Page:British Reptiles, Amphibians, and Fresh-water Fishes.djvu/27

Rh threatens. It will not attack unless escape is impossible. It is an adept at taking cover, and loves nothing better than to sun itself close by a heather or fern patch in which it can hide if occasion demands. Most of the stories one hears, and often from accredited witnesses, of Adders springing and darting through the air when about to strike a person, savour more of imagination than truth. It is an earth-creature, keeping exclusively to ground, and by its very structure is unable to perform the prodigious feats with which it has been credited. When in repose the Adder assumes a coiled position, but raises its head and neck when preparing to strike. On the vexed question of whether or not this animal swallows its young in the time of danger we cannot hope to enter here. Whilst it is possible that this event can and may happen, at present the matter is not proven, or rather is not accepted as a scientific fact. I have myself made a practise of asking for information on this point from most of the field naturalists I have met in this country during the last forty years, and only on one occasion have I received a reply in the affirmative. Neither is it possible to enter into a detailed description of the ill effects suffered by human beings from poisoning by the Adder, or the most useful remedies to apply. Cases of Snake-poisoning in our own island are very rare, but old Brusher Mills, the Snake-catcher in the New Forest, swore by an ointment, or oil, he made from fat obtained from the Adder's own body, as a most successful antidote.

Another contentious matter has reference to the 11