284 BRITISH SERPENTS. 



served specimen, about 4 feet, taken in Norfolk. The 

 Eev. M. C. Bird, of Stalham, writes to me : ' The viper 

 is more common in this part of Norfolk than the ring 

 snake. 1 In fact, I have not seen one of the harm- 

 less species hereabouts at all. The average length of 

 some score of vipers I have measured is 24J inches 

 (adult), and I have seen a red variety, about 16 inches 

 long, at Stalham, which was killed in the neighbour- 

 hood in the summer of 1889. A marshman friend of 

 mine killed seven vipers in one day (April 10, 1900). 

 One he killed on a previous day contained 25 eggs, 

 and two killed the day before had 23 and 16 eggs 

 respectively. These vipers specially frequent the dry 

 marsh walls round the Broads, and are also fairly 

 plentiful on the marshes adjoining the sandhills on 

 the coast. They are much more conspicuous in 

 spring and early summer than later, but I killed 

 two as late as October 4 in 1900, when out shoot- 

 ing rabbits.' " — W. A. Nicholson (Hon. Sec. Norfolk 

 Nat. Soc), St Helen's Square, Norwich. 



Note. — Mr Bird's letter is valuable from three points 

 of view : first, it records the small red viper in Nor- 

 folk ; second, the number of eggs found in the females 

 is unusually large ; and thirdly, it indicates a some- 

 what late date of commencing hibernation in that 

 locality, though it must be remembered that the 

 autumn of 1900 was very warm. — Author. 



1 See the ' Field,' 15th and 22nd June 1901. 



