240 TROPIC DAYS 



it had been caught napping. The specimen was not 

 preserved, although it was bottled. 



The blacks of this district are more nervous about 

 adders than any other snake, with the exception of 

 that known to them as the "Wat-tarn" (pronounce 

 the "a" as in cat), and believed to belong to the same 

 genus as the brown snake. This is a large snake, 

 reddish-brown in colour, the underside, for about half 

 the length, being bright orange, the tint gradually 

 subsiding to pale yellow towards the tail. Post-mortem 

 examination of the first specimen detected on this 

 Island cleared up a bush tragedy. A nest had been 

 built in a conspicuous spot by a pair of shrike thrushes, 

 which the blacks, according to locality, know as "Moor- 

 goody" and "Too-dring." The birds are the sweetest- 

 voiced of all natives, and become wondrous tame and 

 confiding. After the big spotted and blotched eggs 

 were hatched, the hen would perch on the side of the 

 nest within a foot of admirers, accepting compliments 

 with tilted head and bright and twinkling eyes. One 

 night the brood disappeared, and desperate things 

 were held in store if ever a snake were found in the 

 neighbourhood. Two days after, the alert dog gave 

 tongue, his language demanding urgency and extreme 

 caution. Within twenty yards of the site of the violated 

 nest he was found "setting" at a big snake, which had 

 raised the forepart of its body and appeared to be 

 concentrating its strength and agility on one fatal and 

 perfidious spring. But the faithful dog was watchful 

 too, and agile, as he crouched fearlessly across the 

 track of man's first enemy, with its crafty pose and 

 glittering eyes. The black boys stood afar off, for the 

 "Wat-tarn" is so arrogant and pugnacious that it does 

 not hesitate to attack a man, invariably with fatal 

 results if great vigilance be not exercised at least, 



