Newts 107 



In the same pools. Newts also occur, though they are 

 far less numerous than the frogs ; on the mountains, all 

 those seen were, appropriately enough, of the Alpine, or 

 Palmated species (Molge palmata). In the valley, and on 

 some of the lower bogs, the Common Newt (M. vulgaris) 

 occurs, though not apparently plentiful anywhere. I saw a 

 few now and again round Llanuwchllyn, and unearthed one, 

 from beneath a stone, at a considerable elevation above 

 Llan-y-Mawddy. The Crested Newt (M. cristata) was 

 not noticed in the Dee valley, but it is found near Borth, 

 and may easily have been overlooked here, as I never 

 particularly looked for it. Newts generally are known to 

 residents as Genew-goeg, or " The open-mouthed," and are 

 almost invariably regarded as being venomous, but so, too, 

 very often, are lizards, and even frogs and toads. A trout 

 caught on the Lliw had a partly digested newt in his maw, 

 showing what an omnivorous feeder Salmo fario is. One 

 I killed in Scotland many years ago disgorged a recently 

 swallowed and not long hatched bird, most probably a 

 young sparrow. 



Unlike frog spawn, the eggs of Newts are deposited singly, 

 each one being carefully rolled in a snug nest of its own in 

 the leaf of some aquatic plant. Where it occurs, I have 

 noticed that the long floating leaves of Poa fluitam are 

 especially favoured by the Alpine newt, and numbers of 

 their eggs must thus be devoured by cattle, which are very 

 fond of licking this sweet grass from the water. In 

 Merionethshire, sheep crop it just as cattle do in other 

 districts, and I have often seen them here standing belly- 

 deep in the pools nibbling up all the fronds within reach. 

 The sheep in these parts are, in fact, much more aquatic in 

 their habits than I have ever noticed to be the case else- 

 where. They wade through all the streams quite freely, 

 not even hesitating to swim if the water happens to be deep 

 and they particularly wish to reach the other side, or some 

 island that looks temptingly green, and the hardy little 

 lambs very soon learn to follow their mothers in like 

 manner. I one day saw a lamb carried off its feet in 

 attempting to follow its mother through a rapid on the 



