I am reposting this from last year because of the interesting comments at the end.People don't always see the comments.I wonder if anyone took up Stephen's offer?
Caribbean Crowing Snake or the Crowing Crested Cobra is an unknown snake, considered a myth, reported in the West Indies. It is described as four feet(1.3metres) long, with a thick body. It is a dull yellowish brown colour with dark spots with red wattles and has a red crest like a rooster. This snake also apparently crows like a rooster and can spray it’s venom.
In 1829, a medical doctor reported he saw a crested snake, dead and slightly decomposed, in Jamaica. Then a snake with wattles was shot in Jamaica on March 30, 1850, by the son of Jasper Cargill.
In the 1940s the belief in this snake was still apparent among the inhabitants of the Island of Dominica. It was supposed to live in a cave, situated in the hills of the northern part of the island, where a gigantic stone heap, was said to be proof of its activities
It does sound similar to the descriptions of the basilisk of legend, and the cockatrice. Both of those mythological creatures were supposedly snakes brought up by chickens, and were said to be part rooster. It was claimed they killed anything that looked upon them, perhaps by spraying venom.
It could simply be that legends and stories are passed around the world by travellers and adopted by some people as their own. Or maybe there is an unknown hybrid creature , or at least there was once, in some parts of the world and the stories were passed down the generations. I am not sure about the crowing bit though, it would involve some serious changes in vocal physiology for a snake.