8o THE GAMEKEEPER AT HOME. 



large game of tropical forests than that left by any other 

 English animal. When seen it can ever afterwards be 

 instantly identified by the most careless observer. 



In the meadows lower down, bounding the wood, the 

 hay is gone or is piled in summer ricks, which lean one 

 one way and another the other, and upon whose roofs, 

 sloping at an obtuse angle, the green snakes lie coiled in 

 the sunshine. Often when the waggon comes, and the 

 little rick is loaded, the ' pitch ' of hay on the prong as it 

 is flung up carries with it a snake whirling in the air. 

 He falls on the sward and is instantly pounced upon by 

 the farmer's dog, who worries him, seizes him by the 

 middle and shakes him, while the snake twists and hisses 

 in vain. Some dogs will not touch snakes, others seem 

 to enjoy destroying them ; but it is noticeable that a dog 

 which previously has passed or avoided snakes, if once he 

 kills one, never passes another without slaughtering it. 

 A slime from the snake's skin froths over the dog's jaws, 

 and the sight is very unpleasant. 



I have often tried to discover how the snakes get 

 upon these summer ricks. Solomon could not understand 

 the * way of a serpent upon the rock,' and the way of a 

 common snake up the summer rick seems almost as 

 inexplicable. Though the roof or ' top ' is often very 

 much out of the proper conical shape, and sometimes 

 sinks down nearly to a level, the sides for a height of 

 three or four feet are generally perpendicular, affording no 



