WILD LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 333 



the haymakers, whose prongs or forks throw the grass 

 about to expose a large surface to the sun. The hay- 

 makers kill them without mercy, and numbers thus 

 meet with their fate. They vary very much in size 

 from eighteen inches to three feet in length. I have 

 seen specimens which could not have been less than 

 four feet long, and as thick as a rake handle. That 

 would be an exceptional case, but not altogether rare. 

 The labourers will tell you of much larger snakes, but 

 I never saw one. 



There is no subject, indeed, upon which they make 

 such extraordinary statements, evidently believing 

 what they say, as about snakes. A man told me once 

 that he had been pursued by a snake, which rushed 

 after him at such a speed that he could barely escape ; 

 the snake not only glided but actually leaped over 

 the ground. Now this must have been pure imagina- 

 tion : he fancied he saw an adder, and fled, and in his 

 terror thought himself pursued. They constantly state 

 that they have seen adders ; but I am confident that 

 no viper exists in this district, nor for some miles 

 round. That they do elsewhere of course is well known, 

 but not here ; neither is the slow-worm ever seen. 



The belief that snakes can jump or coil themselves 

 up and spring is, however, very prevalent. They all 

 tell you that a snake can leap across a ditch. This is 

 not true. A snake, if alarmed, will make for the hedge; 

 and he glides much faster than would be supposed. On 

 reaching the " shore " or edge of the ditch he projects 

 his head over it, and some six or eight inches of the 



