. Half hours with fishes, reptiles, and birds . the latter has be,en observed in the rock python, the snakecoiling itself about the eggs, which hatch in about fifty-six days. Various snakes when alarmed will receive theiryoung into their mouths. Colonel Nicholas Pike in-formed me that he had witnessed this act in severalsnakes, among which were the moccasin, rattlesnake, andgarter snake, the reptiles being in a box where he couldwatch them at short range. In their habits the snakes are very interesting. Thegreen tree snakes are attractive creatures, mimickingvines and climbing into
. Half hours with fishes, reptiles, and birds . the latter has be,en observed in the rock python, the snakecoiling itself about the eggs, which hatch in about fifty-six days. Various snakes when alarmed will receive theiryoung into their mouths. Colonel Nicholas Pike in-formed me that he had witnessed this act in severalsnakes, among which were the moccasin, rattlesnake, andgarter snake, the reptiles being in a box where he couldwatch them at short range. In their habits the snakes are very interesting. Thegreen tree snakes are attractive creatures, mimickingvines and climbing into trees, in search of birds andtheir young. The activity of these snakes is are usually very long and slender and richlycolored, green being the prevailing tint. One of themost beautiful is found in Borneo, where it is a pet inmany native households, the children being seen withthe reptile wound about their necks and arms. Thissnake is at home in the highest trees, and rushesthrough the tree tops in search of prey, swinging from. 102 THE SNAKES limb to limb and from tree to tree like an animate snakes live in and about fresh-water ponds andstreams, feeding upon small fishes and swimming sea snakes, as their name implies, are perfectly athome at sea, possessing a flat, paddlelike tail by which they swim. Thesesnakes are found inmany seas (Fig. 68). The largest snakesare the pythons and boaconstrictors, which at-tain a length of twenty FIG. SEA-GOING SNAKE. ^ ^^ SpCCimCHS much larger have beenreported by naturalists. Such an animal would be morethan a match for a strong man, assuming that its foldswere thrown about him. As a rule snakes are harmlessand inoffensive, rarely attacking human beings unlessdisturbed. The cobra, one of the most deadly of snakes, is, curi-ously enough, handled with impunity by the Indianjugglers, who carry several snakes about in flat baskets,giving entertainments with them. They lift them out oftheir baskets, an
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectzoology, bookyear1906
