Gray Coluber — Part 3

Coluber obsoletus, variety confinis, (B. & G.)

The species often makes its abode in the rafters of stables or poultry sheds. In such places it finds an abundance of mice or rats, though it does not hesitate to devour young chickens, or six to eight eggs, swallowing them entire, but as the eggs pass about fourteen inches down the reptile's neck that portion of the body is pressed against the ground and by a strong and steady contraction of the swallowing muscles, the shell of each egg is broken; the fragments are swallowed together with the contents of the eggs, and are digested. Although all of the colubers show a fondness for eggs and swallow them in this manner, the present species is peculiar in being frequently discovered in the neighborhood of the poultry yards; hence its name-the Chicken Snake. In this habit of preying upon domestic poultry and the eggs, the reptile is rivalled by the Pilot Blacksnake (Coluber obsoletus), which, in some parts of the South is called the Black Chicken Snake.

Bold, and comparatively fearless as compared with most serpents, the Chicken Snake will frequently move lazily away if surprised, or if cornered, will turn and strike viciously, assuming a position with head and neck raised some distance from the ground, the neck in a close S-loop, ready for a long thrust of the head in the direction of the creature's anger. At such times the tail is so rapidly shaken that the tip appears blurred and produces a distinct whirring sound.

When overpowered and held by the neck this serpent emits a strong, and to many a very offensive odour, coming from a secretion in glands at the base of the tail and voluntarily ejected. The secretion is white and viscid and at once suggests the strong odour about the quarters of a captive fox. Many snakes have this character in making themselves offensive to man, but it exists among different kinds to a greater or less degree, the colubers and the water snakes being particularly noteworthy. It is believed that these scent glands are primarily of use during the breeding season, when one reptile may easily follow the trail or scent of another. Captive specimens of the Chicken Snake become tame and when accustomed to being handled never emit the powerful odour described. They feed entirely upon warmblooded prey and eggs, always killing the former by constriction before swallowing it. Very young specimens, are less particular. They will eat small frogs, the grubs of beetles, and are cannibalistic. A captive a few weeks old, swallowed several young garter snakes.

The species is oviparous, depositing about two dozen eggs during June or July. A large specimen deposited twenty-two eggs under a piece of bark in her cage, on the 27th of July. To make a snug nest for the eggs, she crawled under the bark and skilfully burrowed out a hollow in the gravel by pushing it out with the sides of her body. This shovelling process consumed fully an hour. The eggs adhered in a cluster and for long intervals the snake would coil under the bank and over the eggs as if to protect them. Eleven weeks after, these eggs began to hatch.