xin. SNAKES. 193 



timid and fearful, but their fear did not seem to be 

 particularized. The pigeons perched on the gliding 

 reptiles and seemed surprised at this world's instability. 

 One little rabbit kept on nibbling at the skin of a sleepy 

 old python, making it twitch. As for the snakes, the way 

 in which they silently glided towards their prey was 

 cruel and relentless as fate. There was no hurry. They 

 always had a bend of the lithe muscular body to spare for 

 the final snap. The nose was brought close up to a pigeon, 

 and the mouth began slowly to open. Perhaps the pigeon 

 hopped away; no matter there was no need for hurry. 

 The victim might escape for a moment, but fate is relent- 

 less and inevitable. Again the nose is almost touching the 

 poor bird, the mouth again opens. Snap ! The pigeon is 

 in those cruel jaws, the python's head is rapidly thrown 

 back, and a coil of the supple muscular body is thrown 

 round the panting creature, the life of which is crushed 

 out of it. Again there is no hurry. The pigeon has been 

 dead some minutes, but the snake does not move. 

 Then the mouth opens and the teeth are disengaged from 

 the prey. The snake yawns half-a-dozen times and waits 

 for a quarter of an hour ; he is not pressed for time. Then, 

 beginning at the head, he slowly creeps outside his prey. 



What a gape the creature has ! The skull of a cobra lies 

 before me. From the tip of the snout to the back of the 

 skull the length is an inch and a quarter ; but from the 

 tip of the snout to where the lower jaw is hinged the 

 length is more than an inch and three-quarters. The brain- 

 case is an ivory casket of great solidity ; but the jaw- 

 bones are loosely connected, and during life are capable of 

 a good deal of motion. The two side-pieces of the lower 

 jaw are, in the snake, only united in front by elastic tissue. 

 Behind, they do not hinge on the brain-case itself, but on 

 lung supporting bones which jut out at the back of the 



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