LE2 THE SNAKES OF SOUTH AFRICA. 
the variety of questions asked me, and listening to some wonderful 
snake stories which I was assured were perfectly true. 
Just when an old lady was in the middle of a thrilling tale 
about a dreadfully venomous snake darting at her with open 
mouth and long forked tongue, I was startled to observe her face 
take a dismal hue. Her eyes were fixed in a glassy stare, and 
her jaw hung limp. Starting from my seat, I prepared to 
advance to her aid, when with a scream she lurched back- 
wards. I glanced hastily around, and was about to summon 
the other ladies to come and help, when my words were checked 
by observing them rush with gestures of terror out of the 
room. 
Just then my aunt threw light upon the bewildering affair by 
ordering me to leave the room instantly, and take away my 
loathsome snakes. Then it all came like a flood of light into my 
mind. It seems as I was listening intently to the old lady talking, 
that Egg-eater, which I had forgotten all about, suddenly popped 
his head and a few inches of his body out into the full glare of 
light, from under the neck portion of my coat. That explained 
the whole mystery. 
I retired again to my studies abashed. 
EGG-EATERS ARE CRAFTY SNAKES. 
The Egg-eater is not altogether a fool. Youcannot trick him 
about things which his ancestors for untold generations have 
learned from experience and transmitted to him in the form of 
a remarkably acute sense of smell, which is very necessary for 
him in his profession of an egg-eater. Being short of fresh 
pigeons’ eggs once, I went to my cabinet and took the clean 
blown shells of a few doves’ eggs. Beating up the contents of 
a fresh fowl’s egg, I syringed it into the empty shells, and care- 
fully pasted tiny bits of tissue paper over the holes. Placing 
these in the Egg-eaters’ cage, I watched, expecting the snakes 
to swallow them as they always did the other eggs. First one 
Egg-eater advanced. Touching each egg gently in turn, with 
the tip of his nose or the point of his forked tongue, he crawled 
away in disgust. Another and yet another eagerly advanced, 
repeating the performance and duly retired. I began to get 
