58 WILD LIFE: FURRED AND FEATHERED. 



Coluber natrix, or the common grass snake, a perfectly 

 harmless creature, will appear about the end of the month. 

 Specimens from three to four feet in length are very 

 common, sometimes they are as long as six feet when found 

 in waste places near woods where gravel has been dug out. 

 There, in and near little pools of water, the snake finds his 

 food small rabbits, mice, frogs, birds, and birds' eggs ; 

 that is, those of such as build on the ground among the 

 brambles and wild tangle, satisfy him. You may see the 

 creature glide in and out among the bushes and slender 

 tree branches, or hanging head downwards from one 

 apparently lifeless ; till at your nearer approach the snake 

 draws itself up in a moment, to shoot like a flash over 

 and through the twigs. In colour this common snake 

 is grey-green, lighter or darker, dotted over with black 

 spots, having at the back of the head a yellow mark, 

 bordered with black ; it is yellow generally underneath, 

 with black markings. 



The frogs that were croaking last month are spawning 

 now. If you take some of this spawn home with you 

 and place it in water in a fish globe on your lawn, or 

 in the town garden, it will give you much interest and 

 amusement, as you watch its gradual development into 

 little frogs. These will presently hop out all over your 

 garden, where they will only do good. The snake leaves 

 its coverts when the frogs spawn, and comes to the ditches 

 to feed on them. The otter too will be glad to add them 

 to his diet, so will stoats and weasels ; as to the ducks, they 

 had been raking out the frogs that had lain buried under 



