460 JOURNAL, BOMBA Y NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XIX. 



masses which were hard to unravel, the quills having regained 

 their texture after drying. 



In The Field of 21st December 1907, Mr. Thwaites relates 

 having seen a python in Ceylon spring at a hare (Lepus nigricollis) 

 that was racing by. Ferguson in this Journal* reports an 8 

 footer at Quilon that had killed a kid. 



Birds are frequently preyed upon by this snake. Mr. Thwaitesf 

 mentions a peacock in the coils of a python in Ceylon, and 

 Colonel Evans| knew one in Burma eat a pheasant (Gennceus 

 lineatus). One when 1 was in Dibrugarh was killed in the act of 

 swallowing a chicken. Mr. Staunton killed one in Assam that 

 had swallowed three of his ducks, and another made an unwelcome 

 visit to Dr. Elmes' fowl-house, accounting for five ducks, four 

 fowls, and one pigeon ot his stock, all of which had been swallow- 

 ed, giving the snake a beaded appearance. Dr. Elmes shot 

 another which he saw lying in a bhil (lake) and found the follow- 

 ing in its stomach: — two large and two small water rats, and two or 

 three toads. Reptiles sometimes furnish the repast. Mr. Millard 

 in this Journal % records one in our Society's rooms swallowing a 

 monitor lizard (Va/ranus bengalensis), a rat, and two frogs in quick 

 succession. In its native jungles it sometimes comes into conflict 

 with other large snakes, for Mr. Donaghey told me that coming 

 back to camp one day in Burma his coolies produced two snakes 

 which they said they had discovered fighting, and which they killed. 

 These proved to be a Python molurus, and a hamadryad (Naia 

 bungarus). They reported that the python had closed its jaws on 

 the hamadryad and secured it fast. I saw and examined the two 

 skins. The hamadryad measured 10 feet 3^ inches, and the 

 python 7 feet 11 inches. In the former skin at the junction of 

 the middle and the posterior third was a rent 3^ inches long 

 corresponding to the python's grasp. It is impossible of course 

 to surmise which was the aggressor in the fight, but the python 

 though smaller was giving a good account of itself. 



The most curious meal that I have had reported to me was a 

 double handful of earthworms, and a handful of the berry called 



* Vol. X, p. 69, f The Field, L'lst December 1907. 

 X Bom. X. H. Jourl. Vol- XVI. p. 520. <| Vol. XVI, p. 757. 



