48 By Leafy Ways. 



translators. The natives would doubtless be no better 

 informed than our own rustics, who find poison-fangs 

 in every reptile. 



But Coronella is a rarity, the ringed snake and 

 the adder are the snakes of the country. 



The latter is not often two feet in length ; the former 

 seldom much exceeds three. Country people talk of 

 snakes five feet long, but the length of an uncaught 

 snake must be regarded in the same light as the weight 

 of a lost fish. A snake forty-five inches long is seldom 

 heard of. 



The ringed snake is ever a lover of the sun, and you 

 will find him any bright afternoon in summer, basking 

 on his favourite south bank. Just over the hedge, 

 that skirts the old neglected orchard, is a fringe of 

 coppice that forms a safe retreat for him. 



Among the tall cherry-trees the blackbird will sound 

 his mellow pipe as evening darkens, and when the 

 light of sunset has faded from that gray w y all of lime- 

 stone cliff; but just now the birds are silent; they 

 have crept out of the hot sun into the cool covert of 

 the leaves. 



Tall Canterbury bells peer out of the hedgerow; 

 yellow St. John's wort, and pale blue scabious raise 

 their heads among the long grass. 



Lying on the bank, half hidden in waves of bracken, 

 is an old stump scarred by insect-hunting woodpeckers, 

 and tenanted by a whole population of its own. In 

 front of it is a hollow where grass snakes love to lie. 



