1889.] 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



9 



lously perfect, even to the skin covering the lips and eyes. The last 

 one picked up by me on a neighbouring heath measured thirty-four 

 inches in length, and was a really beautiful object. Of course, the 

 markings of the previous owner are not to be seen on the " slough," 

 the latter being semi-transparent. 



The snake, I need hardly say, is a very inoffensive reptile. Let 

 anyone approach its haunts, and the timid creature will be seen 

 gliding rapidly away. Its only method of defence is to throw out a 

 very strong and pungent scent, which is said to adhere most 

 tenaciously to the hands and the clothes. I have never yet succeeded 

 in making the snake exhale this odour ; the reason probably being 

 that I have not irritated the poor reptile sufficiently to cause it to 

 throw out the scent. It is only when irritated that the snake gives 

 out this odour. 



Though a very inoffensive creature, the poor snake has many 

 enemies, the principal being man ; but it is aiso devoured by 

 hedgehogs, polecats, weasles, and hawks. I have also a note in my 

 diary of a large snake having been found in the nest of a barn owl 

 (Strix flammed) in a hollow tree. This was curious, as the rambles of 

 the diurnal and sun-loving reptile are generally taken at a time when 

 the nocturnal freebooter is snoring and blinking on his perch in the old 

 barn or hollow tree. Perhaps, however, the snake was already dead 

 when found by the owl. 



People in Berkshire attribute most marvellous tenacity of life to 

 the snake. They solemnly assure you that it is a matter of impossi- 

 bility to kill the snake till the sun goes down, and that, though cut 

 into a thousand small pieces, it will not relinquish the spark of life 

 till sunset. This profound assertion needs a great deal of 

 confirmation. 



In July and August the snake deposits its eggs in brick-kilns, 

 manure heaps, and other similar places, leaving them to be hatched 

 by the warmth of the situation. The egg is yellowish white in colour, 

 and about the size of a large filbert. It has no shell, but is covered with 

 a wet parchment-like membrane. The eggs are deposited in masses, 

 but when pulled apart are in the form of long glutinous chains. Their 

 number is from sixteen to twenty. On opening one of these eggs we 

 find it full of " white," except in the centre, where there is a " globule 

 of blood, on washing away which the embryo snake may be seen 

 coiled up like a watch-spring." 



Snakes are often gregarious at the breeding season, many 

 individuals resorting to a favourable "snakery." In the summer of 



