CONSTRICTION. 33 



and went to the hen-house and peeped into the box containing 

 the eggs. A large cobra, with a fierce liiss, made a ferocious 

 kmge at his face. The man, being active and quick-witted, 

 dodged the stroke. Summoning assistance, he returned to 

 find the cobra making the most desperate efforts to disgorge 

 several eggs, the shape of which could plainly be seen in 

 the reptile's body. The eggs, however, were too smooth, 

 slippery, and heavy for the disgorging mechanism of the snake 

 to grip and expel, so the robber, perforce, was held captive, 

 because the five eggs in his stomach weighted him effectually 

 down. Rigging up a noose, my friend got it round the snake's 

 head and carefully dragged it forth. An assistant seized the 

 tail ; the other placed the heel of his heavy boot on the reptile's 

 head and smashed it. Then, taking out his penknife, he cut open 

 the cobra's abdomen and recovered his property. Washing the 

 slimy mucus off the eggs, they- were replaced in the nest, and the 

 hen was coaxed to return. These five eggs hatched out properly, 

 and the chicks grew up into five fine Black Minorcas, one of which, 

 for many years, was cock-in-chief of the farmyard fowls. 



Snakes cannot suck eggs, but some swallow eggs whole, the 

 powerful digestive juices dissolving the egg-shell usually within 

 twenty-four hours. Sometimes the remains of the shell are cast 

 up, or perhaps it is completely dissolved or broken up very fine 

 and passed with the excreta. The Boomslang {Dispholidus 

 typus) I have frequently observed swallows birds' eggs, which 

 lodged in its stomach, the fragments of the shells of which, if at 

 all hard, were cast up the following day. Pigeon's eggs frequently 

 remained whole inside the snake for a couple of days. 



There is, however, a species of true egg-eating snake which 

 has been provided by Nature with a special set of enamel-tipped, 

 tooth-hke bony projections in the throat, for the purpose of 

 sawing through egg-shells and releasing the contents, which are 

 squeezed down the throat of the snake, the crushed shell being 

 spat out afterwards. 



Constriction. 



The majority of the non-venomous snakes kill their prey 

 by constriction. The snake, with unerring aim, makes a dart, 

 seizes its prey with its jaws by a leg, the body, or head, and 

 instantly coils around it, crushing its life out within a few 



D 



