SNAKES. 195 
use their coils when attacking their prey ; but I have given reasons 
for thinking that the act of being swallowed alive by a Snake is 
not so painful and terrifying a prozess to the lower animals as is 
generally supposed. Some people, I know, have condemned in 
the strongest terms the feeding of reptiles in confinement upon 
live animals; and yet, perhaps, they will look with complacency 
or unconcern upon a blackbird on their lawns pulling a large 
worm out of its hole in the grass, or at a thrush banging a snail 
upon a stone until the crustacean’s shell is broken to pieces. Of 
course, all unnecessary cruelty should be most sternly censured ; 
and I have often and often wished that Snakes and all other 
animals were vegetarians. But how then could the balance of 
Nature be maintained ? 
The prey should be introduced to the Snake at night, and if not 
eaten by the morning, should then be removed. Animals which 
have been born in captivity ought to be preferred for this purpose, 
as they will spend the night in the Vivarium without experiencing 
any fear, and will not be likely to hurt the Snakes or gnaw holes 
in the cases as wild rats or mice would do. I have had from time 
to time valued Snakes killed by the rats and mice which had been 
placed in the cases with the reptiles. Even a guinea-pig will 
sometimes annoy a large Snake by repeatedly nibbling at various 
parts of its body. A Snake under these circumstances generally 
shows wonderful forbearance. I have seen a small white rat tease 
a savage Boa Constrictor by running up to the Reptile’s nose and 
bite or touch it, and yet the animal bore all this apparent irrita- 
tion very patiently, only gently resenting the rodent’s interference. 
The Boa, however, was by no means too lazy to bite, for he struck 
at me most fiercely with wide open mouth when I attempted to 
remove the rat. : 
Young rats, before their eyes are open, will lie quite comfortably 
*in the Snake’s warm den until they are eaten, or until they are 
removed next day. 
A Boa or a Python may be persuaded, sometimes, to take a 
dead mouse, bird, or rat, by gently swinging the body near its 
mouth, and when the Reptile has fairly commenced to eat, 
other dead animals or even pieces of raw meat may be tied 
to the creature that has been seized, and in this way the Snake 
0 2 
