AUSTRALIAN SNAKES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19688, 15 January 1926, Page 5

AUSTRALIAN SNAKES.

FOND OF STERILE SURROUNDINGS. BLACK, COPPERHEAD, AND CARPET. Among 1 th© most amilian of Victorian snakes are the tiger, the black, the copperhead. and the brown—the bite of any of which may bo fatal. Most formidable of ■all is the tiger, in places abundant. Pie is at home on dry, rocky hillsides, or in dense riverside tangles. The tiger is a bom tighter, and unlike most other snakes, ho will often refuse to move out of one’s path, writes Donald Thomson in the Melbourne Argus. My first experiences with the tiger at home were memorable. I had climbed on to an isolated tree standing at the edge of a river to examine a nest when I found myself marooned with a tiger snake. The next experience, a few weeks later, should by all the rules of the game, have been the last. While bird-nesting I parted the leaves o a low bush and put my head in—to find myself confronted by a largo tiger snake coiled up in the bush. Had he struck, at a distance of a few inches, X should have been a dead man. Fortunately the tiger is not often found in trees. Like the black snake, he will readily enter the water, swimming easily on the surface, or diving to the bottom, where ho is able to remain for a very long time. Ho is the most aggressive of Victorian snakes, and has the habit of lying motionless when one approaches, at the same time flattening his neck threateningly. Most snakes are by no means beautiful, but the tiger is of a dull brownish colour, more or loss banded with blade. Romo specimens are splendidly marked, the tiger-like bands being well developed. The black snake is a lover of the big swamps, and, like the tiger, swims well. One of the most unpleasant experiences of the bird watcher is to find himself in a snake-haunted swamp. Every now and then a snake will glide unconcernedly by, or drop with a splash into the water. About Melbourne, especially on the foothills of the Daudenongs, the copperhead is 'plentiful. He is a handsome fellow of a glossy’ purplish-black above, marked on the sides and under-surface with a rich reddish colour. Each flood year, when the Yarra overflows its banks, hundreds of snakes, chiefly tigers, are washed down among floating debris. In spring they make for the outer riverside suburbs in great numbers. Two years ago a farmer near Heidelberg disposed of about 115 snakes in a single season. The largest and mast formidable-looking of all our snakes —the carpet snake—is really one of.the most harmless. A typical member of the python group, it is nonvenomous. One needs some little encouragement freely to handle snakes—even nonvenomous ones. Even after keeping a carpet snake for some time it is necessary to handle her often in order to Iceep one’s courage up. Generally it is an easy matter to grip any snake, hut it is something of a. puzzle lo know how to let go! From time to time we have captured poisonous snakes alive, principally tigers and copperheads. The equipment of the snake-hunter is simple enough—a forked stick and a bag, that is all. Once wo marked down for capture several snakes basking in the sun in a thicket of African box thorn standing in a lagoon. Tho first snako I attacked hissed nastily, then emitted a loud sound, almost like a bark, and shot into tho black w r atcr at my feet. I retired in disorder. When all was quiet once more we tried again. The next snake struck savagely and hissed as it, too, dived into tho dark water. It is often assorted that snakes “fascinate” their prey, but birds and animals, as » rule, appear to be unconscious of the presence of a snake, and display little fear. There are notable exceptions to this, particularly monkeys, which show terror at the sight of a snako. I have seen sparrows in numbers in a box thorn hedge infested with tiger snakes. Mice and sparrows placed in the cage with the carpet snako showed not the least alarm, the sparrow actually perching upon tho snake.