A HISTORY OF SUFFOLK 



These latter appeared regularly near the same spot for several summers 

 in succession, but have now ceased to do so. In all cases the tortoises 

 remained in a healthy and thriving condition, but no young ones have 

 been seen. 



REPTILES 



LACERTILIA 



1. Common or Viviparous Lizard. Lactrta 



vivipara (Jacq.) 



Fairly common in some parts of the county 

 on dry banks facing south or south-east. 

 About the heaths of east Suffolk it used to 

 be most abundant ; but in those parts best 

 known to the writer, where pheasants now 

 abound, lizards have become very scarce. 

 Over a large extent of heath land in the 

 parishes of Blaxhall and Tunstall, much of it 

 common ground, these little creatures were 

 within the recollection of the writer extremely 

 abundant, notwithstanding that kestrels were 

 at that time much more numerous than at 

 present, and harriers not uncommon. Since 

 however the preservation of game has been 

 extended to this tract of ground, and pheasants 

 have greatly increased in number, the lizards 

 have almost if not entirely disappeared. 



As regards the western part of the county. 

 Professor A. Newton writes, ' According to 

 my experience the viviparous lizard was very 

 scarce and extremely local in west Suffolk. 

 At Elveden I knew of only one place where 

 it was ever to be seen, and even there one 

 could not be sure of always meeting with it.' 



2. Slow-worm. Anguh fragilis, Linn. 



This harmless and interesting little reptile 

 is pretty generally distributed, but reports 

 from various districts show it to be less com- 

 mon than it used to be. It is unfortunately 

 looked upon by many people as a noxious and 

 dangerous creature, and is therefore destroyed 

 by them if possible whenever met with. In 

 many parts of east Suffolk it is now but sel- 

 dom seen. About Thetford also it is con- 

 sidered by Mr. W. G. Clarke to be ' rather 

 rare.' 



The increased attention paid to roads and 

 roadside banks and hedges may perhaps partly 

 account for the disappearance of this animal 

 from some of its former haunts, the surface 

 of the banks being seldom allowed to remain 

 long undisturbed, and the hedges kept so low 

 and narrow as to afford little or no shelter or 

 concealment. 



In Earl Soham churchyard slow-worms 

 have been noticed by the Rev. R. Abbay to 

 be abundant ; and communications received 

 from other parts of the county seem to de- 



note a particular partiality or these little 

 reptiles for churchyards in general. In such 

 situations they would probably have a better 

 chance of remaining undisturbed than else- 

 where, and be less exposed to persecution from 

 men and boys. 



OPHIDIA 



3. Common or Ringed Snake. 1 ropidonotus 

 natrix, Linn. 



Throughout the whole county this species 

 is much less numerous than it was thirty or 

 forty years ago, and from many districts where 

 it was formerly not uncommon it has now 

 totally disappeared. It is doubtful indeed if 

 it can anywhere be called plentiful at the 

 present time. The much 'cleaner' system of 

 farming now adopted, involving the abolition 

 of the old rough banks and wide straggling 

 hedges of former times, the drainage of swamps 

 and enclosure and cultivation of waste cor- 

 ners, have long been encroaching upon and 

 gradually restricting the former haunts of the 

 ringed snake. In those woods and waste 

 grounds where it still maintains a struggle 

 for existence every man's hand is against it ; 

 the gamekeepers destroy it as ' vermin,' and 

 the country people generally, believing this 

 harmless animal to be a venomous creature 

 dangerous to mankind, consider it a meritorious 

 action to kill every one they meet with. In 

 the neighbourhood of Ipswich there are woods 

 and heaths where the common snake is still 

 occasionally seen. Mr. H. Miller of Ipswich 

 and other observers have met with examples 

 at Bentley, Foxhall, Raydon and Brantham. 

 About Needham Market specimens have fre- 

 quently been observed by Mr. H. Lingwood. 

 In the Beccles district Mr. W. M. Crowfoot 

 reports it to be still not uncommon, while 

 about Herringfleet, a few miles further north, 

 it appears to have become rare. Reports 

 from the neighbourhood of Bury St. Edmunds 

 and west Suffolk generally, mostly agree as to 

 the increasing scarcity of snakes, though these 

 reptiles still exist in some places. The Rev. 

 J. G. Tuck, writing from Tostock near Bury, 

 refers to the ringed snake as getting rare in 

 that part of the county. About ten years 

 ago he used to come across specimens often 

 enough. In a later communication to the 

 writer he mentions two snakes having been. 



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