SNAKES 99 



poles. They seemed to be perfectly aware of the 

 danger, for when the snake followed them up for 

 another snap they broke in all directions like 

 bleak when the pike is after them. 



The grass snake, ringed snake, water snake 

 Tropidonatus natrix is an accomplished swimmer. 

 When long ago we were fishing in the lake one 

 of them came swimming in among the little waves, 

 as though it had come from the other side, nearly 

 half a mile away. About twenty yards from 

 shore it coiled and lay there as though it could 

 easily sleep, ' rocked in the cradle of the deep,' 

 but there was a wide bright eye gleaming above 

 an outer loop where the snake's long chin came 

 from the centre of the coil. But then its eyes 

 are always so, there being no lids or other means 

 of closing them. When we had sufficiently re- 

 covered our spirits to throw a tentative stone at 

 the reptile, it straightened itself out for a stroke 

 or two, made a sudden rush for the weeds in the 

 shallow water and vanished. It had a fancy to 

 go on dry land for a change and did so. It might 

 have chosen another means of evading, by going 

 down to the bottom of the lake, where it could 

 remain with ease for half an hour without coming 

 up to breathe. 



I call this beautiful wood the Lily Wood, because, 

 as you can see, it is floored for many acres with 

 lily of the valley. We can see among them the 

 taller fronds of Solomon's seal, a fit associate of 

 the lily in the floral dominancy. Again, there are 



