ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



F/,„(„. h,/ K. L. DUmnr.i 

 I'lFF ADDER 



wliicli wind tlirouah tlie forests in various di- 

 rections. These Kafir paths are made by the 

 natives, who always walk single file. They are 

 merely tracks worn by the feet of the natives. 

 Many a native has met his death by being 

 bitten on the head or neck or shoulders whilst 

 passing under a branch in the foliage on wliieh 

 one of these venomous snakes lay concealed. 



"One day when out buck-hunting I was leis- 

 urely riding along a Kafir path in the outskirts 

 of a forest wlieii suddenly a black streak shot 

 out from a clump of stunted bush a few yards 

 ahead, and next instant I saw it was a great 

 Black Mamba. and that it had buried its fangs 

 up to the liilt in a burly Zulu's bare shoulder. 



"The native with a hoarse yell, bounded into 

 the air, fell, recovered himself, and rushed 

 away at full speed down the path. Making .1 

 detour to avoid the snake. I came upon the man 

 ten minutes later in the throes of death. 



"Naturally, in all cases death would nol 

 have been so startlingly sudden, but the man 

 received a full bite in the shoulder-muscles by 

 a large and vigorous snake, .md running at 

 such great sjieed the blood coursed with tre- 

 mendous ra))idity through his blood vessels, and 

 quickly carried the venom to every part. 



"The Black Mamba, as a general rule, has 

 some secure retreat to which it decamps when 

 alarmed. If a !Mamba be surprised w-hen out in 

 the open, and if you happen to be between it 

 and its retreat, it will not rush off in an op- 

 posite direction as most animals would do, but 



will instantly dart olf at terrific speed, ap- 

 parently charging right at you. If a Mamba 

 should act in this manner, and if you are not 

 prepared to defend yourself, your safest plan 

 is to sprint off without an instant's delay. 

 Whilst travelling at great s])eed, a Mamba can 

 strike right and left with consummate ease, with- 

 out apparently .abating its speed in the slight- 

 (st. To stand in the |)ath of a Mamba rushing 

 oti' to its lair, is fraught with the gravest dan- 

 ger even If well armed. At such times the 

 nerves are none too steady and it is as likely 

 as not th.it even an expert with the gun will 

 miss his .lim. Tlure is no time for reloading 

 not e\en time to t.ike second aim should the 

 giMi be .1 double-b.irrelled one. before the snake 

 has swept past, .md in the passing deposited its 

 death-dealing venom. 



"When making off througli the bushveld. the 

 Black Mamba, with a rapid and continuous 

 succession of forward propulsions glides over 

 the stubble, tlie head and anterior part of its 

 bodv being sometimes several feet off the 

 ground. \A'hen a bush fire is raging, Mambas 

 may be seen escaping in this way at a swift 

 |)ace. ^'iewed at a distance they seem to be 

 gliding over the to])s of the long grass and low 

 shrubs. Cases arc on record of men being bit- 

 ten as high u]) as the thigh, when mounted on 

 horseback. ' 



R. L. D. 



COLONIZING THE BIRD OF PARADISE. 



The Greater Bird of Paradise on Little Tobago 

 Island. 



NO\\' that the protection of birds is receiv- 

 ing the attention it so long has deserved 

 any means for obtaining the preservation 

 of threatened species is of interest. Birds of 

 Paradise have been among the most persistently 

 ))ersecuted for millinery purposes, and it has 

 seemed that nothing could prevent their total 

 extermination. The Greater Bird of Paradise 

 has suffered probably more than any other 

 species and is now so rare that for several 

 years no living s))ecimens have been obtainable. 

 When this f.ict was brought to the attention of 

 .Sir U'illiam Ingram, he at once formulated a 

 jjlan that is almost unitjue in the annals of bird 

 ])rotection. 



The first step was to secure a suitable pre- 

 serve. This was accomplished by the purchase 

 of Little Tobago, an island lying somewhat to 

 the northeast of Trind.ul. Mr. Wilfred Frost, 

 a well-known live bird collector, was then sent 



