ON THE COMMON INDIAN SNAKES. 629 



Mussoorie and in the Dun, and he once shot a serpent eagle (Gircaetus 

 gallicus) which he saw stoop at something in a patch of grass, and 

 found no less than 7 snakes of this species in its crop showing 

 how plentiful it must be in that part of the Himalayas. Theobald* 

 says that in Burma it inhabits grass land and paddy fields. From 

 these observations it will be seen that it is by no means a desert 

 snake such as its name suggests. 



Habits and Disposition. — Very few specimens have reached me 

 alive, but the few I have seen and played with showed me that it 

 is a very active snake, very much on the alert, and quick in 

 movement. It displays much spirit, and I had to treat it with 

 respect and caution to avoid being bitten. One specimen I had 

 lay reclining on a branch, and when I seized it by the tail slipped 

 off, and began a most vigorous corkscrew contortion which had the 

 effect of snapping its tail in my fingers when it immediately made 

 off. This crafty manoeuvre is practised by other snakes and parti- 

 cularly by the keelbacks (Tropidonoti) which accounts for so many 

 of the specimens brought in to me having imperfect tails. The 

 fact that Jerdonf found one in the act of swallowing so truculent 

 and dangerous a snake as the Echis shows that it can be both 

 plucky and vicious. Theobald^ remarks on the activity of the 

 specimens he saw in Burma. It is obviously of diurnal habit 

 judging from the information I invariably received from its 

 captors. 



Food. — I have known a frog taken once, lizards of the genus 

 Mabuia twice, and Calotes once. Jerdon's record of a viper 

 (Echis) being overpowered by this species is indeed very remark- 

 able. 



The Sexes. — Females in Fyzabad I found largely predominated 

 over males, 16 of the former coming to bag against 6 of the 

 latter. In Almora too last year the only specimens I got, four in 

 number, were all females. Both sexes grow to about the same 

 length. The male claspers I found peculiar, differing from these 

 organs in other snakes in that when forcibly extruded by digital 



* Rept. Brit. Burma, p. 43. 



t Jourl., As. Soc, Bengal, xxii, p. 529. 



X Cat. Rept., Brit. Burma, 1886, p. 43. 



. 



