CRESTED SNAKE. 375 



In a subsequent communication my friend fur- 

 nishes me with more tangible information respecting 

 this mysterious reptile. — " Feb. 5th, 1846. I have 

 conversed with Dr. Palmer, who, I remembered, had 

 informed me, he had seen one of the Crested Snakes 

 about which your curiosity has been particularly ex- 

 cited. He tells me that in the neighbourhood of a 

 plantation called Drummond Castle, in St David's 

 parish, without being more than rare, he has known 

 specimens to have been found. He was present on 

 a medical visit there some years ago, when the plant- 

 ation people brought to the house one that they had 

 just killed. Besides its remarkable crest, he says, he 

 was particularly struck with its shape. It is the 

 thickest Snake of its size he had seen. Although 

 its length did not exceed four feet, it had the bulk of 

 a Yellow Snake {Chilahothrus inornatus) of seven feet. 

 It had a sort of galeated head, with a crest like that 

 of the guinea-fowl. Its colour was that of dull ashy 

 ochre, having large well-defined spots along the back. 

 He states that the negroes, in speaking of its habits, 

 represented it as making a noise, not unlike the 

 crowing of a cock, and as being addicted to preying 

 on poultry. 



" Drummond Castle is about eight miles from 

 Kingston, in the immediate vicinity of some interest- 

 ing waterfall scenery ; remarkable as the hiding- 

 place of the freebooter, Three-fingered Jack, so 

 familiarly known as a melo-dramatic hero. The 

 scenery of The Falls, as this cascade district is called, 

 is very romantic. The imagination of no painter of 

 theatrical spectacles can surpass the wild wonders of 



