206 THE EASTERN HUNTEES. 



many futile efforts, the fowls were always obliged 

 to eject them. They were very minute, possibly 

 only just hatched: so, as the officer saw no cause 

 for their being invariably returned when the fowls 

 were so anxious to swallow them, he made a closer 

 investigation. He found that, immediately they 

 were seized, fearful, doubtless, of slipping too 

 easily down the gullets of their assailants, the 

 cunning little snakes tied themselves into knots, and 

 thus rendered themselves too bulky to be swallow- 

 able." 



" Good, Mac, very good. Not one of your own, 

 is it ? " inquired Norman. 



" No, by Jove ; my imagination is not so fertile," 

 was the reply. 



" I'll tell you how to improve the story," said 

 Norman. " Just add, that after one or two had 

 actually been swallowed in their usual state of 

 natural attenuation ; the rest, taking warning by the 

 fate of their companions, resorted to the highly cute 

 and satisfactory dodge you have described." 



" Thanks. Yes, I'll make that improvement next 

 time. But after all, instinct may really have taught 

 the snakes to coil themselves up into balls, and in 

 that form prove too largo for the fowls." 



" Yes ; there usually is some foundation for most 

 travellers' tales. Indeed, many that appear the 



