298 THE WORLD OF ANIMAL LIFE 



it can dilate its neck at will, so that it looks like a kind of broad 

 hood. In order to allow it to do this the upper ribs are flattened, 

 and are so formed that they can be considerably raised or lowered. 

 This " hood " is always spread when the reptile rears up to strike, 

 and gives it an unusually formidable appearance. 



The food of the cobra consists chiefly of small animals, frogs, 

 and insects ; but it is fond of birds' eggs, and will often rob a nest 

 of its contents. If it finds a hen-roost, too, it will creep inside and 

 search for eggs. 



Like many serpents, the cobra is very fond of milk, which it 

 laps up with its long forked tongue. Once a man's life was saved 

 by a knowledge of this fact. A party of officers were sitting round 

 a table in India, engaged in a game of cards, when one of them 

 felt something gliding up his leg. Looking down, he was horrified 

 to find that it was a cobra, and gave himself up for lost. One of 

 his brother officers, however, ran quickly into the kitchen, fetched 

 a saucer of milk, put it down upon the ground; and almost 

 directly the cobra came down to it, began to drink, and was 

 killed. 



Another kind of cobra, called the Haje, is found in Africa. 

 It is very venomous, and is said to possess the power of spitting its 

 poison to a distance. For this reason it is often known as the 

 " spitting snake ". A well-known traveller tells us that on one 



occasion a haje spat a drop of this poison 

 into his eye, which became very much 

 inflamed, and pained him greatly for 

 several hours. 



Two of the three British snakes are 

 included in this family, namely, the Ringed 

 or Grass Snake and the very rare Coro- 



Head and Tail of Common Snake nella. 



We may recognize the former at a 

 glance by the bright yellow patch on either side of the neck, just 

 behind the head, and also by the double chain of small dark 

 spots which run along the back. On either side of the body, 

 too, is a single row of somewhat larger spots. This snake is quite 

 harmless. 



