1899.] EEPTILES OF THE MALAY PEIflNSTTLA AND SIAM. 633 



lizard, but instead of following it with "to-kay," it shouted "tuk-tu, 

 tuk-tu" several times. I could not see anything, so do not know 

 •whether the author of the cry w^as Gecko verf.icillatus or not, but 

 I have seen it stated in books that the call of G. verticillatus (at 

 any rate in Burma) is " tuk-tu." 



When caught the Tokay, young or old, tries hard to defend itself 

 by biting. It is of a bold and inquisitive nature. One day I held 

 up the lash end of a cutting-whip to one looking out of a hole in 

 the wall, and moved the lash about : this interested him very much ; 

 he came right out after it and seized it in his mouth, so I let go, 

 and while against the smooth vertical wall the lizard supported the 

 whole wei,^ht of the whip in his mouth, but after an unsuccessful 

 attempt to drag it into his hole, he gave up and dropped it. 



I am afraid the Tokay, besides its regular food of insects, eats the 

 smaller house-geckoes and its own young, for, though I have never 

 actually seen one do so, specimens of Hemidactylus frenatus, Gehyra 

 mutilata, and young Geclo verticillatus which I have placed in the 

 same glass case as an adult Tokay generally disappeared in a day 

 or two, and there was no hole by which they could have got out of 

 the cage. A Tokay has been seen to catch and eat a mouse, and 

 it is supposed they catch small birds in trees at night. 



The Tokay falls a victim at times to the Green and Black Tree- 

 Snake, Chrysopelea ornata, but not without a prolonged struggle. 

 Several instances of this have come before my notice. In one a 

 snake 1459 mm. long eventually swallowed a Tokay 311 mm. long, 

 after some hours of fighting ; most of the time each animal held 

 the other firmly in its jaw^s, and so intent were they, that they were 

 caught and carried indoors without letting go their hold. Another 

 time a snake 1243 mm. long had a similar encounter with a full- 

 grown Tokay. This took place in the yard of my house at Bangkok ; 

 eventually the lizard seemed to grow quite stupefied or paralyzed, 

 and fell an easy prej'' to the snake. 



Poj)ular beliefs. — It is not surprising that many properties are 

 attributed to an animal like the Tokay ; even some Europeans 

 believe not only that its bite is fatal, but that the " suction " of 

 its fingers causes painful blisters on the human skin. When a 

 new house is built, its inhabitants anxiously look out for the 

 appearance of a Tokay in it, and from various causes, such as 

 the number of days since the house w-as finished, or the 

 number of times it calls, they predict such and such a fortune to 

 the house and its inmates ; as far as I can make out, the general 

 idea is that the sooner the Tokay makes its appearance the better 

 luck is in store. And in most affairs of life the Siamese attach 

 importance to the cry of the Tokay : thus apparently for a Tokay 

 to call at the birth of: a child is good luck, and the oftener it repeats 

 » to-kay " the better. 



It also affords the natives a simple form of gambling which 

 requires no apparatus : the stakes and rules having been arranged 

 among the party, they just sit still and wait till a Tokay cries the 

 winning number. 



