One sometimes hears of the egg-stealing snakes, cobras, etc., when surprised and pursued, first relieving themselves of their plunder before they attempt to escape. Often it may be observed, when two snakes are in a cage together, and both get hold of the same frog or rat, that they each advance upon it till their heads meet, when either the stronger or the larger snake will gain the day, and finish his frog, and then proceed to swallow his friend; or else one will relinquish his hold, when, even in those few minutes, the half-swallowed prey will be completely disguised in the mucous saliva which has already enveloped it. Some snakes, though not quarrelsome at other times, for some reason inexplicable to the looker-on, persistently set their heart on the same bird or frog, though many are presented for their choice. In a pair of _Tropidonoti_ at the Gardens this occurs almost every week; and in such instances the keeper keeps a sharp watch over them; for as neither snake will relinquish its capture, the one that begins first comes in contact with the head of his comrade, who will assuredly be swallowed too, were not a little moral, or rather physical coercion in the shape of a good shaking administered. Sometimes both get their ears boxed, figuratively; yet the discipline has no more than a passing effect, and next week the same thing happens again. Not many months ago a very valuable snake was thus rescued literally from the jaws of death. A South American rat snake (_Geoptyas collaris_) began to eat a rabbit that was put in the cage for a python, which also began to eat it. _Collaris_ would not let it go, and so the python continued to advance upon it until he came to his comrade, and proceeded with this prolonged repast. _Collaris_ is a rather large snake of some eight or ten feet long. When nearly the whole of him had vanished, the keeper—who, of course, had been occupied at each cage in turn—fortunately discovered about a foot of tail fast disappearing in the mouth of the python, the whole of _Collaris_, excepting this caudal portion, having been swallowed. Just in time to rescue the victim, the keeper, by his experienced manipulation, made the python open his mouth, while the assistant helped to pull at _Collaris_. At last they pulled back all the seven feet of snake, which sustained no further injury than a slight scratch or two against the python’s teeth; but he seemed none the worse, and was no sooner free than he seized a rat, constricted and ate it with a celerity which seemed to say he would make sure of a meal this time.