SNAKES OF CEYLON. 223 



through low scrub, but if the snake lies still the chances are 

 it would escape detection, looking extremely like a small 

 branch itself. There is no doubt that its colouration is 

 decidedly protective. 



An observation of Mr. E. E. Green's in a recent letter 

 exemplifies this. He says : "On September 8, 1903, I 

 placed a branch with green foliage in the snake's cage. For- 

 merly all the different snakes coiled up together amongst 

 the dry foliage of a dead branch, but now they have sorted 

 themselves, the green whipsnakes {Dryophis mycterizans) 

 have moved on to the green branch, while the Tropidonotus 

 and Dendrophis (Dendrelaphis, F.W.) — both brown snakes — 

 have remained on the dead branch/ ' 



Often gazing up into trees a movement in the foliage, 

 twenty or more feet above, drew my attention to a snake 

 which when shot proved to be this species. I encountered 

 it more than once in holes in trees, sometimes detecting the 

 snake from the ground level with its head peering forth, 

 or when aloft investigating a likely hole for a bird's nest. In 

 the latter circumstances a cane thrust into the hole and 

 briskly stirred about effected its exit. Once the snake 

 vacated its quarters so hastily that it fell to the ground. On 

 one occasion in Colombo, I discovered one in the open and 

 pursued it, but it got into grass and disappeared beneath 

 a log. With some difficulty the log was overturned, but the 

 snake could not be seen, and yet the ground was such that 

 it was impossible for it to have escaped in any direction 

 unseen. After a considerable search a narrow hole was 

 discovered in the log in which the snake proved to have taken 

 refuge. On more than one occasion I have found its slough 

 entwined among the twigs of a crow's nest, which it had 

 evidently visited with the intention of disencumbering itself 

 of a worn-out vestment, as the slough was perfect or nearly 

 so. On one of these occasions I found the snake in a hole 

 in the same tree, and matched it with the slough. 



(6) Disposition: Mr. Ingleby, quoted by Ferguson, says 

 that it is a very lively and plucky snake, and the fact that 

 Mr. Green found one devouring a large bloodsucker lizard 

 (Calotes versicolor) — a truculent creature when brought to 



