DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS AND PLANTS IN FELSTEAD, ESSEX. 197
extinct here. The last certain case of one being seen dates back
ten years, and my informant in this case, an old poacher, but a good
observer, says that previous to that he had noticed that they were
very rare, although in his younger days he had killed a great many.
In many years' peregrination of lonely fields I have never to my
knowledge seen one. Snakes now can hardly be marked as frequent,
although they were formerly common. Occasionally they will gain
something like a footing in a secluded hedgerow, but in a short time
they disappear again. I believe them to be great travellers in the
spring, as they may be then sometimes met with by the roadside and
in frequented footpaths ; but as the summer advances they must
be sought for in the most retired situations, particularly by the river
side. I can give no sufficient reason for their diminution, but I have
been reminded that their distribution may be a matter of very
delicate poise—a slight change of drainage, for instance, depriving
them of food. They are always hunted and killed where possible,
but that has probably been a normal condition of their existence, and
it must be remarked that the hunting population has not increased.
There has been a slight reduction in the population in the last two
decades. As regards the adders, the enclosure of common lands
may have played an important part in their extinction. Fairwood
Common, near Leigh, was long a stronghold of the adder, but its
enclosure probably sealed their doom. They are very rare, if at all
to be found there now.
In treating of the distribution of plants many difficulties arise.
They are subject to so many disturbing elements. The field, too, is
so exceedingly wide that only a small portion can possibly be treated
of. Nevertheless, observations confined to a limited area will supply
interesting cases.
We have here to do with an element that has not been obvious
in the departments treated of, and that is the "Struggle for Life."
Undoubtedly this enters as a potent factor, although not the
omnipotent one. Like the Fish, Molluscs, and Reptiles, a margin
will remain in the problem of distribution which is completely beyond
our ken.
The local history of almost any vigorous plant will furnish
illustration. We will take the family of Crowfoots, which are well
represented in Essex, and are perfectly adapted to its loams and
clays. Strong and vigorous, they might reasonably be supposed to
hold their own were the struggle for life all that is concerned. Have