The Southern herald., 1900-08-17
SERPENT ON A HENS EGG
A snaks That Hatchsd Dat a Brood Of
Chickens.

Son0us and dangerous OF serpents mas
hatehed a flock Of chiekens-20 Of
them-and to feed and protect them
afterward in the manner Of the ordi-
nary barnyard fowl.
The hen-snake is dead. She died
in defending her brood against a
voraeiOus pig, the only animal that
can safely cope with a serpent.
Mr.. V. Hugo, Of EspiritO Santo,
Brazil, who sent Der skin to the Ana
tomical and Geological museum in
Berlin, tells the following story:
The snake that turned hen was
full-grown bushmaster, a reptile Of
which science knows little. Indeed,
after coming to the tropics, ] learned
that all science pretends to know
about the snake is more or less in
correct and wholly incomplete.
The natives name for the monster
is surukukas.
The specimen that hatched the
chickens was nearly is feet long asd
lived on the edge Of the forest, dry
and sandy locality.
The hen-snake was discovered at
her novel occupation by Nine. Mon
zas, a native poultry raiser, who sup
plies the European colony here.
Missing one Of her pet fowls, some
little time ago, she went to search for
it and located its remains, few tufts
of feathers and some drops Of blood,
near a bush on the edge Of the forest.
Looking closer she saw nest, such
as straying hens sometimes make for
themselves when the mother habit
strikes them, Nine. Monzas was
about to take away her supposed prop
erty when Kissing sound arrested
her steps-and incidentally saved her
life.
A giant bushmaster was Matching
on the chicken eggs and, observing
the intruder, raised its broad, three
cornered head and fixed its fiery eyes
on Nine. Monzas, cleaning viciously.
1t half opened its mouth and thrust
forth its long tongue.
The woman saw no more; she fled,
congratulating herself that she was
alive. The same evening she re-
ported her adventure at the German
club, and, though no one believed
her, some of us decided to investigate
for ourselves.
/ was among the Investigators, to-
gether with several members Of the
well-known firm Of Franz Mayer &
Co., and all Of us went near enough
to the nest to observe that Nine.
Monzas had told the truth. The
bushmaster sitting on the eggs
seemed to be one Of the giants Of its
kind and fully absorbed in the work it
had cut out for itself.
repeated the visit for several
afternoons, and on the fourth had the
pleasure of witnessing a mothers
pride and her cbildren's delight.
Twenty Of the two dozen eggs had
yielded little black and tan chicks,
as lively flock as ever searched for
bread crumbs.
They hoped about the fierce bush
master as unconcernedly as if she had
been the mildest Of barpyard fowls,
and some of them actually made bold
to prick the dark lozenges on their
foster-motber's skin.
Meanwhile the snake was basking
in the sun, stretched at full length,
apparently on the best Of terms with
herself and offspring. Many Euro
peans and several hundred natives
enjoyed this unusual spectacle from
the tree tops, for no one cared to ap-
proach the den after the bushmaster
had finished her self-imposed task.
Ny own observation was aided by ex-
cellent spy glasses, making deception
impossible.
To watch further developments the
German club hired a native boy, Fred
erigo, for we were curious to know
what the snake-mother would do to
procure food for the little ones, as
they couldn't live on insects alone,
even though there we're plenty Of
them in the neighborhood.
A few days afterward little Fred
erigo rushed into the breakfast room
in great agitation.
"The surakukas and the chicks are
off into the rice fields" he yelled.
Afterward he led me to a point of
vantage. This ia what l saw. The
yellow monster had raised itself to
its full height and bit off rice ears
by the dozen and threw them on the
ground, while the chicks were dane
ing about her, nibbling the welcome
food.
On the following day the bush
master was observed to take the
chicks to water, leading the Eay IN
hen fashion, the flock foll swing, peep
ing and picking food en- the way. Ar
rived at the river bed, the bushmas-