THE SNAKE AND ITS NATURAL FOES. 391 



the Dun when sitting in a verandah he saw a small cobra close beside 

 him, which he rose to despatch when he saw a white fowl running to- 

 wards it. The fowl attacked vigourously, caught it by the back, and 

 repeatedly pecked it ; subsequently, it swallowed it with no ill-effects. 

 What is true of the domesticated breed is probably and equally true 

 of the jungle species; indeed, Gunther* remarks that the jungle fowl 

 preys on young cobras. 



Order — Grallte. — Family — Otididse. The great Indian Bustard 

 (Eupodotis edwardsii) is a serpentivore according to the authority of 

 Hume and Marshallf, who also give similar evidence against the 

 Bengal floricanj (Sypheotis bengalensis). 



Order — Limicolse. — Webber§ is responsible for the following 

 incident which shows that the red-wattled plover (Lobivanellus indicus) 

 will put up a good fight against a snake, though in this instance the 

 reptile was not killed. He says: " One day when riding an elephant 

 I discovered how useful the spur was. I saw one of these birds 

 engaged in mortal combat with a snake which was trying to rob her 

 nest * * The bird got the best of the battle, inflicting some 

 sharp blows on the serpent, which retired discomntted." 



Order — Herodiones. Family — Ibididae. I can find no recent 

 evidence to show that the Ibis is an ophiophage, but Juvenal, || speaking 

 of an Egyptian species, makes no doubt of it in his lines — 



" Who has not heard where Egypt's realms are nam'd 



" What monster gods her frantic sons have f ram'd ? 



'•' Here Ibis gorg'd with well-grown serpents, there 



" The crocodile commands religious fear," etc. 

 Family — Ciconiche. — HartwigTf credits the Adjutant [Leptoptilus 

 dubius) with anguine tastes, and Ferguson** remarks that, in the 

 public gardens at Trivandrum, water snakes used frequently to come 

 into the cages of the waterfowl to devour the fish with which they 

 were provided for food and that they were often killed by the herons, 

 but the hair-crested stork (Leptoptilus javanicus) took a special 



* Reptiles of Brit. India, p. 354. 



t Loc. cit., p, 9. 



X Loc. cit., p. 25. 



§ " The Forests of Upper India," p. 211. 



|| Satire, XV. 



1 " The Tropical World," p. 322. 



•* Bombay Nat. Hist. Jour., Vol. X., p. 5. 



