FIR-WOODS AND HEATHER 297 



it relies on wariness for safety, and by the time that we 

 catch sight of it a grey-green shape is wriggling actively 

 into the heather. The scarcer sand-lizard, which lays eggs 

 instead of producing living young, is also confined to the 

 fir and heather country of the south of England. Gilbert 

 White described in one of his Selborne letters the beautiful 

 green lizards seen on 

 a sunny bank at Farn- 

 ham ; and there the 

 brilliant sand -lizard 

 has been recently re- 

 discovered, and a link 

 with the days of Gil- 

 bert White restored. It is worth mention that neither of 

 our English lizards is of the same species as the little reptile 

 so commonly seen on sunny walls in the south of Europe. 

 The common southern lizard does not appear to the north 

 of the Alps, whereas our common viviparous lizard is far 



hardier, and 

 pushes to the 

 north of Russia. 

 One more scarce 

 ^ creeping beast 

 is found about 

 the pools on the 

 southern heaths the natterjack toad, which is distinguish- 

 able by his small size and the light stripe down his back, and 

 can be tracked by his lusty croaking after sunset. Besides 

 common toads and frogs, newts are also common in some of 

 the heath-pools in spring, though a dense slimy pond on a 

 clay soil is the newts' particular fancy. 



With all this variety of reptile and amphibian life, the 

 animals and birds which prey upon it should not be lacking. 



GRASS SNAKE 



