298 THE NATURAL HISTORY 



The Common Snake, Ringed Snake, or Grass Snake 

 (Tropidonotus natrix\ is common enough in the low- 

 land covers and hedgerows ; particularly among the 

 fern on West Heath, and in the vicinity of water. As 

 it preys chiefly on frogs and newts, its partiality to the 

 haunts of these animals is easily accounted for ; we 

 have taken two large frogs from the body of one 

 snake. It is no uncommon thing to find a batch of 

 snake's eggs in a manure heap, or a sunny bank, where 

 they are deposited and left to hatch without any 

 further care on the part of the parent reptile. These 

 eggs are not provided with a shelly covering, like those 

 of many other reptiles ; they more nearly resemble 

 little yellowish vesicles, a little larger than the eggs of 

 the common robin, attached together by a glutinous 

 secretion. A " snake in the grass " is no rarity in any 

 of our damp meadows ; neither is it unusual to see 

 one in the water ; we have had more than one oppor- 

 tunity of witnessing its very graceful serpentine mode 

 of progression among the duckweed on the surface of 

 a pool of water. We have also often found its slough 

 between the stems of dead fern and other rigid plants, 

 but until very lately we were quite ignorant of its 

 value. We now know that many persons suffering 

 from headache have used it as a bandage across the 

 forehead for the purpose of "charming away" the 

 pain ! 



The Common Viper, or Adder (Pelias Berus}, is 

 often met with among the heath and furze on the 

 Downs, in Kill Devil Copse, and the adjoining covers, 

 and not unfrequently in the patches of fern in the 

 Park. We have had some startling experiences with 

 this dangerous reptile ; but, fortunately for us, we have 

 come out of them " more- scared than hurt." In three 

 separate localities contiguous to each other, Padswood 

 Copse, Kill Devil Copse, and the belt of trees between 

 the Down and the Park, we have met with the rare 

 jet-black variety ; the first on a sunny day in March 

 the last on a warm day in November. On one occasion 



