34 THE ZO0OLOGIST. 
Golden-eye, three, ducks or immature. Many Hooded Crows were 
flying about, and hundreds of Lapwings. The lake, known as the 
Ballast Pit, lies close to a railway embankment, and is perhaps half a 
mile in extreme length, being shaped like an obtuse-angled triangle. 
The day was bright and frosty, there being a little ice on the water, 
and the wind was light from the south-east. It was interesting to 
find so many species of wildfowl close to a populous eye —F. L. 
BLATHWAYT. 
REP TIELA. 
The Smooth Snake (Coronella austriaca) in Devonshire.—As there 
appears to be no record of the occurrence of the Smooth Snake in 
Devonshire, it may be worth while to note the recent capture of an 
example near Sidmouth. My friend and pupil, Mr. H. G. Oliver, was 
walking along a cliff-path at Weston Coombe, about three miles east 
of Sidmouth, on Sept. 14th last, when he disturbed a specimen basking 
in the sun by the side of the path. It at once tried to make off, but 
was partially disabled by a blow from a walking-stick. On being 
picked up it bit savagely at the hand of its captor; it was with some 
difficulty got into a sandwich-box and so carried home, being subse- 
quently transferred to a bottle of alcohol. The specimen was brought 
to Nottingham for my inspection, and is an adult in good condition, 
measuring nineteen inches in length. —J. W. Carr (University 
College, Nottingham). 
