200 NATURAL HISTORY SKETCHES. 



snake, and might have been the young. None of the 

 snakes here run to a very large size : five feet will 

 perhaps be about the average length. The largest I 

 ever saw was a black-snake, killed by my mate in a thick 

 scrub on the beach, near Mordialloc, which we called the 

 two-mile scrub, certainly the worst place for snakes that 

 I knew. It was six feet five inches long, and very 

 thick. On showing it to a Black, he observed, " Ah ! 

 me know that fellow long time." I think both the 

 black and the carpet snake were equally common with 

 us. We generally used to find the black snake more 

 among the timber and thick scrub than the other; but 

 in the dry season we were sure to find both near water. 

 There is a strong scent peculiar to the Australian snake, 

 and I have often smelt one long before I saw it. 



The carpet-snake runs much about the same length as 

 the black-snake, but is rather thinner. I generally 

 found them in more open places ; and often on the plains 

 in dry weather, they would lie coiled up in a crab-hole, 

 or print of a bullock's hoof. The carpet-snake is of a 

 brown colour, with a yellowish tinge and light belly, the 

 shades varying much, according to age and season. It 

 is a dangerous plan to let heaps of glass bottles accu- 

 mulate near a bush-tent, for they attract snakes much in 

 hot weather. 



The little whip-snake is the smallest of all, being 

 hardly thicker than one's finger, and rarely over a foot in 

 length. It rather resembles the blind- worm at home in 

 colour and appearance, but it is longer, and the tail 



