HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT, 1954
Hong Kong are extremely rare and no deaths are on record. These snakes are usually blackish or fairly dark in colour above and when on the defensive or about to strike they adopt the characteristic pose with head and forepart of the body raised and the hood expanded. The large King Cobra or Hamadryad is very rare and may be found only in the New Territories. It is the largest poisonous snake in the World and may occasionally attain eighteen feet in length.
The more frequently seen harmless snakes include the Common Rat Snake or Dhaman and its near relative the Indo-Chinese Rat Snake. The former is usually brownish above with irregular black cross-bars on the hind part of the body, and is pale underneath where some or all of the scales are edged with black; there are distinct black vertical bars on the lips. It grows to six or seven feet in length, is extremely swift and bites fiercely when cornered. The Indo-Chinese Rat Snake is also brownish above, but lacks the dark cross-bars and black vertical bars on the lips. It does not grow quite as large and is not so inclined to bite as its large relative. Probably the commonest of all snakes is the Chequered Water Snake, a species which lives in and near fresh-water streams, ponds and ditches. It is olivaceous above, marked with darker spots and two dark streaks radiating backwards and downwards from the eye. The belly is whitish or yellowish, the scales edged with black. Although quite harmless, this snake always attempts to bite when handled. Its food consists mostly of Amphibia and fish. The largest snake in the Colony is the Indian Python. These giants of the serpent world are not poisonous, but kill their prey by constriction, being close relatives of the Boa Constrictors of the New World.
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