WESTERN BROWN SNAKE Pseudonaja nuchalis Gunther, 1858
This swift moving and highly dangerous snake is found in most parts of Australia, except for the far south east, east coast and most of the far south coast of South and Western Australia. The colour of this 1.6 metre snake is highly variable ranging from whitish, reds, yellows, browns and almost black in colour, with or without head and body markings. In some areas this snake is commonly confused with the Inland Taipan Oxyuranus microlepidotus, which it superficially resembles.
The scalation is smooth with 17-19 mid body rows, 180-230 ventrals, divided anal, and 50-70 divided subcaudals.
This diurnal snake is found in all types of habitat, and is common in farming country, where it feeds on introduced mice and rats as well as native vertebrates. Although aggressive when disturbed this snake is not as aggressive as the Eastern brown snake.
Male combat in this species occurs, and about twenty eggs are produced. Young specimens almost always have head markings, which may or may not fade with age. The hatchlings measure 22 cm.

The above was from the book Australian Reptiles and Frogs by Raymond Hoser and now available on a fantastic CD-Rom along with a vast amount of other information, papers and the like on reptiles, frogs and other wildlife.