Water snake

“ Their moderately long tapering tail is used as a propelling power. Exteriorly, too, water snakes have smooth non-imbricated scales, though exceptions exist in those species which frequent both land and water, as the Tropidonoti, a large family of which our common English ring snake is a member, and which, as their name denotes, have all keeled scales, from τρόπις, τρόπιδος, a keel. These, also, can elevate their ribs, and so flatten the body in the water, another assistant in swimming. ”

“ Venomous serpents are numerous: particularly the Hydrophis, or Water-Snake, very common in the neighbouring seas, where it feeds on fishes. The back part of the body and tail being much compressed, and vertically raised, endows it with the capacity of swimming. ”

“ The tanks, or ponds, are full of water snakes, which, when bathing, we often amused ourselves with endeavouring to catch, and never received the least injury from any of them. There is a land snake, however, called the Hooded, or spectacle snake, (from the appearance of a pair of spectacles on the back part of the head,) the bite of which is very deadly, but even of these I have seen great numbers tamed, and carried about in baskets through the barracks, by the natives, for a kind of livelihood. ”

“ Some of the water-snakes are very beautifully marked with blue, gold, or green bars on a velvety black ground; they glide and coil themselves in and out of the coral branches. I was much struck by the immense size of some sea-anemones, as large as a wash-hand basin: these also, are of all sorts of colours. These are the chosen play-fellows of most exquisite tiny fish, like morsels of black velvet, with a pattern exactly like a fairy peacock's feather on either gill. ”

“ Of the Swamp-Snakes there are three sorts, which are very near akin to the Water-Snakes, and may be rank'd amongst them.
The Belly of the first is of a Carnation or Pink Colour; his Back a dirty brown; they are large, but have not much Venom in them, as ever I learnt. The next is a large Snake, of a brown Dirt Colour, and always abides in the Marshes.
The last is mottled, and very poisonous. They dwell in Swamps Sides, and Ponds, and have prodigious wide Mouths, and (though not long) arrive to the Thickness of the Calf of a Man's Leg. ”

“ If he is allowed to touch the arm he immediately coils round it. A snake is sometimes found on the roofs of cottages. The roof in such cases is low, and connected by a mass of ivy with the ground, overgrown too with moss and weeds.
The mowers, who sleep a good deal under the hedges, have a tradition that a snake will sometimes crawl down a man’s throat if he sleeps on the ground with his mouth open. There is also a superstition among the haymakers of snakes having been bred in the stomachs of human beings, from drinking out of ponds or streams frequented by water snakes. ”

“ Sea-snakes shed their skin frequently; but it peels off in pieces as in lizards, and not as in the freshwater snakes, in which the integuments come off entire. Several species are remarkable for the extremely slender and prolonged anterior part of the body, and very small head. The eye is small, with round pupil, which is so much contracted by the light when the snake is taken out of the water that the animal becomes blinded and is unable to hit any object it attempts to strike. ”

“ As I watched, I saw the long snake-like body emerge from the water, and the estimate I had made of the size in the afternoon seemed pitifully inadequate. Presently a second and a third snake arose from the water, and then more, until the whole sea and the air above it seemed a writhing mass of huge snakes. I remember wondering why the watch of the Coast Guard cutter didn’t sound an alarm, and then I realized that the thing had arisen on our port side and the cutter was on the starboard. ”

“ To distinguish a pelagic from a fresh-water snake is, however, far easier than to distinguish species among themselves. They present great varieties of form and colour, but the transitions are very gradual, and the female is generally larger than the male, and sometimes of a different colour, which adds to the difficulty. ”

“ There are many varieties of this large family; some, like the rattlesnake, cannot climb or swim, but crawl along the ground, the terror of unwary travellers who may tread upon them in the dim forest-paths; others are Water-snakes; some, like the Boa and Python, are dreaded, although not venomous, because, of their enormous strength, and power of crushing their victims in their close embrace; others, like the Cobra, for their deadly bite; while many—we might almost say most—snakes are quite harmless, for it has been reckoned that not more than one in ten is venomous ”

“ The common Ringed Snake of our fields will often, as it is said, go into the water in the pursuit of frogs, its favourite prey.
The smaller harmless Snakes are exceedingly numerous in warm countries, and inhabit various localities and situations. Rocky places, old dry walls, heaps of stones and rubbish, are favourite haunts of many, others glide among the heaths of upland plains, and others rustle the fallen leaves beneath the trees of the damp forest; some live in the long grass of savannahs, some in the dense and impenetrable jungle ”

“ We followed the main trails which followed the watersheds. Between these, we plunged down close-leaved, sweating tunnels of underbrush, through tormenting clouds of flies. In the bottoms the slither of our moccasins in the black mud would wake clumps of water snakes, big as a man's head, that knotted themselves together in the sun. There is a certain herb which snakes do not love which we rubbed on our ankles, but we could hear them rustle and hiss as we ran, and the hot air was all a-click and a-glitter with insects' wings ”

“ Kill your first snake,
And you'll conquer all your enemies"—
is often recalled by the first snake one meets in the spring, or at sight of the earliest fern. I find few children can be persuaded that our common snakes are not "poisonous." And here and there throughout New England it is believed that the common water-adder (Tropidonotus sipedon) is most venomous, and that it carries "a sting in its tail"! ”

“ The snake is also accused of breaking and sucking eggs—some say it is the hard-set eggs he prefers; whether that be so or no, eggs are certainly often found broken and the yolk gone. When the young fledglings fall out of the nest on to the ground they run great risk from snakes.
When sitting in a punt in summer, moored a hundred yards or more from shore, I have often watched a snake swim across the lake, in that place about 300 yards wide. In the distance all that is visible is a small black spot moving steadily over the water. ”

“ Almost as pretty as this little dweller on the mountains are some of the water snakes, which are often iridescent, and change in tints of red, purple, crimson, orange, and green. Good swimmers and fishers, they pass a happy life among the lily-pads. ”

“ Questioning the intelligent keeper, he tells us that when fresh ophidian inmates arrive, they almost invariably go to the water, and though for a time they refuse food, they always drink. On several occasions some have drunk so eagerly that the water has visibly sunk in the tank. These were the larger snakes, of course. He does ‘not believe they would live without water.’ He then tells us the story of the Amphisbæna over again, the snake that lived for six months on milk only, and which was chronicled in the zoological magazines of the day, and has figured in books ever since. ”

“ A gorged snake—that is one that has just taken a full meal—may be sluggish but in a majority of cases he will crawl away and hide in some secure place till the process of digestion is over. Do not go near a tub if you are afraid of water for you can get drowned in it about as easy as you can get bitten by a snake in the woods and to wind up the subject, not one-tenth of the people who get snake bitten, die from it. A very few do die but most of them die from the bad treatment they receive afterwards. ”

“ In addition to the amphibians mentioned, it feeds occasionally on fish, mice, and small birds. The young Snake takes worms, tadpoles, and the young of newts, frogs, and toads. It swims well and often enters the water to obtain its prey. Although an agile reptile, it may be caught without difficulty where the ground is not too rich in mouse runs or too well covered with furze. ”

“ The eye is generally large. Their coloration consists often of bright hues, and sometimes resembles that of their surroundings. They feed on animals which likewise lead an arboreal life, rarely on eggs. Poisonous as well as innocuous snakes are represented in this category. (4) Freshwater snakes, living in or frequenting fresh waters; they are excellent swimmers and divers. The nostrils are placed on the top of the snout and can be closed whilst the animal is under water. Their body is covered with small scales and the ventral scutes are mostly narrow ”

“ Mbiaçai, the land opposite the island of Santa Catalina.
In this country there is a river called Urquaie, [272] wherein- 84 - we have seen snakes which are called in Spanish Schue Eiiba Thuescha. [273] They are fourteen paces in length and two fathoms thick in the middle of the body. They do great harm, to wit, when a man takes a bath or an animal drinks in a river or would swim across it, such a snake, swimming under water, comes to the man or animal, puts its tail around them under water and there eats them. ”

“ The habitat frequently furnishes a key to the character of the snake. The venomous varieties choose by preference the rocky uplands, either open or sparsely wooded. The harmless snakes live almost exclusively in low swampy lands or along water courses. Venomous snakes are purely terrestrial. One was never known to ascend a tree. ”

“ Many snakes are gregarious during the breeding season, and great numbers of males have been seen wriggling round the females, forming with their coils huge lumps or an entangled mass like a ball. The more or less prehensile tail with which thoroughly aquatic snakes, such as Hydrophis and Acrochordus, are provided, is no doubt of use in 85 facilitating the pairing, when it has to take place in the water. Our European Water-snakes pair on land. ”

“ Many were harmless, brightly-colored, water snakes, which wriggled at their approach, but besides these, there were dozens of moccasins sunning themselves on the roots,—great, sullen, sluggish reptiles they were, many being as big around as a man's leg. ”

“ But they appear to be never at a loss. On a boarded room, or even a marble floor, they will manage progression of some sort,—many by the pressure of the tail to push themselves forward, and others with an action that can be compared only with swimming. With the same rapid, undulating motion as swimming, the active snakes skim through the grass, or over soft herbage, on which they seem to make no impression. Their swift sinuations are almost invisible to the eye. You only know that a snake was there, and now has vanished. ”

“ One more singular example of periodical repose, but which can scarcely be called either hibernation or estivation, is seen in the sea snakes, the Hydrophidæ of the Eastern Ocean. Of these Dr. Cantor affirms that they are seen so soundly asleep on the surface of the water, that a ship passing among them does not awaken them. This is the more remarkable because the eyes of sea snakes are organized to endure the glare of light only when modified or subdued through water, and are easily affected when out of it, the reptiles becoming dazzled, and even blinded, by bright sunshine. ”

“ There are a few snakes now living—very venomous ones, allied to the deadly cobras—which have become so completely adapted to life in the water that they are unable to exist or even move about on land. ”

“ Most of them are beautifully marked and spotted, and some shine like gold in the sun, while others have pale, soft tints; but these lovely colours fade in death, just as those of fish do; so that a snake in all its glittering beauty can only be seen when alive. They often change their skins, creeping out of the old and appearing ready-dressed in the new. A traveller along the banks of the Nile has often found these cast-off skins in the fields; they are always turned inside out, for the old skin, which is very soft, folds back as the snake slips out of it. ”

“ The natives of the Paumotu Archipelago informed me, however, that they are most active in seeking their prey at night-time, and are especially fond of flying-fish, which, as is well known, is one of the swiftest of all ocean fishes. The sea snakes, however, seize them with the greatest ease, by rising cautiously beneath and fastening their keen teeth in the fish’s throat or belly. A snake, not two feet six inches in length, I was assured, can easily swallow a flying-fish eight inches or ten inches long. ”

“ There is, it must firstly be remarked, nothing in the slightest degree improbable in the idea that an ordinary species of sea-snake, belonging to a well-known group of reptiles, may undergo a gigantic development and appear as a monster serpent of the deep. The experience of comparative anatomists is decidedly in agreement with such an opinion. Largely developed individuals of almost every species of animals and plants occasionally occur. ”