SO.Mi: oltSKUVA'I'lo.NS ( ).\ 'llli: l-V'llln.\S. 



W. IIk.nkv SiiKAK. !'liil;i<l<'li)Iiia. 



Most of my study li;is Ixmmi -^Iwu m l.irds and niMiimiiils. !iut I liavo had 

 some exceptional oiipoiiunilics [n (.hscivc llic tiiciil scriiciits. especially the 

 pythons. T spent live years willi llii" New V. ik /nr.Io-ical Company, hotter 

 known as tlie t:d\vards Animal Show, as naluraiist an 1 lertuvor. We always 

 had a ninnliei- of these monster rei>tiles in our collect i« n. and sometimes as 

 many as sixteen. uon(> of thom less than twelvi' feet in lenjith. and some of 

 them more than thirty. The followiim note-^ weiv made during? those 



The ahilit.v of snakes to perform feats (d' swallowing- is astounding. I 

 once knew a small hon, prohahl.N the .\<)un,u of Hoa i-mist rifhir scarcely four 

 feet in leuiith. and with ii head no laruMT than a nnins thnmh. to swallow a 

 full-j,M-own j.ip'on. We imt the pi-eon in the caiic at ni-ht. thinkini: that 

 an Indian python {I'i/IIhhi mohini.s \ . seven or ei.iiht feet ion-, would take it. 

 hut a great swollin,si in the body i,f ihe little iioa next mornini; showed what 

 had become of the hird. As no snake chews or rends his prey, we knew 

 that it passed his IkvkI and throat entire. The eidar.ucment did not dis- 

 appear for a week. 



"Loug Tom", a giant Ueticulnted python {I'tjlluiii rcticiilittiix) . fed on a 

 pig weighing forly-Hve pounds. We wanted to get some photograph.s of the 

 monster rei)tile taking laige pre.\. so the piu was put in the den alive; but 

 as his prey had heen killed f<ir him in captivity, the snake got frightened 

 when the pig began to move about and squeal, and backed away. When 

 the pig was killeil and he -melled the warm blood, lu' took the animal 

 at once and in tweuty-lixt' nunutes it had disappeai-ed. The pig is. however, 

 an easy object to swallow, comjiared to a dense pelage of fur or feathers. 



For two or three days the stomach was enlarged to almost the size of 

 a beer keg. hut on the third day the swelling be.gan to diminish, and by the 

 end of the fifth the body had returned to its normal diameter. Contrary to 

 common belief, these big snakes will generally so(m learn to take their prey 

 after it has been killed. We usually fed them chickens or rabbits, killed, 

 l>ut still warm. We have, however, fed them with cold-storage rabbits 

 that were killed in Australia. :\Iiss Crace Clark. ;i young woman with 

 much experience with l)ig snakes in shows, tells me that she once had a 

 snake that would take a chicken after it was dressed and cut into pieces, 

 receiving the pieces one at a time. One evening we wanted to feed a very 

 larso pigeon to a small Indian python. In order to .save him the trouble of 

 working over the shoulders, we cut otf the wings. After gorging the bird, 

 we otTered him the wings, which he took and swallowed. 



The inthon which swallowed the pig was received from Carl Hagenbeck 

 of Hamburg. fJermany. in July. 11)07. ^Ir. Ila.irenbeck had a photograph of 

 the r(>ptilo in the act of swallowiivir an Indian antelope (Antelope cervi- 

 i(il>ni) weighing ov<"r ninety jMnuids. lie had another Tieticulated python 

 which swallowed a innet.\-seven |)oun<l ibex. .V iiython in the Cinciiuiati 

 Zo<".logical Gardens swallowfil a goat wei,ghing f<u'ty-two ponmls. All of the 

 goat that passed intact were the horu<. the hootV. and a piece of sash rope 

 four feet long that had been attaclu'd to his neck. 



