Smooth Snake (Coronella austriaca, Lacepede).
Although in general appearance similar to the Grass Snake the Smooth Snake in the hand exhibits a sufficient number of differences to make its identification easy. The smoothness which gives it a name is at once evident to our sense of touch, and is due to the fact that all its scales lack the little keels or ridges that give a certain roughness to the common species. It never attains to so large a size as the Grass Snake, its maximum length being two feet.
The ground colour of this snake on the upper side is grey, brown, or reddish, with small black, brown, or red spots, which are usually in pairs; occasionally there are three lighter longitudinal stripes. The upper part of the head is sometimes blackish; this is more frequently so in young examples. A dark streak runs from the nostrils and through the eye to the angle of the mouth. This streak may be prolonged, even to the tail. On the underside the colouring is some tint of orange, red, brown, grey, or black, with or without black spots or dots. The eye has a round pupil like that of the Grass Snake, and this helps to give it a similar gentle appearance.
Prior to the year 1853 British specimens had been regarded as mere variations of the Grass Snake, but in that year it was captured by Mr. F. Bond at Ringwood by the New Forest, though it was not recorded under its proper name until six years later. It has been found since in other parts of Hampshire, in Dorset, Surrey, and Berkshire; in some places abundantly, especially those in which the Sand Lizard occurs, this being the Smooth Snake's favourite prey. Its usual resorts are heaths, stony wastes and wooded hillsides. Its food consists mainly of Lizards, but it also takes young Snakes and Slow-worms; occasionally it consumes mice and mice-like mammals including the Voles and Shrews. When these are sufficiently large it is said to coil around them in Boa-constrictor fashion.
Pairing takes place soon after emergence from hibernation in spring. As in the case of the Slow-worm and the Common Lizard, the eggs are retained until the young are ready to hatch out, and they are born about the end of August. They vary in number from two to fifteen, but usually there are about six to a birth. They are enveloped in a thin membrane which is ruptured immediately, and the Snakes are seen to be about five or six inches in length.
Like the Grass Snake this species emits an objectionable odour when captured, and at first attempts to bite, but this unfriendly phase passes quickly, and it becomes perfectly tame and exhibits a considerable amount of intelligence.
It may be as well to add that, if we count the rows of small scales on the back and sides of either of our non-venomous Snakes, we shall find there are nineteen of them. In the Viper there are twenty-one rows—rarely nineteen or twenty-three. Each one of these scales is marked with a tiny pit which appears to coincide with the end of a nerve fibre, so that one may say the sense of touch resides in every separate scale. The head is less distinct from the body than is the case in the Grass Snake; and the slender tail is one-fourth of the entire length in the male and one-sixth in the female.
The Smooth Snake is found throughout the greater part of Europe.
Viper or Adder (Vipera berus, Linn.).