n6 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA 



A very common species of back fanged snake in the 

 Sabi Bush is the long, whippy, and very active Sand or 

 Grass Snake, which is easily recognized by being marked 

 lengthways in yellow and green or black stripes. These 

 snakes are, practically speaking, harmless to man and 

 the domestic animals, but they do a good deal of damage 

 to young wild birds. A pair of wire-tailed swallows once 

 built a nest on my veranda, in which they had brought 

 out and successfully reared several young ones. All 

 of these except one had left the nest, though they and the 

 parent birds would return to it at night. The backward 

 youngster, which was a day or two behind the others 

 in acquiring enough strength to fly, was left all day alone 

 in the nest, and fed at intervals. One day I heard a 

 great noise, and going out found the old swallows fluttering 

 round the nest. From the eaves of the roof protruded 

 the head and fore part of a grass snake which had seized 

 the young swallow, and was trying to drag it back under 

 the roof. The bird was struggling desperately. On 

 seeing me the snake let go its prey, which fell to the 

 ground, and I picked it up still alive, but after a few 

 struggles it died, evidently having received a poisonous 

 bite from the snake. 



The Tiger Snake is another of the same family, and 

 is a yellowish snake, spotted with brown ; it also is a great 

 hunter of young birds and has been found busy in a 

 weaver bird colony. 



The Red-lipped Snake is to be distinguished from its 

 upper lip being of a bright red colour ; it has large light 

 brown-coloured scales and a black band on its head. Like 

 the preceding, its fangs are set too far back to be very 

 dangerous. It is a small snake, seldom exceeding a couple 

 of feet or so in length, and lives mainly on rats, mice, 

 lizards, frogs and insects 



