The
affrighted chickens with their anxious parent issued forth as soon as
the door was opened, all save two, one at each end of the snake. A
gunshot through the open door divided the snake. When the coop was
lifted away, each end retained tightly a dead chicken, one partially
swallowed, the other throttled and held by three encircling coils of the
tail. Apart from the gunshot there was a tragic element in this case.
When once it has firmly seized with its teeth its prey, a snake must
swallow it whole or burst in the attempt. Nature has denied some species
the privilege of rejection. Now the chicks were several sizes too large
for the snake, and consequently the sides of its mouth, its neck and
body, for a length of about 4 inches, had been ripped in the vain
endeavour to perform an impossibility.
A SWALLOWING FEAT
Everyone knows that small snakes are capable of swallowing comparatively
large eggs. But is the way in which the feat is accomplished generally
understood? That is the question. No doubt a big snake glides jauntily
to a moderately-sized egg, grips it with its in-curved teeth, the jaws
loosen and begin their alternating movement, and unhook themselves at
the bases to permit of the eggs passing down the throat.
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