THE SNAKES OF BANGKOK. 9 
Family Borba. 
4, Python reticulatus. The Reticulated Python. 
A 
Siamese. JYYOIN or QUWGAN (ngu lam or ngu leuam), the 
rT y 
former name commonly used in Bangkok, the latter outside, but con- 
siderable difference of opinion prevails, and the Siamese will always 
affirm that they are different species. I have seen many specimens 
but have so far been unable to confirm this. 
ft is not uncommon in Bangkok, frequenting chiefly the 
gardens in the neighbourhood of habitations, the outhouses of which it 
often enters in search of food. The ease with which it can procure a 
meal near human dwellings no doubt attracts it there, but it is certain- 
ly remarkable that a snake which attains such large dimensions, which 
has such conspicuous markings and which on account of its sluggish 
disposition is so easily killed, should be able to survive in the very midst 
of a thickly populated town. Their nocturnal habits and the fact that 
they are very prolific no’doubt account for this. 
During the day they usually seek some elevated position, often 
lying in the most exposed situation and making little effort to conceal 
themselves. They are good climbers and can ascend the trunks of 
trees with great ease, even when there is no assistance to be obtainecl 
from branches. This they do by throwing the middle of the body into 
two or more loops which partly encircle the stem, and by holding on in 
this way they are then free to push up the fore part of the body. and 
take a similar purchase at a higher level. They are seldom found far 
from water and take to it readily to avoid capture. 
Food. Small mammals and birds which they kill by con- 
striction. Young pythons appear to consume chiefly rats, probabl\ 
because they are more plentiful than other forms of food. Whether ov 
no larger ones eat cats for the same reason | cannot say, but the num- 
ber of times I have known them taken is quite out of proportion to 
other creatures such as fowls, ducks or dogs. In captivity my ow 
feed largely upon rats and the way in which a coil of the body is 
thrown over the head of the animal so as to press the muzzle 
tightly into the chest, is very clever. This serves a double 
purpose. It aids suffocation and at the same time prevents the rat 
from biting its captor, but whether both are intentional Tam unable 
