298 Leaping Snakes. 



I have seen specimens which could not have been less 

 than four feet long, and as thick as a rake-handle. 

 That would be an exceptional case, but not alto- 

 gether rare. The laborers will tell you of much 

 larger snakes, but I never saw one. 



There is no subject, indeed, upon which thej-^ make 

 such extraordinary statements, evidently believing 

 what the}' say, as about snakes. A man told me 

 once that he had been pursued by a snake, which 

 rushed after him at such a speed that he could barely 

 escape ; the snake not onl}- glided but actually leaped 

 over the ground. Now this must have been pure 

 imagination : he fancied he saw an adder, and fled, 

 and in his terror thought himself pursued. They 

 constantly- state that they have seen adders ; but I am 

 confident that no viper exists in this district, nor for 

 some miles round. That they do elsewhere of course 

 is well known, but not here ; neither is the slowworm 

 ever seen. 



The belief that snakes can jump — or coil them- 

 selves up and spring — is, however, very prevalent. 

 They all tell you that a snake can leap across a ditch. 

 This is not true. A snake, if alarmed, will make for 

 the hedge ; and he glides much faster than would be 

 supposed. On reaching the ' shore ' or edge of the 

 ditch he projects his head over it, and some six or 

 eight inches of the neck, while the rest of the body 

 slides down the slope. If it happens to be a steep- 

 sided ditch he often loses his balance and rolls to the 

 bottom ; and that is what has been mistaken for leap- 

 ing. As he rises up the mound he follows ^ zigzag 

 course, and presently enters some small hole or a 

 cavit}' in a decajdng stole. After creeping in some 



