28 



MODE OF ATTACKING THE COBRA. 



on being brought to the window, and the moment he was let 

 loose would eagerly jump down into the room, when his 

 behaviour became very curious and interesting ; he would 

 instantly see where the snake was, and rounding his back and 

 making every hair of his body stand out at right angles 

 (which caused him to appear half as large again as he really 

 was) he would approach the cobra on tip toe making a 

 peculiar humming kind of noise. The snake in the meantime 

 would shew signs of great anxiety, and I fancy fear, erecting 



^ *<v. 



MUNGOOSE AND COBRA. 



his head and hood and ready to strike when his enemy came 

 near enough. The mungoose kept running backwards and 

 forwards in front of the snake gradually getting to within, 

 what appeared to us, striking distance. The snake would 

 strike at him repeatedly and appeared to hit him, but the 

 mungoose continued his comic dance apparently quite uncon- 

 cerned. Suddenly, and with a movement so rapid that the eye 

 could not follow it, he would pin the cobra by the back of the 

 head. One would hear the sharp teeth crunch into the 

 snake's skull, and all was over, the mungoose eating the 



