The Wit of the Wild 



r 



as do the rattlesnake and copperhead; and 

 hence must rely entirely upon inspiring terror. 



So he swells out his head and neck to twice 

 their size by expanding his ribs, opens a great 

 triangular mouth, blows and hisses, and makes 

 believe he is the ugliest sort of viper and as a 

 rule succeeds well enough to be left alone. If 

 you " call " his bluff he will fall limp and liter- 

 ally go into convulsions of terror, or turn over 

 on his back in a dead faint of fear before you 

 have really injured him at all. 



The dreadful East Indian viper which the 

 Portuguese pioneers in India named cobra de 

 capello the hooded snake has the same idea 

 when he lifts a third of his length and presents 

 his immensely distended head and neck in the 

 face of a leopard or other threatening foe. He 

 has good weapons, but few animals fight unless 

 compelled to do so, and he tries to avoid it by 

 a bluff. 



In fact almost all animals, when they find that 



shrinking out of sight fails to cause them to be 



overlooked, immediately try to make themselves 



as big as they can to produce fright. We 



< 124 &* 



