MISCELLANEOUS NOTES, 553 
avas fractured, so had to killit. Iwassorry to do this as it had beenin my posses- 
sion for several months and was very tame. 
It might be of interest to hear whether any of the readers of the Journal have 
ever seen a similar encounter between a cobra and owls or other birds in the wild 
state. 
J. EK. M. BOYD, F.5£.s., 
Major, R.A.M.C. 
BIRCHINGTON-ON-SEA, KENT, 
26th November,1921. 
No. XX.—CROCODILE (C. PALUSTRIS) BURYING ITS FOOD. 
It may interest you to know of a curious habit which a 6 feet crocodile I am 
‘keeping in an enclosure has apparently developed. 
Sometime ago I noticed a large mound of earth thrown up on a spot in the 
-enclosure where I had placed some meat for the crocodile but did not pay any 
attention to it, supposing it to be the work of ants. Last night, however, I was 
disturbed by the noise of scratching and supposed the crocodile was trying to 
escape. This morning I found another large mound of earth thrown up and 
covered with the marks of the crocodile’s claws. Digging into this mound with 
a stick I found two large fish which I had placed in the enclosure in that same 
place the day before. There were no marks of scratching anywhere else, so I 
-ean only conclude that the noise I had heard was that of the reptile burying the 
fish. 
I have never come across a case of a crocodile burying its food before though 
T have kept many of them. I have always had the meat and fish removed when 
it began to smell, and as a crocodile prefers its food high, this specimen probably 
took to burying it in order to outwit me. 
There are, as far as I have been able to discover, no beetles or other creatures 
‘in the vicinity which would have buried the food and it does not look as if it 
was the work of insects, to say nothing of the deep claw groves all round and over 
the mound. 
At the same time one would not expect a crocodile to have the intelligence to 
bury its food. As far as my experience is concerned they appear to be less in- 
telligent than snakes. 
Up to now the most I have known crocodiles do with food they did not want 
‘to eat at the time, has been to carry it into the water. 
A. F. ABERCROMBY. 
‘Korrayam, TRAVANCORE, 
13th Octoher 1921. 
No. XXI,—HATCHING OF COBRAS (NAIA TRIPUDIANS) WITH 
REMARKS ON THE OODONT, GENITALIA, ETC. 
Onthe 12thof May Mr. J. Flynn, the Honorary Director of the Karachi 
Museum, greeted me with the news that one of the cobras in captivity had laid 
eighteen eggs. Two more eggs were laid on the night of the 13th, and one 
32 
