8 BRITISH SERPENTS. 



Our harmless ring snake, too, has had a good deal 

 of attention paid to it ; but our only venomous serpent, 

 the adder, seems to have been much neglected, at any 

 rate as far as the study of its habits in a state of nature 

 is concerned. It is not difficult to see why this should 

 have been the case. In the first place, many people 

 have a great horror of venomous serpents, even people 

 who are keenly interested in most other animals. 

 Secondly, the observation of adders in their natural 

 haunts is beset with difficulties greater than any which 

 apply to the study of many other branches of our 

 fauna. Adders are not to be found in every field, nor 

 just when one has the time to give to their obser- 

 vation. They are unobtrusive creatures, and always 

 keep out of sight if possible, and they are, of course, 

 most undesirable pets. For all these reasons it is 

 most difficult to gain anything like an adequate idea 

 of the natural life of our adders. Indeed there are 

 few subjects requiring so much patience and per- 

 severance as an investigation such as this. But since 

 the adder is the member of the group whose life- 

 history has been least worked out, I have given most 

 of my attention to it, and hence this species will be 

 found to occupy what might otherwise appear to be an 

 unduly prominent position in these pages. There are 

 many curious ideas about adders prevalent in some 

 districts, and still more queries concerning them await- 

 ing solution. They have been credited with some 

 very startling performances, the evidence for and 



