and after the creature had been killed by one of the keepers it was
opened and the young ones were found to be alive and well. An
old labourer, now in my employ, named Arthur Figg, who was born
at Ascot near Princes Risborough, and spent his early days in that
locality, tells me that when a boy he used to catch vipers in a
curious way. A red rag was tied at the end of a stick, and with
this the reptile was teased until it became cross, when it would strike
at and seize the rag in its mouth and was then easily despatched. If vipers
became particularly abundant in any spot they were killed by setting fire
to the bushes and undergrowth. The farmers had a habit of feeding
them to keep them from attacking the cows. It is to be feared, too, that
the popular belief that lizards and newts ' dry efts ' and ' wet efts,' as
they are called by the country people can sting is responsible for
the destruction of a great many of these harmless creatures. Especially
is this true in the case of the lizards, which are now comparatively
rare in Buckinghamshire.
REPTILES
LACERTILIA
1. Common Lizard. Lacerta vivipara Jacq.
There can be little doubt that this is generally distributed over the county, but I am only able to mention two localities in which it has been seen. Mr. T. D. Phil- lips of The Woodlands, Aspley Heath, records that it is to be found in dry summers in that district. Arthur Figg informs me that it used to be abundant in the neigh- bourhood of Hampden Park, darting about the hedge-banks or basking on stone heaps by the wayside.
2. Sand Lizard. Lacerta agilis, Lichtenst.
Mr. T. D. Phillips reports this species as occurring ' not commonly,' and Mr. Alfred Howard of Luton, formerly of Chesham, informs me that it is to be found on Amer- sham Common.
3. Slow-worm or Blind-worm. Anguis fragilis, Linn.
This harmless creature is the most common reptile in many parts of the county. Although a lizard, it is generally looked upon by country people as a snake and destroyed. Instead of being a foe to man it is really a good friend, its food consisting of slugs, worms and insects, and for this reason alone deserves to be spared. Mr. Alfred Howard says that it is plentiful on the baulks near Chesham ; Arthur Figg used to find it in the neighbourhood of his old home at Ascot, and Mr. Phillips states that it is the commonest reptile on the Bedfordshire border, but that in 1903 he only saw two specimens.
OPHIDIA
4. Common Ringed or Grass Snake. Tropidonotui natrix, Linn.
Arthur Figg tells me that he used fre- quently to find this snake in the district lying between Princes Risborough, Ellesborough and Little Missenden. Mr. Phillips says the species is by no means common in his neighbourhood. Mr. Elliman was shown by a gamekeeper two or three years ago three fine specimens of the ringed snake strung up in a hedge near Chesham, his record of its occurrence in that neighbourhood being con- firmed by Dr. Churchill of the same town, who speaks of both this species and the viper occurring there. Mr. Alfred Howard men- tions the neighbourhood of Amersham as a locality for Tropldonotus natrix.
5. Viper or Adder. Vipera berus, Linn.
This reptile appears to be generally pre- sent, though as before mentioned it is not now common. Mr. E. George Elliman of the Broadway, Chesham, writes that in the summer of 1893 he disturbed three adders lying together sunning themselves at the edge of a clump of beech trees on the Aston Hills. He killed one of them which measured about twelve inches long, the two which escaped being about the same length. Mr. T. D. Phillips remarks that he has mostly noticed
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