Page:Natural History, Reptiles.djvu/206

189 pursuit. As soon as this takes place, the frog in most instances, ceases to make any struggle or attempt to escape. The whole body and the legs are stretched out, as it were, convulsively, and the Snake gradually draws in, first the leg he has seized, and afterwards the rest of the animal, portion after portion, by means of the peculiar mechanism of the jaws, so admirably adapted for this purpose. When a frog is in the progress of being swallowed in this manner, as soon as the Snake’s jaws have reached the body, the other hinder leg becomes turned forwards; and as the body gradually disappears, the three legs and the head are seen standing forwards out of the Snake’s mouth in a very singular manner. Should the Snake, however, have taken the frog by the middle of the body, it invariably turns it by several movements of the jaws, until the head is directed towards the throat of the Snake, and it is then swallowed head foremost. This process will remind all who have witnessed the curious sight of the great Boa taking its food, of the manner in which that enormous reptile effects its deglutition, after it has, by the pressure of its mighty sides, killed and crushed the bones of its victim.

“The scene above described is one which I have often witnessed; and I once saw two Snakes seize upon the same hapless frog. On placing a frog in a large box in which were several Snakes, one of the latter instantly seized it by one of the hinder legs, and immediately afterwards another of the Snakes took forcible possession of the fore-leg of the opposite side. Each continued its inroads upon the poor frog’s limb and body, until at length the upper jaws of the