108 SNAKES OF CEYLON. 



Daring the rains the buff-striped keel back distributes 

 itself broadcast all over the land and will be found in grassy 

 and cultivated areas of open country, but does not favour 

 arid plains nor jungle tracts. It is commonly to be met with 

 in gardens, grass farms, golf links, and similar situations about 

 cantonments, and further afield in " crops " or any waste 

 ground that has some sparse cover and might harbour 

 frogs. 



It sometimes wanders into outhouses and bungalows, and 

 especially in such of the latter where pot plants are available. 

 In Rangoon once I had as many as four sent to me in one 

 morning by a neighbour who flushed them in his verandah 

 whilst re -arranging his ferns, &c. 



The crepuscular gloom beneath the foliage of closely 

 congregated pot plants and the humidity derived from daily 

 watering furnishes an ideal environment for mosquitoes and 

 other insects upon which frogs subsist, and there are always 

 some pots with a chip out of their basal rims large enough to 

 act as doorways to cosy quarters — from a batrachian stand- 

 point — beneath. The same environment offers effectual 

 concealment for the little buffstripes and a plethora of its 

 food supply. One of the four snakes above alluded to had 

 swallowed a single frog, and another was replete with three 

 inside. A specimen sent to our Society by Mr. Dwane from 

 Madras was discovered on the horn of a living buffalo, a very 

 curious situation for an}^ snake. 



When not roaming about the country it often secretes 

 itself in holes in the ground, or takes refuge in the masonry of 

 drains, culverts, wells, outhouses, and such situations. I 

 have sometimes detected one with its head issuing from a 

 hole in the ground, but the slightest movement on my part 

 caused a sudden retraction below the surface, followed after 

 a few minutes by its re -appearance, when, if satisfied that the 

 coast was clear, it emerged and glided off. 



(b) Disposition: This is a remarkably inoffensive little 

 creature. Of all the snakes I know, it ranks among the 

 most gentle, for I have picked it up scores of times in its native 

 haunts, and I have never once been bitten or even struck at. 

 Mr. MillaiTl writes to me : " It is the most gentJe snake that 1 



