MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 277 



received the wound long time previously, as it had healed perfectly, the arrow- 

 was more or less firmly fixed ; we took the bird to Rangoon to show to per- 

 sons interested and to have a photograph taken, after which we plucked it 

 and found the bird in good condition ; the plumage was clean and bright. 

 In this connection it is quite astonishing how birds do recover from injuries 

 I had a tame Koel {Eudynamis honorata). One night a cat managed to break 

 into the cage, fortunately the bird made such a noise that a servant came 

 and rescued it, but not before it had received severe injuries. When I saw 

 it I wished to destroy it ; but the servants implored me to give it a chance, 

 and they xvould treat it. The bird recovered. It is interesting to examine 

 bags of snipe, as one often meets with extraordinary cases of recovery from 

 fractures, caused by shot, of the femur, tibio-torsal bone, etc. 



G. H. EVANS, Lt.-Col. 

 Lahoke, 18th April 1911. 



XL.— HABITS OF THE PYTHON (PYTHON MOLURUS). 



In "■ Forest Life and Sport in India" — (Eardly-Wilmot) — as to the attack 

 of the Python on its prey, the Author writes: — "It may therefore well be the 

 " case that the blow of a heavy python would be suflicient to stun a passing 

 " deer until it could be enfolded in the grip of the snake, and that this 

 " method of hunting may supplement the sudden and more deadly attack 

 " from overhead. " 



In reference to these remarks, the following notes are interesting. A few 

 years ago on one of my many visits to Jamrach's collecting Depot, in Entally, 

 Calcutta. Scott, the Manager, showed me with great pride, an enormous 

 python in a box, length between 21 and 22 feet. I asked Scott how such 

 a huge brute was captured ? He told me that two of his collectors were in 

 the Khasyia Hills looking out for captives. One of the men when high 

 up in a tree making his way to a nest happened to look down and saw this 

 python hanging from a branch, slowly swinging with its head a few feet 

 from the ground. The man said he was very frightened and made not a 

 move. All at once the python became rigid ; by and by the bird-nester 

 heard the rustle of leaves not far off and recognized that it was the foot- 

 path of his fellow collector, by whistling he was able to signal to him to 

 give the tree a wide berth. Soon the snake began swinging very slowly, 

 then it again became rigid, and the light patter of a deer was heard and a 

 barking deer came in view and within striking range of the python "when 

 like a shot it w&& sent flying : " and there it lay almost motionless. In 

 a little the python g©t down to the ground and glided over to, and lay on, the 

 deer. In a short time the operation of swallowing began. During the process 

 of swallowing, the two men made a basket, and when the snake had resigned 

 itself to rest, the basket was worked over it and the making of it completed : 



