514 THE TREE SERPENTS. 



first, whereas the frog is eaten in just the opposite direction'. Usually 

 the frog, when pursued by the serpent, seems to lose all its energy, and 

 instead of jumping away, as it would do if chased by a human being, 

 crawls slowly like a toad, dragging itself painfully along as if paralyzed. 

 The snake, on coming up with its prey, stretches out its neck and quietly 

 grasps one hind foot of the frog, which thenceforward delivers itself up 

 to its destroyer an unresisting victim. 



The whole process of swallowing a frog is very curious, as the crea- 

 ture is greatly wider than the mouth of the snake, and in many cases, 

 when the frog is very large and the snake rather small, the neck of the 

 serpent is hardly as wide as a single hind leg of the frog, while the body 

 is so utterly disproportioned that its reception seems wholly impossible. 

 Moreover, the snake generally swallows one leg first, the other leg kick- 

 iug freely in the air. However, the serpent contrives to catch either 

 the knee or the foot in its mouth during these convulsive struggles, 

 and by slow degrees swallows both legs. The limbs seem to act as a 

 kind of wedge, making the body follow easily, and in half an hour or 

 so the frog has disappeared from sight, but its exact position in the 

 body of the snake is accurately defined by the swollen abdomen. 

 Should the frog be small, it is snapped up by the side, and swallowed 

 without more ado. 



The Ringed Snake is fond of water and is a good swimmer, sometimes 

 diving with great ease and remaining below the surface for a consider- 

 able length of time, and sometimes swimming boldly for a distance that 

 seems very great for a terrestrial creature to undertake. This reptile 

 will even take to the sea, and has been noticed swimming between 

 Wales and Anglesea. 



During winter the snake retires to some sheltered spot, where it re- 

 mains until the warm days of spring call it again to action. The local- 

 ities which it chooses for its winter-quarters are always in some well- 

 sheltered spot, generally under the gnarled roots of ancient trees, under 

 heaps of dry brushwood, or in deep crevices. In these places the snakes 

 will congregate in great numbers, more than a hundred having been 

 taken from one hollow. A few years ago I saw a hole from which a 

 great number of Ringed Snakes had been taken ; it was situated in a 

 bank at some depth. The color of the Ringed Snake is grayish green 

 al)ove and blue-black below, often mottled with deep black. Behind 

 tlie head is a collar of golden yellow, often broken in the middle so as 

 to look like two patches of yellow. Behind the yellow collar is another 

 of black, sometimes broken in the middle also. Along the back run 

 two rows of small dark spots, and a row of large oblong spots is ar- 

 ranged down each side. Both the color and the shape of the spots are 

 very variiible. 



One group cf suiikes is composed of the Tree Serpents, or Den- 



