EGG-EATERS ARE CRAFTY SNAKES. 113 
interested. Leaving the eggs, I returned ina few hours’ time to 
find them still there. For two whole weeks these eggs remained 
in the cage untouched, although I refrained from giving the 
snakes any others. Then, procuring some fresh pigeons’ eggs 
I put them into the cage. The snakes approached, touched 
them with their noses or tongue and instantly began to swallow 
them. I tried this experiment a second time with the same 
result. Frequently I have noticed that the snakes would eat 
some of the eggs given them, but reject the others. On breaking 
the latter open I always found them either addled, or with a 
more or less developed young bird inside. I could never induce 
an Egg-eater to swallow an egg, other than a fresh one. 
The Egg-eater is an expert climber, and his sense of smell 
being acute he is able to discover birds’ nests with the greatest 
facility. It seems that he possesses a peculiar kind of smell- 
sense which enables him to detect the proximity of eggs. The 
odour given out by eggs evidently has an affinity for his sensitive 
nerves of smell. If an old, empty bird’s nest be placed in the 
cage of an Egg-eater he takes no notice of it, unless perhaps 
occasionally for the purpose of utilizing it as a cosy bed. How- 
ever, if fresh eggs be placed within it, he instantly detects their 
presence, although hidden from sight. 
If the Egg-eater had to depend entirely upon his senses of 
sight and hearing, he would procure but a lean living, for birds’ 
nests, as a general rule, are effectually concealed from view. 
Having a toothless mouth and a special set of egg-sawing 
tools in his gullet, this snake is able to subsist mainly, if 
not entirely, on birds’ eggs. It is probable, however, he will 
swallow the young of birds, as well as various soft-bodied creatures, 
such as lizards, worms, and various /avve. But I have not ascer- 
tained for certain if he eats the living young of birds, for, some- 
how, I could never harden myself sufficiently to rob innocent 
parent birds of their young, and allow these little creatures to 
be swallowed or otherwise perish miserably, for, having studied 
their ways and habits in their native homes, I have grown to 
love birds. 
Most Egg-eaters are light brown, spotted and lined with black, 
and are, in consequence, frequently mistaken for Night Adders 
(Causus rhombeatus). In Natal and along the East Coast, the 
colour is invariably a uniform pale reddish, or olive-brown above, 
I 
