470 SNAKES OF CEYLON. 



in this function, which may occur at intervals ranging between 

 three weeks and three months. I am informed by snakemen 

 that specimens in captivity sicken during this period, and 

 that they are afraid to give them food or drink as it upsets 

 them. They certainly appear very dull, and non-captive 

 specimens are most likely to meet with their death, if they 

 venture out of their holes at this time, the disc before the eye 

 becoming so opaque that the creature is virtually blind for 

 some time. 



Food. — The cobra feeds principally on rats, frogs, toads, 

 and less frequently on birds, and it seems to show no special 

 preference for any of these creatures. Its choice in batrachians 

 is largely determined by their size, the most bulky individuals 

 being apparantly those most sought after. Thus, among frogs 

 it is the bullfrog, Rana tigrina, which is most usually victi- 

 mized, and among toads Bufo melanostictus and B. andersoni 

 are specially attractive. Rats and mice are very frequently 

 taken, and I think there can be no doubt the numbers of these 

 vermin are materially checked by this snake. I was astonished 

 in Bangalore some years back to see with what avidity the 

 captive cobra, belonging to a juggler, accepted dead mice 

 which he withdrew from his pocket. The man offered them 

 as one would a morsel to a dog, and one of his cobras nosed 

 its snout into his hand, and took three mice, swallowing them 

 one after another in a couple of minutes or so. Other crea- 

 tures are taken as circumstances dictate. The Rev. C. Leigh, 

 S.J., writing from Trichonopoly of his captive specimens, told 

 me that after eating two small frogs, and then three middle- 

 sized ones, one cobra finally disposed of two squirrels (Funam- 

 bulus palmarum) ! Sometimes birds are attacked and killed, 

 especially poultry. In Fyzabad one got under a hencoop one 

 night in a native hut, and killed the hen and six chicks. The 

 snake met its death the next night, swallowing a frog baited on 

 a hook. On another occasion one got into a quailery in 

 Fyzabad and accounted for thirteen birds in the night. One 

 only of these had been swallowed, and it seems to me likely 

 that some or all the rest may have died from fright. In 

 Almora an officer friend of mine, whilst quail shooting flushed 

 a cobra which he shot in attempting to escape down a hole. 



