827-2. 
state of confinement the boa takes food at 
intervals of a month or six weeks during the 
warmer months. The following account of a 
boa being made use of in a very curious way 
is worth repeating. A traveller coming from 
abroad brought a quantity of cigars with 
him in a large box. Not wanting to pay 
duty for these cigars, he had a false top 
made to his box and covered it with an 
old blanket, on the top of which he placed 
a couple of good-sized boas! On arriving 
at the Customs House, the keys were de- 
manded and given up, with a warning that 
the box contained very dangerous snakes. 
The officials, being incredulous, opened the 
ORNAMENTED TOAD. 
hid of the box in an off-hand, careless manner. 
Hearing the noise of the keys and seeing 
daylight admitted, the snakes woke up and 
began to hiss, brandishing their forky tongues. 
This was too much for the officers, who, 
hke many people, no doubt believed the 
tongue was a venomous sting, for down 
went the ld of the box in an instant, and 
the box, snakes, cigars and all were allowed 
to pass without further and more minute 
examination. 
v7) 
TEs: brilliantly-coloured horned toads are 
remarkable for their fierce and carnivorous 
habits, which, combined with the enormous 
Animal Life 
proportions of their mouths, gives them a 
Ornamented Most formidable appearance. 
Renelopliys Or They ane Weny pugnacious, and 
of South fiercely “fly” at anyone attack- 
America. ing them, taking a firm hold, 
which they maintain with the tenacity of a 
bull-dog, accompanied by a cry very like the 
barking of that animal, whilst at other times 
they utter a peculiarly bell-lke bass note. 
The animal whose photograph is reproduced 
is now unfortunately dead. When alive it 
was very often difficult to discover in the 
vivarium, it being buried under the shingle; 
but, on careful examination, the bright 
colouring on the back could be traced, and 
the eyes (the peculiarity and 
distinguishing feature of which 
throughout the entire genus 1s 
the horizontal position of the 
pupil) just seen between the small 
stones. ‘This is the position taken 
up by these frogs, or escuerzos, 
when lying in wait for their prey. 
Anything from a frog, bird, or 
small mammal they will attack, 
although at times their victims are 
too large for them to swallow, their 
gigantic mouths no doubt mis- 
leading them as to the capacity 
of their stomachs and their ability 
to gorge. 
Do 
NOTHING is so opposite as black 
and white; yet we see im the 
specimens photographed the first 
colour pass abruptly imto the 
second without going into the intermediate 
White-winged shades. Blackbirds, ‘crows, 
Blackbird and other birds of the same 
and % 
White-backed ue can now and then be 
Piping Crow — geen in the Society’s aviaries 
with white markings, and among the acci- 
dental varieties of the above have been seen 
some completely white, including even the 
bill and feet. Individuals have been observed 
whose entire plumage was of a yellowish- 
rose colour, with the bill and feet yellow; 
and some specimens have the head alone 
white, with three oblong black spots placed 
behind the eyes, the iris, the beak and 
the feet being yellow. 
