. The gardener cut the reptile open, and took 

 out the Q^g^ safe and sound. The gentleman marked the 

 <^gg> and set it with fourteen others under a guinea-fowl. 

 In due time the young chick was hatched ; and this he also 

 marked, in order to observe whether it would grow up a 

 healthy bird, which it did. 



Several other well-authenticated instances of this nature 

 micfht be related : but those who have friends or relatives 

 in India are no doubt sufficiently familiar with such stories 

 to dispense with them here. 



Aware of a cobra's penchant for eggs, the snake-catchers, 

 or those who pack them for transportation to Europe, 

 sometimes place a supply in the cages, as convenient food 

 for the snakes during the voyage. The keeper of the 

 Ophidarium ^ at the London Zoological Gardens frequently 



^ I have ventured lo coin this word for the cages and buildings likely to 

 be required in parks and gardens for pet snakes, so notably growing in 

 popularity. 



