OUR SNAKES. 43 



V. OUE SNAKES. 



Our " Kamble on the Warren " would be con- 

 sidered hardly complete without a few words in 

 reference to its reptiles. Years ago, when I first 

 came to Folkestone, I heard the most marvellous 

 accounts of the snakes to be met with on the Warren 

 monsters of varied colours, six or seven feet long 

 and proportionately thick. Making the usual allow- 

 ance for exaggeration, and knowing that the Grass 

 Snake occasionally reaches a length of five feet, I 

 still expected to come across one or two specimens 

 of respectable size. The largest I have seen is in a 

 bottle at the Museum and is scarcely forty inches 

 long. 



The Common Grass Snake (Tropidonotm natriv) 

 and the Viper or Adder (Pelias bents') are tolerably 

 common on the Warren, but the latter is seen far 

 oftener then the former. And yet hundreds of 

 persons frequent the locality and never meet with 

 either. Visitors who have loved to learn this 

 picturesque spot are horrified and disappointed when 

 told of the presence of these creatures. Yet there is 

 not the slightest reason for such feelings, the best 

 evidence of this being the apparent rarity of the 

 reptiles ; you may go many times and even search 

 for them without being successful. 



Timidity is the characteristic of both species ; at 

 the sound of a footstep they glide noiselessly through 



