SPITTING COBRA 
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fied as Naja nigricollis by Dr. F. Werner of Vienna, who 
actually saw a specimen spit at a colleague of his. 
As far as is known the spitting snake of this country has 
never been scientifically identified, but it is probably Naja 
nigricollis ; two sub-species or varieties are recorded from 
Uganda, viz. : mossambicus and melanoleuca, their difference 
from the type being mainly in coloration. 
I was recently travelling between Athi River Station 
and Kitui and observed two specimens of this snake ; the first 
was coiled on an ant hill about 9 a.m. on the north side of 
Chumbi Hill and when disturbed it hastily retired into the ant 
hill ; the following day, between Machakos and the Athi cable- 
way near the Iwai River, a young dog belonging to the District 
Commissioner suddenly stopped and began to bark at a tiny 
bush which was growing out of an ant-hill close to the path, 
and immediately a snake rose up out of the bush in the 
typical attitude of the cobra and I distinctly saw it distend 
its hood to a width of about 4^ inches. It swayed its 
head slightly and gradually drew it back and I expected 
any second to see it strike the dog, but instead of that 
a stream of colourless liquid suddenly shot out of its mouth 
into the dog’s face and the snake dropped and wriggled into 
the bush ; the dog rushed at it but was foiled by the twigs, 
and after another small feint at striking the snake slid down a 
hole in the ant-hill. I was riding a mule at the time and the 
incident was over so quickly that I was unable to take any 
steps to kill the snake. 
At first the dog did not seem to have suffered at all, but in 
about ten minutes it began to rub its head on the ground and 
was in evident discomfort, and when we reached the camp 
about half an hour afterwards its right eye was completely 
closed and the vicinity of the eye was very much swollen. 
We poured some milk into the eye and next morning 
it was distinctly better, and in a few days the effects had 
quite worn off. 
In general appearance these snakes were blackish grey on 
the back and much lighter below and the approximate length 
was 5 feet or perhaps a little more. 
Some years ago on the edge of the Yatta I was attacked 
