INDIAN SNAKES. 157 



hours together, generally with the tail coiled round 

 something. On the approach of the luckless prey, it 

 suddenly darts forward and secures it in its fold in the 

 twinkling of an eye. So quickly is the whole operation 

 performed that the eye can hardly follow it. If the 

 animal seized be a strong and active creature, the snake 

 presses it within its fold, and the muscular power, which 

 it now exerts, is quite apparent from the wave-like motion 

 of the upper part of its body. The snake begins to 

 devour its prey head foremost. It is quite a mistake to 

 suppose that the python, or, for that matter, any otfier 

 snake, licks its prey before devouring it so as to smear 

 its body with saliva. 



3? HE PYTHON IN CAPTIVITY. 



In captivity, a large python generally lies coiled 

 up in a heap. It seldom moves about, except from bed to 

 bath or bath to bed, or when hunger compels it to 

 look about for food. During the hot weather it remains a 

 great deal under water, spending a week or ten days in the 

 bath without stirring. If unaccustomed to, the presence 

 of man, as all newly-captured pythons are, it resents 

 the approach of visitors near the cage, darts furiously 

 and repeatedly at the glass or wire, causing serious injury 

 to itself. For a python sixteen to twenty feet long, a 

 duck or a fowl once a week during the feeding season is 

 enough. The feeding season lasts from March to Novem- 

 ber, a little early or late according to individual peculiarity, 

 A python qf this size qan easily devour a goat, pig or 



