i8o 



THE SNAKES OF SOUTH AFRICA. 



a low order, and they, like most other reptiles, show little or no 

 solicitude for their young or affection toward one another. Indeed 

 the Cape Cobra will not hesitate to make a meal of the young of 

 even its own species. The baby Cobras sally forth and scatter to 

 take up the struggle for life all alone. A fierce struggle it is, too. 

 He is beset and encompassed around by enemies. Creatures wliich 

 would flee from an adult Cobra boldly attack and eat him up. 

 Even his parents, if he subsequently crosses their path, know him 

 not, and devour him. Snakes of other species attack and over- 

 power him. Food, perchance, is scarce, and winter is fast 

 approaching. If a certain amount of fat is not laid by in his 

 interior, he knows untaught that the chills of winter will freeze 

 his sluggish blood and destroy liis life. He, perhaps, is successful 



Fig. 77. — How to hold a venomous snake. The specimen is a Cape Cobra (A'aia flava). 



(Dark-brown variety.) 



in his hunting excursions, and, sleek and fat, he retires into the 

 innermost corner of a crevice, hole, or under some decaying 

 leaves, to sleep out the winter. Even here he is not safe. 

 Carnivorous animals and rats find him out and devour him. 



A Cobra in a Schoolroom. 



Some time ago, when a lady principal was in the middle of 

 a school lesson, she heard a slight rustling noise near her elbow. 

 Glancing down, she was horrified to see the head and forepart of 

 a yellow variety of Cape Cobra in the act of climbing up her 

 chair. Vacating the chair with more haste than dignity, she 

 joined the crowd of coloured school-children who were making 



