SNAKES OF CEYLON. 177 



(d) Nocturnal or diurnal : The dhaman is diurnal in habit. 

 One meets it usually in the daytime in quest of food, and 

 nearly all the specimens brought to me have been killed in 

 daylight. I have frequently observed it methodically prying 

 into places likely to harbour some rat or other creature. 

 When the quarry is flushed the dhaman pursues in hot haste. 



(e) Progression : It appears to be Very fleet in its move- 

 ments, but its speed is deceptive, for on one occasion, when I 

 chased one using its full endeavours to escape, I found I had 

 traversed 38 yards, while the reptile covered 18. It measured 

 5 feet 9 J inches. This was in the open. Over rough ground 

 or in jungle I would lay odds on the dhaman if the distances 

 were reversed. 



(/) Hissing: This species not only utters a sibilant hiss, 

 which is clearly audible at close quarters, but under extreme 

 excitement it makes a curious groaning sound, to which I have 

 already alluded. 



(g) Sloughing: Miss Hopley says of a specimen caged at 

 Regent's Park, London, that it cast its skin about once a 

 month. 



Food.— The dhaman is very catholic in its tastes, devouring 

 almost anything that chance brings within its reach, but it 

 displays a Very marked partiality to a batrachian diet, doubt- 

 less because toads, and more especially frogs, are extremely 

 plentiful, easily captured, and too defenceless to offer much 

 resistance. The possibility of taste influencing its selection 

 may be dismissed, since flesh, however toothsome, must fail 

 to impart its relish when clothed in feathers, fur, or integu- 

 ments. Perhaps, though the texture of these vestments may 

 gratify the mouth or gullet as keenly as the flesh may 

 conciliate the peptic glands. When hunger presses it is 

 stimulated to make full use of its courage, vigour, and speed in 

 shikaring the object of its gastric affections. The incident of 

 the rat falling through the ceiling cloth demonstrates this. 

 Blanford mentions one he saw pursuing a lizard (Calotes 

 versicolor) at full speed, which it caught, and then throwing its 

 body over its victim speedily devoured. This practice of 

 holding down its prey when troublesome to manage, or seized 



28 6(6)20 



