marine snakes daily
for many years, during a long residence in the Pacific Islands, cannot
remember a single instance where he has seen one of these dangerous
creatures asleep _on the water_, though they may frequently be found
lying asleep on the coral reefs, exposing themselves to the rays of a
torrid sun. They usually select some knob or rounded boulder, from the
top of which, when awake, they can survey the small pools beneath and
discern any fish which may be imprisoned therein. In such case they will
glide down into the water with astonishing rapidity, seize their prey,
and after swallowing it, return to their sun bath. 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.

With regard to their habit of lying asleep on their backs on the surface
of the water, it may be that Sir James Hector is alluding to some
particular species, but whether that is so or not Sir James's statement
must of course be considered authoritative, for there is, I believe, no
higher authority on the subject in the world. Apropos of these venomous
marine serpents I may mention that the Rev. W. W. Gill in one of his
works states that he was informed by the natives of the Cook's Group
that during the prevalence of very bad weather, when fish were scarce,
the large sea eels would actually crawl ashore, and ascend the _fala_
(pandanus or screw-pine) trees in search of the small green lizards
which live among the upper part of the foliage. At first I regarded this
merely as a bit of native extravagance of statement, but in 1882, when
I was shipwrecked on Peru (or Francis Island), one of the Gilbert Group,
the local trader, one Frank Voliero, and myself saw one of these eels
engaged in an equally extraordinary pursuit. We were one evening,
after a heavy gale from the westward had been blowing for three days,
examining a rookery of whale birds in search of eggs; the rookery was
situated in a dense thicket scrub on the north end of the island, and
was quite two hundred yards from the sea-shore, though