138 ANIMAL ARTISANS 



English rabbits have had no experience of large ser- 

 pents. In India there is at least one rat which goes 

 in such fear of its life from them that it blocks up 

 its hole with stones when " at home," as it is thought, 

 to keep them out. 



The creatures which are said to be the usual objects 

 of fascination by snakes are birds and monkeys. In 

 this selection common belief has probability on its side, 

 because both small birds and monkeys are intensely 

 emotional, quick, and sensitive creatures. Moreover, 

 they have for all time been the prey of tree- climbing 

 snakes. Mr. Kipling's " Hunting of Kaa " puts the 

 idea into dramatic form. There may be evidence that 

 the python goes " hunting," though if he does not, but 

 remains, as " Eha," the Anglo-Indian field-naturalist, 

 says, quiet, and waiting till he can seize a passing 

 jackal or monkey, it does not spoil the story. It is, 

 however, on record that a monkey has been known 

 to drop down in a dead faint when suddenly shown a 

 serpent ; and more than one description represents a 

 brood of fledged young birds fluttering and apparently 

 powerless to fly before a snake, with the parent bird 

 dashing so close past its jaws that it is caught. 



This can only be accounted for on the same 

 grounds as the impulse which makes persons inclined 

 to throw themselves over precipices. It arises from 

 the momentary breakdown of resolution in the face 

 of an overwhelming danger, or from the rebound of 

 overstretched precaution, which starts back to the 

 furthest limits of abhorrence and then rushes into 

 the jaws of peril. But the temporary paralysis of 



