NATURAL IMMUNITY OF CERTAIN ANIMALS 227 
young snakes for food. No investigations, however, have yet been 
made upon this subject. 
These birds, moreover, are few in number ; hunters pursue them 
for the sake of their brilliantly coloured plumage, and it is to be 
regretted that no attempt is made to prevent their destruction 
or to acclimatise them in countries in which poisonous snakes 
constitute a veritable calamity, such as Martinique, St. Lucia, or 
India. / 
