264 BRITISH SERPENTS. 



September, I saw a remarkable sight — viz., nine ring 

 snakes go in one after the other from some clover, 

 which lay well to the sun. A friend who was with 

 me at the time was jumping about in all directions to 

 avoid them. This happened on Bookham farm in this 

 parish. I have questioned my keeper, who is a native 

 of Central Dorset and worked for thirty years at one 

 place near here, and he has given me the following 

 items from his own experience : — 



" 1. He has killed about twenty ring snakes and 

 twenty adders in 1899. 



" 2. He once killed three at one shot. 



" 3. He killed two adders during the first week of 

 February 1900 (very early for them to be astir). 



" 4. He has killed a ring snake 33 inches in length, 

 and found twenty-eight young ones. 



" 5. He once found a r'm^ snake in a bird's nest in 

 a hedge. 



" 6. He killed nine slow-worms in one of my fields 

 when haymaking this year (1900). 



" 7. He has seen specimens of small red vipers in 

 Melcourt Park and black adders at Doles Ash (both 

 places some three miles from here).^ 



" 8. He once found a ring snake in a flint. 



" The adder averages from 18 to 23 inches here, and 

 the ring snake from 30 to 36 inches. I have never 

 seen the smooth snake." — Eev. F. W. Brandreth, M.A., 

 the Manor, Buckland Newton, Dorchester. 



^ Cf. Essex, Caermarthen, and Northumberland, pp. 279, 311, .332. 



