SERPENTS 
ANACONDA. 
Some time ago I purchased a large anaconda for the 
Zoological Society’s Gardens. 
Some two or three weeks after being safely deposited 
in the reptile-house it voided a mass of feathers, a few 
bones and grain, together with a large brass hook (not 
barbed) 4 to 5 in. in length, and 2-|- in. broad, i. e. from 
point to shaft, and with a portion of line attached. I can 
only suppose that a bird, the curassow, had been used 
as a bait, and, in all probability, was the means of the 
successful capture of the anaconda. 
The curassow is the size of a large capon fowl, and it is 
impossible to say whether the bird was used living or 
dead for the purpose of securing the snake ; it is not 
however probable that the beast would have taken a 
dead bird. 
Upon one occasion a newly-imported anaconda was 
received at the Gardens. There was soon after found a 
quantity of voided excreta, which, after being carefully 
examined, was found to contain a quantity of coarse black 
hair, with a few portions of bones and some teeth ; these 
remains proved to have belonged to a young spider 
monkey. 
A similar circumstance was noted upon another occasion, 
while examining a deceased anaconda. In this case the 
hair, teeth, and other remains were satisfactorily shown 
to have belonged to a young capabara. The capabara is 
a very great frequenter of the streams and rivers in South 
America where the anaconda is generally found. 
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