THE GREED OF THE SNAKE 233 



among the ferns or bushes, past the blue berries of the 

 native ginger, while with quaint courtliness he pays his 

 compliments and bewilders by his audacity. As the 

 amorous dalliance proceeds, he flits in brilliant spirals round 

 and before her, and again resumes his tremulous flight, con- 

 sonant with her emotional flutterings. However intricate, 

 however long the dance she leads, he follows, blithesome- 

 ness and confidence in all his poses. Exhausting work this 

 aerial flirtation. The bride alights among the red knobs of 

 the umbrella-tree for refreshment. Her wings quiver as 

 she sips, while her admirer poises a yard in the air above 

 her, flashes hither and thither, briefly steadying his flight in 

 positions whence all his loveliness may be advantageously 

 revealed ; poises again a yard above her ; gyrates with the 

 air of a dandy of over-weening assurance, vanity, and pride ; 

 swoops until his wings in their down-strokes salute her ; and 

 then the dainty pair dance into the sunless mazes of the 

 jungle. 



It is all a vivid but soundless symphony — a concord of 

 tender harmonies and sprightly trills and passionate phrases. 



The Greed of the Snake 



In another place in these artless chronicles proof has 

 been given of the fact that though serpents were long enough 

 ago declared to be the most subtle of the beasts of the field, 

 they may be imposed upon. I would like now to cite an 

 instance of their greed and their grasping nature. Our 

 chicken coops were made snake-proof, but a more than 

 ordinarily crafty individual burglariously broke into one, 

 and the hen and chickens sounded the alarm. It was night, 

 and the lantern revealed the snake. The affrighted chickens 

 with their anxious parent issued forth as soon as the door 

 was opened, all save two, one at each end of the snake. A 

 gunshot through the open door divided the snake. When 

 the coop was lifted away, each end retained tightly a dead 

 chicken, one partially swallowed, the other throttled and 

 held by three encircling coils of the tail. Apart from the 

 gunshot there was a tragic element in this case. When 



