NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 
quickly, he will jfind that an idea of the croaking of frogs is 
obtained. 
Snakes' Eggs, p. 57. — The engraving below shows the eggs 
of the common snake just ready to hatch out. I found them in a 
duDghill in Aldermaston Park, Reading, when on a visit to my 
hospitable and kind friend, Higford Burr. I have thus described 
them in my "Log-Book of a Fisherman and Zoologist:" — "Lifting 
up the straw most carefully, I was delighted to find first one, then 
two, then a dozen eggs. The squire and I then proceeded leisurely 
to dissect out the nest with our pocket-knives and a dung-fork. 
EGOS OF THE C(.)MMoN 
Snakes' eggs are not quite so large as a blackbird's ; they are 
round at both ends like a sugar-plum. They have no hard 
shell like a hen's egg, but the shell is composed of a soft 
elastic substance, like thin wash-leather. Some of the eggs were 
lying quite separate. The greater part were, however, stuck 
firmly together, so tightly that it was almost impossible to tear 
them apart without breaking the skin. The eggs were not held 
by a ligature, but appeared pasted together by some strong ad- 
hesive gum, end to end ; most of the eggs were quite distended; 
the shells of some had fallen in, and they looked crumpled. 
