1816 The Zoologist— Septembek, 1869 



evidently thought it a good opportunity of giving her kittens (of which 

 she had three or four) a treat : we watclied her taking it to the box in 

 which they were kept, where she commenced tearing it into little bits, 

 and then laid the dainty morsels before her offspring, and in a short 

 time the whole, with the exception of the head, was consumed." 



Snakes are often found in bath-rooms, and for a very good reason, 

 viz., the presence of frogs, of which they are particularly fond. The 

 following story illustrates both facts. As we were sitting at dinner, at 

 Mainpuri, on the evening of November 12lh, 1865, at about 8 p.m., 

 we heard a strange sound which quite puzzled us. One suggested 

 that it was a fox calling, another that it was some night bird ; but one 

 thing was quite clear, that, whatever it might be, it was close to the 

 house. Our spaniel Fanny was lying under the table, so we called 

 her. Fox ! Fanny ! fox ! — upon which she sprang up and rushed 

 outside with a bark ; but having reached the spot whence the sound 

 proceeded, she fell back and finally returned to the house. Meanwhile 

 our servants had procured lights, and we found that a snake had 

 seized a frog, who was making these piteous cries. The snake was 

 between three and four feet long, and was said by the natives to be 

 a karait, a most deadly species; and the frog he had caught, but not 

 yet swallowed, was of an average size. The reptile was hanging about 

 a foot and a half out of a drain-hole, and had caught the frog at the 

 bottom of an empty drain-pan placed outside to catch the water. A 

 few smart taps disposed of the snake and rescued the frog, which, 

 however, shortly afterwards died of the poisoned bile he had received. 



A curious case of misconception of their digestive powers happened 

 atBanaras, in 1864, when Captain Steward, of the Queen's Bays, sent 

 lue a straightened piece of iron hooping, twelve inches in length, he 

 had taken from the stomach of a cobra, which had been killed near 

 the mess-house : this iron hoop had tied round it at one end a quan- 

 tity of linen rag, and had been used to wipe out the plates before 

 washing them, and so was highly flavoured with soup, grease, &c. 

 The snake was about two feet and a half in length : how he came not 

 to find out his mistake as he was bolting the rough iron I cannot 

 imagine. 



The snakes — cobras in particular — much affect damp places on 

 account of the abundance of food to be found in such localities, and 

 here they meet with their principal enemies, viz., the large water birds 

 and fish-hawks; e. g., I find noted on the 23rd November, 1867, that as 

 I was returning from Etawa to Mainpuri, I saw an adjutant {Leploplilos 



