1814 The Zoologist — September, 1869. 



influence of the poison seemed to have nearly passed away, and T put 

 my patient in his bed, when he at once fell into an uninterrupted sleep 

 for many hours; but it was some weeks before he completely re- 

 covered from the bite, for there were a series of small abscesses up the 

 arm, with much low inflammation to be encountered ere health was 

 restored." 



I met this oflScer in excellent health in 1868. 



I knew a hoise at Sultanpur, near Bauaras, to be killed by a snake 

 bite. In this case the snake came out from a hole in the wall near 

 the horse's head. Like as monkeys are said to give notice of the 

 whereabouts of tigers, so have I often seen small birds give notice of 

 snakes. Near Banaias I saw a number of birds busy about a snake, 

 making a great chattering, and he had probably caught one of their 

 number. 



On another occasion I watched seven or eight sparrows attacking a 

 small snake, which, although wounded, escaped. 



I will now give a curious story in the words of its narrator, Mr. 

 Weber, of the Training School at Segra, near Banaras, which is quite 

 authentic. 



" On the 26th March, 1864, at 10 p.m., when about going to bed, 

 I heard our two little dogs bark very furiously in the garden. The 

 choukedar (watchman), who was sent to find out what enraged them 

 so much, reported that they were barking at some animal that was 

 hissing like a 'neola' {Herpestes Wrt/«C'ce«s/*), which, however, on 

 account of the darkness, he had not been able to see. On his return 

 with a lanthorn he soon discovered the hissing creature so furiously 

 barked at to be nothing less than a snake, on seeing which he cried, 

 * Ek bara samp hai ! ' (Here's a big snake). Our students and ser- 

 vants no sooner heard this than they all came rushing to the spot, 

 each provided with a ' lathi ' (stick) : though they could only now and 

 then get a glimpse of the snake, they soon saw, by its raised and active 

 head, what a dangerous adversary it was for the dogs, which were still 

 trying to get hold of it. The people attempted to get the dogs away, 

 so as to be able to get at the snake with their lathis; but both of them 

 were so enraged that they would not by any means be got away : 

 after five to eight minutes more fighting the snake suddenly dis- 

 appeared, and nobody could tell where it had gone — even the dogs 

 had lost sight of it ; but whilst the men and one of the dogs were 

 searching, the other dog, quite in a diflferent direction, rushed sud- 

 denly into the garden-hedge, and when with the same quickness he 



