332 WILD LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 



push up and open their sweet-scented flowers under 

 the first warm gleams of the spring sunshine, the snake 

 ventures forth from his hole to bask on the south side 

 of the bank. In looking for violets it is not unusual 

 to hear a rustling of the dead leaves that still strew 

 the ground, and to see the pointed tail of a snake 

 being dragged after him under cover. 



In February there are sometimes a few days of warm 

 weather (about the last week), and a solitary snake 

 may perhaps chance to crawl forth ; but they are not 

 generally visible till later, and, if it be a cold spring, 

 remain torpid till the wind changes. When the hedges 

 have grown green, and the sun, rising higher in the 

 sky, raises the temperature, even though clouds be 

 passing over, the snakes appear regularly, but even 

 then not till the sun has been up some hours. Later 

 on they may occasionally be found coiled up in a circle, 

 two together, on the bank. 



In the summer some of them appear of great thick- 

 ness almost as big round as the wrist. These are 

 the females, and are about to deposit their eggs. They 

 may usually be noticed close to cowyards. The 

 cattle in summer graze in the fields, and the sheds are 

 empty ; but there are large manure heaps overgrown 

 with weeds, and in these the snakes' eggs are left. 

 Rabbits are fond of visiting these cowyards many 

 of which are at a distance from the farmstead and 

 sometimes bring forth a litter there. 



When the mowers have laid the tall grass in swathes 

 snakes are often found on them or under them by 



