438 THE RINGED OR GRASS SNAKE. 
frogs being the favourite prey. I have known snakes to eat the common 
newt, and in such cases the victim was invariably swallowed head first, 
- whereas the frog is eaten in just the opposite direction. Usually the frog, 
when pursued by the serpent, seems to lose all its energy, and instead of 
jumping away, as it would do if chased by a human being, crawls slowly like 
a toad, dragging itself painfully along as if paralysed. The snake, on 
coming up with its prey, stretches out its neck and quietly grasps one hind 
foot of the frog, which thenceforward delivers itself up to its destreyer an 
unresisting victim. 
The whole process of swallowing a frog is very curious, as the creature is 
greatly wider than the mouth of the snake, and in many cases, when the 
frog is very large and the snake rather small, the neck of the serpent is 
hardly as wide as a sinyle hind-leg of the frog, while the body is so utterly 
disproportioned that its reception 
seems wholly impossible. Moreover, 
the snake generally swallows one leg 
first, the other leg kicking freely in the 
air. However, the serpent contrives 
to catch either the knee or the foot 
in its mouth during these convulsive 
struggles, and by slow degrees swal- 
lows both legs. The limbs seems to 
act as a kind of wedge, making the 
body follow easily, and in half an 
hour or so the frog has disappeared 
from sight, but its exact position in 
the body of the snake is accurately 
defined by the swollen abdomen. 
Should the frog be small, it is snap- 
ped up by the side and swallowed 
without more ado. . 
The Ringed Snake is fond of water, 
and is a good swimmer, sometimes 
diving with great ease and remaining 
below the surface for a considerable 
RINGED SNAKE, OR GRASS SNAKE.— length of time, and sometimes swim- 
(Tropidonotus natrix.) ming boldly for a distance that seems 
very great fora terrestrial creature to 
undertake. This reptile will even take to the sea, and has been noticed swim- 
ming between Wales and Anglesea. 
During winter the snake retires to some sheltered spot, where it remains 
until the warm days of spring call it again to action. The localities which 
it chooses for its winter quarters are always in some well-sheltered spot, 
generally under the gnarled roots of ancient trees, under heaps of dry brush- 
wood, or deep crevices. In these places the snakes will congregate in great 
numbers, more than a hundred having been taken from one hollow. A few 
years ago I saw a hole from which a great number of Ringed Snakes had 
been taken ; it was situated in a bank at some depth. Th: colour of the 
Ringed Snake is greyish green above and blue-black below, often mottled 
with deep black. Behind the head is a collar of golden yellow, often broken 
in the middle so as to look like two patches of yellow. Behind the yellow 
collar is another of black. sometimes broken in the middle also, Along the 
back run tworows of small dark spots, and a row of large oblong spots is 
arranged down each side. Both the colour and the shape of the spots are 
very variable, 
