Page:Natural History, Reptiles.djvu/204

196 greenish hue above, with numerous black spots, placed in alternate rows; the under parts are pale yellow, chequered with black, or sometimes bluish lead-colour; a broad yellow collar passes behind the head, followed by two patches of black.

During the summer season, the Ringed Snake is rather common in rural districts, concealing itself among the brushwood of coppices, the herbage of ditches and hedges, gliding beneath the shelter of the dense heath, or basking in the

sun on some exposed bank, or on the short turf by the road-side. Late in the autumn, it retires into winter quarters, in some situation usually selected for warmth; such as beneath the roots of