XXXI 



ENGLISH SNAKES 



" It is the bright day that brings forth the adder, 

 And that craves wary walking." 



SHAKESPEARE. 



TT has often been remarked that some forms of hunting, and this 



the student of the fauna and element is perhaps at a minimum 



flora of the British Isles will find some- in snake-hunting in England ; but 



thing to interest him in almost every even in these isles there are places and 



branch of these divisions of living snakes which, as Brutus said, crave 



things, something at least representa- wary walking, though the charm of a 



tive of the greater luxuriance of animal stroll through English lanes and woods 



and vegetable forms to be found else- is not materially diminished thereby, 

 where, if not on the same grand scale A great number of the inhabitants of 



of production or occurrence. The re- England have never seen a snake, 



mark is a perfectly true one, and it perhaps even the majority have not, 



applies to the observation and study except in a cage. And yet it is a 



of snakes no less than to the thousand simple fact that there is not a single 



and one other biological groups which county in England, Scotland, or Wales, 



the student of wild nature loves to in which snakes do not occur, and these 



contemplate. To those of us who venomous. There are counties in which 



have lived in lands where species of the adder or viper, the only venomous 



serpents outnumber the British list snake we have, occurs in its thousands, 



by hundreds, and where the size of and yet is seen by very few persons and 



these reptiles is estimated in feet rather then but rarely. Why is this ? Simply 



than inches, it might appear that because where men are many there 



English snakes present but tame and snakes are few ; and secondly because 



uninteresting objects of study, but of all creatures few are so absolutely 



such is by no means the case. The unobtrusive as are snakes of the 



fascination of studying the life-his- varieties found in England. Let me 



tories of animals does not depend upon mention an incident to illustrate this. 



the number of individuals encoun- Some years ago I was investigating 



tered, still less upon their size. True, the snakes in a certain district, and 



the element of danger adds a zest to I was advised to apply to the local 



152 



