NOTES ON THE HABITS OF BASCANION 
CONSTRICTOR. 
W. E. PRAEGER. 
EARLY in August, 1898, when staying on a farm in Hancock 
County, Ill., I captured a fine black snake (Bascanion constric- 
tor), a typical specimen about five feet long. One hot after- 
noon we were disturbed by the alarming report that a snake 
was in the henhouse. I investigated and found the snake 
among the boxes and straw, but for a moment the species 
puzzled me. Only its head and a small part of its body could 
be seen lying on the eggs of a hen’s nest. Immediately be- 
hind the head the neck was greatly distended, colored pink and 
yellow, with fine longitudinal lines of black spots. Cioser 
inspection showed that the black lines were rows of scales on 
the greatly stretched skin of the neck, and its guilt as a nest 
robber was manifest. The snake lay perfectly quiet, and as 
seizing it by the neck in the orthodox manner was impossible 
without breaking the egg it had swallowed, I took hold of it 
by the body. As though in preparation for fight or flight the 
egg was at once broken, apparently by some muscular contrac- 
tion, the contents running out of the mouth, and the neck 
quickly assuming its normal proportions. During the five 
weeks that it was in captivity I frequently offered eggs to it, 
but no other food, for I was interested to see how such a 
small pair of jaws could encompass an entire hen’s egg; but 
it refused to gratify my curiosity, and ate nothing while I 
had it. 
The snake was kept in a small box, but was frequently 
released on the porch or lawn, and allowed its freedom for 
awhile. Its one idea seemed to be to escape, though it went 
about it deliberately, and did not show any signs of fright. 
When touched, it struck quickly with open mouth at the object, 
but the wounds inflicted in this way on my hand were very 
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