238 TROPIC DAYS 



to a snake, and it being calculated that the meal would 

 suffice for several days, no particular zeal was displayed 

 in tracing out the thief. Experience has taught that 

 snakes do not wander very far when good and nutritious 

 food is to be obtained by intrusion on the cosy quarters 

 of a pet hen. Three days were permitted to pass, and 

 then in the nest a rat trap was placed baited with two 

 eggs, the door being secured with wire. The bait 

 proved to be irresistible and the trap effective. In 

 the morning the trap was crowded with snake, which 

 had thrust its head between the wires, swallowed the 

 eggs, and was a prisoner until they were dissolved by 

 the processes of digestion or the door was unbolted. 

 The natural process was not complete when the dis- 

 covery was made, but the snake had managed to 

 make itself as comfortable as possible in its temporary 

 habitation. The trap seemed almost suffocatingly full, 

 and when the occupant thrust its head and more than 

 half its length between the bars, only to be checked 

 by the hard-hearted eggs, it was thought that possibly, 

 in its confusion, the snake might entangle itself; but 

 invariably it retired into the trap without putting 

 itself into any false position. It was killed, the execu- 

 tioner justly reflecting that a snake has mental limita- 

 tions. Nothing could induce it to tie itself into a knot, 

 and yet, wilfully and with its eyes open, it had entered a 

 trap from which there was no possibility of escape 

 until in the course of nature it had digested the bait. 



Is it generally known that a snake does everything 

 with its eyes open that it is denied the privilege of 

 closing its eyes ? Such is the indisputable fact. But 

 without presuming to trespass on the preserves of men 

 of science, the belief may be expressed that some species, 

 if not in possession of a movable eyelid, have some 

 means of suspending the faculty of sight. Indeed, 



