358 BRITISH SERPENTS. 



numerous in Lauderdale in 1864 (' Scotsman ' and 

 ' Zoologist ').... Mr James Caverhill says, ' The 

 country round about Crichness is full of " ether." 

 On a certain rocky face he could undertake to kill 

 a dozen in a suitable day. Taking the country gener- 

 ally, a shepherd might kill twenty to thirty in a 

 season.' . . . 



" Dr Hardy says in reference to the Border counties, 

 ' At Caldra shepherd's house, at foot of Spartleton, 

 adders are numerous. Occurs in Greywacke Crags. 

 The Dye Water, apparently to near its head as well 

 as its tributaries, full of adders.' ... 



" As regards tiie north side of the Forth, I have 

 no actual record for Fife, though I have been told 

 that adders used to be seen on a moor in the western 

 part of the county. In the detached portion of 

 Perthshire immediately to the west of Fife Mr J. J. 

 Dalgleish informs me that many were killed in 1869 

 on a piece of moss of three or four acres which was 

 being levelled. Since then he has not heard of any 

 in that quarter. In the more highland part of the 

 valley beyond Stirling they are still to be met with 

 in many spots, but, except in a few localities, not 

 plentifully. . . . Between Callander and Port-o'- 

 Menteith the moors round about Loch Eusky are a 

 favourite habitat, where a few are killed every year. 

 The only example of the reddish - brown variety I 

 have been able to hear of was killed a few years 

 ago in a ploughed field a mile or two from Callander." 



