A SNAKE YARN.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 9, Issue 548, 13 July 1920, Page 2

A SNAKE YARN.

BY THE PRINTER'S DEVIL

In Fiji, it is snakes, not cats, which are the deadly enemies of feathered household pests. A recent is- ' sue of the Polynesian Gazette says j that a resident of Levuka had an experience with a nocturnal visitor in the form of a snake, measuring about 4ft Gin. in length. He was awakened by the canaries in a cage beginning ) to sing at about midnight, and a i scuffling noise. Proceeding to ascer- ; tain the cause of the .disturbance, he was surprised to find the snake i hanging by its tail on to a rafter of his house, it having forced its head I and *the greater portion of its body inside of the cage and was encircling the little bird preparatory to crushing it. The snake was immediately dispatched, and the bird saved. The resident said that this thing has occurred, for on one occasion he lost several canaries and there was no trace as to how they had disappeared. The above incident had undoubtedly solved the problem. The "Franklin and Pukekohe Times" read the above with much interest, and found it quite in order, except that there are no snakes in Fiji, and neither is there a place called Levuka in Fiji, this town being the capital of the Island of Ovalau. Maybe the "printer's devil" had to both provide and set his own copy: or maybe he was thinking of the harmless watersnakes, which keep to the water and do not climb up into bird-cages.