WORK AND SPORT IN THE N.W.P. 91 
for myself how this great snake kills and disposes of 
his prey when of size equal to his own. He certainly 
had time to strike the python before my arrival 
disturbed him, but either he had not done so, or the 
effect was not instantaneous. Now he retreated, 
always stopping when followed, but never attacking, 
until my rifle arrived and the hunt was finished. 
This snake was about 11 feet long, and had huge 
fangs, so that the poison would be deeply injected, 
and a man would probably succumb in a few 
minutes from its effect and from the shock of the 
stroke. 
Few snakes are seen in the forest save those 
species which are arboreal in their habits, probably 
because the others are concealed during the winter 
in holes underground, or in trees, and in summer 
are nocturnal in their habits. Pythons, however, 
are found all over the forests of Northern India, but 
the specimens I have measured never attained a 
length of 20 feet; they are fond of lying in 
marshy ground, but are frequently found in trees in 
the dry season, probably because their appetites are 
then more insistent. It seems improbable that 
a python should rely on obtaining food by crawling 
on the earth, whence he has a limited horizon, when 
from the convenient branch of a tree he can com- 
mand a wider view and drop suddenly on his un- 
suspecting prey ; for that this is the method adopted 
seems more than likely. The snake’s teeth are not 
adapted to hold a large struggling animal, and on 
the occasions that I have seen the python with a 
spotted-deer enwrapped in his folds there were 
no signs of laceration ; moreover, it is hard to believe 
