nd so
slow, ever get any food? Well, he can go fast enough at times, and he
does not often want a meal, because he eats so much at one time that it
lasts him for many days. He writhes his great body along the ground in
the thick woods of his native country, and lies so still that you might
tread on him without seeing him. He lives in Brazil and other parts of
South America. Perhaps a young deer comes down to drink, all unconscious
of the hideous beast lying in watch. He stoops his pretty head, then,
with a writhing movement, the boa is upon him. The deer struggles
frantically, but the great folds of the snake close ever tighter and
tighter round him with a strength that breaks his delicate bones and
squeezes the life out of him. When the animal, crushed and breathless,
ceases to struggle, the boa opens his gaping mouth, and bit by bit the
whole animal--it may be still palpitating--is forced into that awful
throat. The snake cannot tear his prey; he has no hands or feet, no
claws or hoofs. He can only swallow it whole. It would seem impossible
sometimes that he could get that mass into his comparatively narrow
throat; but his muscles are elastic. He stops half-way through his
horrid meal and lies still to rest, then another swallow and another. In
the meantime, his teeth, like little sharp saws bent backwards, covering
all the roof of his mouth as well as the jaws, are firmly fixed into
the victim, so that it cannot draw back. When the disgusting meal is
done the great snake lies helpless and swollen, and has to wait until
his food is digested before he can get about comfortably.

When he is in the Zoo he doesn't get anything so large as a deer, but
rabbits and small things that he can swallow easily, and frogs, of which
all snakes are very fond, perhaps because they are slimy and slip down
quickly. There are many other snakes beside the boa, some not so large,
but more poisonous. The boa is not poisonous. He relies on his huge
strength to kill his enemies; but other snakes, such as vipers and
rattlesnakes, are. Even when the head of a viper has been cut off it
still remains poisonous, and may cause death. The rattlesnake is so
called because it makes a funny rattle with its tail before it strikes.
It is about five feet long sometimes, and the sound of its rattle sends
terror into the heart of anyone who is near, as he knows that at any
moment the snake may dart out upon him with its hideous head aloft and
its wicked eye