WILD ANIMALS IN CAPTIVITY 



RUSSELL'S VIPER. 



The first Russell's viper I ever saw alive was presented to 

 the Zoological Society by an officer on board a steamship 

 from Ceylon. 



This gentleman told me that the snake had been given 

 to him as perfectly tame and harmless, and that, from 

 time to time, he had removed it from its cage and allowed 

 it to crawl about upon the mess-table for the amusement 

 of those on board. It happened, however, that one day 

 a chicken escaped from the coop on deck and flew on to 

 the cabin-table ; it was instantly struck at by this, said 

 to be, harmless snake. The chicken fell paralyzed and 

 died in a few minutes, to the great consternation of all 

 who witnessed the occurrence. The owner, with great 

 caution, managed to secure his former pet in its cage, and 

 was very thankful that, by this accidental discovery, no 

 serious mishap had occurred. On arriving in London he 

 presented it to the Society, and it was considered, by 

 those who had paid attention to the subject, to be one of 

 the most deadly of snakes. 



COBRA AT LARGE. 



Soon after the cobra had been eaten by the water- 

 viper, as told in a previous page, an Egyptian cobra, 

 measuring 5 ft. 6 in., escaped in a similar manner, i. e. 

 by a hole gnawed through the bottom of the case by 

 a common house mouse, but this time the cobra got 

 loose in the building, which fact was not discovered 

 by the keeper until the evening. This was a more 

 serious matter than the previous one, because the reptile 

 was at large, and I was at my wits' end to know what 



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