272 THE SNAKES 



fore all over the area with which these pages 

 connect themselves. 



The mambas which I have seen and killed 

 in Zambezia were, on the average, about 7 or 8 

 feet long. In some cases of a dull, greenish 

 black ; in others of a fine transparent green. 

 This curious variation of colour, however, is 

 believed to be only indicative of the reptile 

 having recently sloughed his skin ; the newly 

 acquired integument gradually darkening in 

 colour until the characteristic hue of what is 

 somewhat unnecessarily called the " black 

 mamba " is attained. Beneath the belly these 

 snakes are white. 



The mamba is an appallingly venomous 

 reptile, its bite being said to be followed by 

 certain death in from ten to twenty minutes. 

 Apparently this creature spends as much time 

 in the branches of trees as upon the earth's 

 surface ; especially is this the case in the spring 

 and early summer, when, doubtless, it subsists 

 largely upon the young birds at that time leaving 

 the parent nests. Mambas travel through the 

 leafy branches at an astonishingly rapid pace ; 

 where the trees are continuous they pass from 

 one to another with a smooth, speedy, gliding 

 motion which must be seen to be appreciated, 

 On land their method of progression, with about 

 one-third of the body raised from the ground, is 

 so swift that the fleetest runner, if followed by 

 them, would have but little if any chance of 

 escape. Fortunately, however, mambas, like 

 all other inhabitants of the wilds — if we except 



