20 BRITISH SERPENTS. 



Indeed it often survives the journey into the stomach 

 of the snake, and some have even been rescued from 

 their perilous position here apparently little the worse 

 for the unpleasant experience. But frogs are by no 

 means the sole food of the ring snake. Toads, too 

 (most deleterious of foods, and rejected, as Aflalo says, 

 by almost every living creature), are devoured. Newts 

 also (again deleterious food) are welcomed, being 

 " often captured in the water, but invariably con- 

 sumed on the bank." 1 Being an expert swimmer 

 and very fond of passing part of its time in the 

 water, it is not surprising to find that this snake 

 obtains a considerable portion of its food in that 

 element; hence it is said that the ring snake will 

 dive after water-newts, and even catch fish. But 

 the ring snake does not by any means restrict itself 

 to a water-diet. One of its most favourite meals 

 consists of mice (like the adder in this respect). 

 Birds, too, and their eggs are another variety of 

 food largely partaken of, especially the newly hatched 

 young of birds which build their nests on the ground. 

 It should be mentioned also that amongst the foods 

 supplied by the rivers and streams water-voles are 

 conspicuous, several of which have been found in the 

 stomach of this snake at the same time (see adder- 

 food later). 2 



1 Aflalo, Natural History (Vertebrates) of the British Islands. 



2 It should be stated that some authorities deny that the ring 

 snake feeds upon any animal higher in the vertebrate scale than 

 amphibians — not birds or mammals. 



