SERPENTS IN THE STEPPES. 77 



as a sentinel. Often we encounter him on the ground, apparently 

 larger than an ordinary sheep ; when we draw near, he is com- 

 pelled, before he can rise into the air, to make a long detour, agitating 

 his heavy wings ; after which, succeeding in lifting himself a little 

 above the ground, he soars aloft at pleasure." 



The Erpetological fauna of the Steppes is little known, and is 

 probably very scanty. Unfortunately, this region has not been 

 explored by scientific naturalists, and the unprofessional travellers 

 who have visited it do not appear to have met with any reptiles 

 which seemed to them worthy of detailed notice. Atkinson, how- 

 ever, speaks of the stony ridges of the plain as " swarming with 

 serpents." " I observed," he says,* " four varieties : A black one, 

 three feet eight inches long, and about one inch and an eighth in 

 diameter. Another was of slaty-gray colour, from two to three feet 

 long, and smaller in diameter than the black snake. This breed was 

 numerous, and often difficult to see, they so nearly resembled the 

 colour of some of the rocks. We also found some of an ashy-green 

 and black, with deep crimson specks on the sides ; as they moved 

 along in the sun the colours were most brilliant." Another, which 

 Mr. Atkinson's companions killed, was of a dark-brown, with greenish 

 and red marks on the sides, and evidently very venomous. He 

 measured five feet two inches and a half without his head, and four 

 inches and a quarter round his body. 



* Atkinson, " Oriental and Western Siberia," pp. 463-465. 



