A POPULAR TREATISE ON INDIAN SNAKES. 265 



exhibited a very nasty temper, and struck out most maliciously at me 

 whenever I approached the glass of the cage : often two or three 

 strokes were delivered in rapid succession, and with such force that the 

 creature must have hurt itself considerably. The stroke is delivered 

 upwards, as though to wound the face, a peculiarity also noticed by 

 Mr. Millard. When infuriated, prior to delivering its stroke, it retracts 

 the head and forebody into an S, slightly erects itself and gives vent to 

 a peculiar sound which I have heard no other snake produce, and which 

 reminds me of a cat at bay. Cantor likens it to the sound of a vibrating 

 tuning-fork. During the production of this warning note the snake 

 compresses itself anteriorly [i.e., flattens itself in a direction contrary to 

 that manifested by the cobra), the spine being arched about the neck, 

 and the throat markedly pouched. 



Food. — The dhaman is very catholic in its tastes, devouring almost 

 anything that chance brings within its reach, but it displays a very 

 marked partiality to a batrachian diet, doubtless because toads, and 

 more especially frogs, are extremely plentiful, easily captured, and too 

 defenceless to offer much resistance. The possibility of taste influenc- 

 ing its selection may be dismissed, since flesh, however toothsome, must 

 fail to impart its relish when clothed in feathers, fur, or integuments. 



Perhaps though, the texture of these vestments may gratify the mouth 

 or gullet as keenly as the flesh may conciliate the peptic glands. 

 When hunger presses it is stimulated to make full use of its courage, 

 vigour, and speed in shikaring the object of its gastric affections. 

 The incident of the rat falling through the ceiling cloth demonstrates 

 this. Blanford* mentions one he saw pursuiug a lizard ( Calotes ver- 

 sicolor) at full speed, which it caught, and then throwing its body over 

 its victim speedily devoured. This practice of holding down its prey 

 when troublesome to manage, or seized in a position unfavourable for 

 swallowing, is characteristic, and it can exert a very considerable 

 strength in this manner. Mr. Hampton tells me he has seen it hold a 

 rat down with its body, pressing it tightly on the ground, and Mr. 

 Millard gives me a very striking example of this behaviour. He says : 

 " One of these which we were keeping in the same cage as our python 

 recently caught a rat (which was put in for food) by the tail. The 

 rat turned, and bit the dhaman severely, and the dhaman killed it 

 by holding on to the tail, and pressing the rat against the body 



* Jour. As. Soc, Bengal, Vol. XXXIX, p. 372. 



