298 A Sportswoman in India 



F.G.S., shall leave my readers with a pleasant 

 impression of the species. It has been questioned 

 whether snakes will drink milk. His own tame 

 python on May 6th laid fifteen eggs, one after another. 

 She collected them all and arranged them in a cone- 

 shaped pile, and rolled herself round them so as to 

 completely hide every one. Her temperature rose 

 largely, and for a snake, which is a cold-blooded 

 animal, she was quite warm. (Snakes do not breathe 

 with short, regular inspirations, which would warm the 

 blood, but when they respire they take in a supply 

 of air to last them for some time.) Covering the 

 eggs entirely, her head was at the summit of the 

 cone. She had eaten in the preceding February six or 

 seven pounds of raw beef and a live rabbit. While 

 incubating the eggs she drank milk out of a basin five 

 times. Indeed, owing to her rise of temperature, her 

 want of water was so great that she evinced uneasiness 

 to Mr. Bell, and permitted him to move and turn her 

 head so that she could dip the end of her muzzle into 

 the basin. 



On July 2nd the eggs hatched. The mother, on 

 the 3rd, ate six more pounds of beef, after her 

 long fast. The little ones were changing their coats 

 for the first fourteen days, during which time they 

 drank and also bathed themselves ; they then ate 

 some little sparrows, throwing themselves upon them 

 and constricting them like grown-up pythons. 



The cobra-worshipping Hindus were in the habit 

 of placing eggs for their gods, which are, as a rule, 



