DO SNAKES JUMP?

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 68, 21 March 1931, Page 24

DO SNAKES JUMP?

This is tho season of snakes. Their habits arc discussed wherever they aro met. One of tho oldest controversies concerns whether or not snakes jump. I contend that they can and do jump, and in support of my contention I recount three experiences (writes C. E. Jackson, in tho Melbourne "Argus"). I once saw a roppcrhead coiled on the stump of a large tree, watching a bird about the size of a sparrow, which was flitting about a bush 4ft or so distant. Suddenly the snake launched itself horizontally at the bird. Its head was raised slightly and drawn back as it struck. Had tho bird kept its direction it would have been caught, but at tho last moment it turned away, so that the snake missed, although it must have touched the body feathers just behind the wing. The snake fell to tho ground, striking the earth full length with a graceless "wallop." It did not, however, seem to be in the least distressed by tho fall. Tko snake measured 3ft 2in. In its strike the head of the snake covered 4±'t "in, and the tail covered lft. I thiuk that the suako did its utmost in this effort. When I was riding through the Moo swamp one very hot day I was struck at by a snake which I estimated to be 3ft Gin in length. Its girth was very great. It was the thickest I have ever seen in a long experience of the bush. I believe also that the snake was the most beautiful I have seen. Apparently it had very recently east its skin, for it showed every scale distinctly on its back and upper sides, which were a brilliant black, except where tho sunlight caught the scales and made them appear to be silver-grey. The belly was a gorgeous vermillion, which extended, farther up the sides than is usual with this species.

A BUSHMAN'S EVIDENCE

As it struck, the snake seemed to rear up half .its length, and then to launch itself diagonally at my heel. It would have struck my heel except that I pressed my foot against the sido of tho horse. Before the suako fell its tail was Gin off tho ground and ISm from where it "took off"—a really fine performance for such a fat old warrior. My foot was not quite 3ft from the ground. I estimated that tho distance covered from tho "take off" to where the snake fell was sft Gin when measured by the head, and 18in when measured by the tail. The height from the ground reached by the head was 2ft 9in or lOin, and by the tail 6in. This fellow landed just as ungracefully as the other snake, and had better luck, for it escaped. Although I have had snakes "come at me" in various ways, the only other dear attempt at a jump I have experienced was that made by a brown snake 4ft Bin long. It was moving away from mo along a wire fence. When I was about 6ft behind it and was preparing to strike it with a long-handled shovel, the snake suddenly shot baclt at me straight ovor its tail. Although I sprang back as quickly as I could the snake almost hit my left knee. When it sprang its tail was just opposite a post, and there was a mark where the head landed, which was an inch or two more than 7ft from where its tail was at the "take off." The head travelled lift Sin or lOin, and the tail only 2ft 6in. Iv making its strike the snake's head seemed gradually to rise as it doubled back until it nearly reached my knee. I do not believe that the tail left tho ground, but I am nq£ sure because I was too closely engaged with its head.