
BLACK SWAN 65 
Where found.—This bird is found over the eastern and southern 
portions of the Australian continent, and likewise the greater part 
of Tasmania; also on the south coast of New Guinea. It is par- 
ticularly plentiful on the southern coast of Victoria, where it resorts 
to breed in the numerous inlets and bays; also on the islands 
adjacent to the mainland. Capital sport is to be had during the 
moulting season by chasing down and capturing these birds by 
means of a fast sailing yacht. It is still found in large numbers in 
the south-west of Western Australia—a locality which took its 
original name, ‘‘Swan River Settlement,” from these birds. The 
black swan frequents the rivers, estuaries of the sea, lakes, lagoons, 
and pools of water of any extent. In the white man, however, 
wherever the country has been brought under his dominion, the 
black swan finds an enemy so deadly that in many parts where it 
was formerly numerous, it has become almost, if not entirely, extir- 
pated ; this has been particularly the case on some of the large 
rivers of Tasmania. 

Carper Syaxe—Worelia variegata. 
Description.—This is one of: the largest snakes found in 
Australia. The common size usually met with is 7 or 8 feet long, 
- but individuals from 10 to 12 feet have been obtained in some 
localities. Its skin is of a ground colour, which is nearly uniform 
pale brown, having a tinge of greenish grey, with an irregular 
darker carpet-like pattern, usually of a long narrow dark streak, 
surmounted by one of light ground colour of the same width, form- 
ing a double band along each side from the head to near the base of 
the tail. The back is marked out into three or four rows of 
irregular lozenge-shaped patches of the pale ground ¢olour, usually 
with a blackish-brown blotch in the middle, and margined by a 
broad blackish-brown outline. ‘The pattern of the colouring is very 
variable ; it has some resemblance to some of the commoner sorts of 
Kidderminster carpets, as suggested by the popular name. of carpet 
snake, which has been applied to it for many years. ‘The upper 
part of the head is of the pale ground colour, with one longitudinal 
streak from the nostril through the eye to the lateral angle of the 
head. ‘The belly is pale-yellowish. ‘Che abdominal and subcaudal 
plates are irregularly marked with blackish-brown blotches, The 
under part of the head and the neck is pale without spots. All the 
teeth are small and solid, without groove or canal ; no poison gland 
is developed. The teeth are curved backwards. ‘There are two on 
the intermaxillaries in front of the mouth, eleven on each of the 
upper jaws, and twelve on each palate bone, of which the three 
anterior are the largest; the first is one-sixth of an inch long. In 
the lower jaw there are from fifteen to seventeen teeth. Mr. G. 
Krefft, writing in 1869, remarks: ‘‘ Whether the carpet snake is 
only a variety of the diamond snake, or whether it deserves to be 
classed as a separate kind, has not been satisfactorily proved, but 
as both snakes are totally distinct in colour, and restricted in their 
