JANUARY 21 



crested gills. There exists a curious and 

 almost universal ignorance about these 

 our lowly fellow - creatures ; about all 

 4 reptiles ' indeed. 



A boy who had ' finished his education ' 

 at school, invited us the other day to come 

 and look at a leech. The ' leech ' turned 

 out to be an eft (or as the country people 

 say, an 'effet'). Long ago, snakes 

 abounded in the garden at certain seasons 

 of the year. They were most harmless 

 snakes, but never are they seen now, so 

 determined has been the enmity against 

 them, so constantly have they been de- 

 stroyed whenever silly enough to let them- 

 selves be seen. Once, I met a beauty 

 four feet long, gliding through the half 

 open orchard gate, into the stable yard. 

 And in those days, I dreamed a dream 

 one night of a great snake-fight raging in 

 the path near the hedge in the House 

 meadow. Next morning the dream was 

 verified, for walking along that path, on 

 the very spot where the visionary fight 

 took place, I came upon the broken up 

 bodies and bones of three snakes. They 



