334 BRITISH SERPENTS. 
Northumberland and District. 
“The ring snake is by no means so plentiful in 
Northumberland as the common viper, but is  oc- 
easionally to be met with in different parts of the 
county. It is perhaps more plentiful in the upper 
reaches of Wooler water than in any other part of 
the district, at least such is my experience. In the 
deep, rocky, weird-looking ravine ou the eastern 
slopes of the Cheviots, known as the Glitters, I 
have seldom failed to find individuals of this species, 
stretched upon the elefts of precipitous rocks, clinging 
to the branches of overhanging shrubs, or erawhng 
through the herbage on the steep and heathy bank- 
sides, where formerly the raven and the peregrine 
faleon used to build their nests, but where they now 
no longer find a refuge and a home. Sometimes the 
ring snake makes his appearance close to the village 
of Wooler, and some time ago a large individual was 
killed in Middleton plantation whilst engaged in 
twisting itself round a branch of a tree. We have 
met with examples of it at Chillingham, Crookham, 
and some other half-dozen places in the county. On 
one occasion IT saw one killed near to Warkworth 
Hermitage, a little below Warkworth Mills, on the 
river Coquet. It is, perhaps, more plentiful in 
Durham than in Northumberland, especially in the 
western part of the county, and is frequently met 
with on the Wear; and three or four years ago one 
