28 
MODE OF ATTACKING THE COBRA. 
on being brought to the window, and the moment he was let 
loose would eagerly jump down into the room, when his 
behaviour became very curious and interesting; he would 
instantly see where the snake was, and rounding his back and 
making every hair of his body stand out at right angles 
(which caused him to appear half as large again as he really 
was) he would approach the cobra on tip toe making a 
peculiar humming kind of noise. The snake in the meantime 
would shew signs of great anxiety, and I fancy fear, erecting 
MUKCOOSE AND COBRA. 
his head and hood and ready to strike when his enemy came 
near enough. The mungoose kept running backwards and 
forwards in front of the snake gradually getting to within, 
what appeared to us, striking distance. The snake would 
strike at him repeatedly and appeared to hit him, but the 
mungoose continued his comic dance apparently quite uncon- 
cerned. Suddenly, and with a movement so rapid that the eye 
could not follow it, he would pin the cobra by the back of the 
head. One would hear the sharp teeth crunch into the 
snake's skull, and all was over, the mungoose eating the 
