78 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Manners of the young Swallow their prey whole. 



together somewhat like a string of beads. When 

 the young have burst the shell, they are said to 

 creep, by their own efforts, from their confine- 

 ment into the open air, where they continue for 

 several days without taking any food. The Rev. 

 Mr. White, of Selborne, in company with a 

 friend, surprised a laige female viper which 

 seemed very heavy and bloated, as she lay on 

 the grass basking in the sun ; they killed and cut 

 her up, and found in the abdomen fifteen young 

 ones, about the size of full grown earth-worms. 

 This little fry issued into the world with the true 1 

 viper spirit about them, showing great alertness 

 as soon as they obtained their liberty. They 

 twisted and riggled about, set themselves up, and 

 gaped very wide when touched with a stick, ex- 1 

 hibiting manifest tokens of menace and defiance, 

 though as yet no fangs were to be discovered 

 even with the help of glasses. 



The young, for some time after their birth^ 

 retreat, when suddenly alarmed, into the mouth 



V 



of the female, in the same manner as the young 

 of the opossum do into the abdominal pouch of 

 their parent. They arrive at their full growth in 

 about seven years, and produce at the end of 

 their second or third. Their food consists of 

 reptiles, worms, or young birds, which they swal- 

 low whole, though it sometimes happens that the 

 morsel is thrice the thickness of their own body. 

 They are capable of supporting long abstinence, 

 one of them having been kept above six months 



