i8 The Field Naturalist's Quarterly Feb. 



ditions, is apt to be overlooked, or at any rate to have too 

 little allowance made for it. There is a great risk of 

 erroneous conclusions being arrived at by assuming that 

 animals in captivity behave as they would in a state of wild 

 nature. This apphes to all wild animals more or less, but 

 very much more to some than to others, and in a varying 

 degree even in different species of the same order. Take, 

 for example, the two most common serpents found in Great 

 Britain — the venomous adder or viper, and the harmless 

 ring snake or grass snake, — and note, in the first instance, 

 the most prominent characteristics displayed by these two 

 species in a state of nature. Then, secondly, observe how 

 these same features in their respective dispositions are 

 modified as the result of keeping them in captivity. 



Undoubtedly the most prominent trait in the characters 

 of these two species of snakes in nature is their desire to 

 escape notice. The word "unobtrusive" describes better 

 than any other term I know of, the adder in nature. Some 

 slight difference is noticeable in the two sexes, the males 

 being rather more active that the females, especially in the 

 spring, but in both the same desire to elude observation is 

 seen. In the heat of summer the females become lethargic 

 to a degree, and will lie motionless for a couple of hours 

 basking in the sun, perhaps asleep, at any rate oblivious to 

 their surroundings unless disturbed, when they quietly glide 

 into the nearest cover. This very absence of motion is 

 their greatest protection, as the protective colouration pos- 

 sessed by them renders it difficult to see them at a little 

 distance until they move. Thus it is that most cases of 

 adder-bite occur from the person bitten being quite unaware 

 of the proximity of the adder. I have captured a large 

 number of adders, and I never knew one attempt to attack 

 until escape was hopeless. 



This same feature of timidity is still more marked in the 

 ring snake or grass snake. Indeed the pace at which this 

 species will glide away when disturbed is extraordinary, and 

 often defies all efforts to follow. It is marvellous how this 

 snake can hide itself in any green vegetation. It moves 

 with much greater rapidity than does the adder, the in- 

 difference of the latter being replaced by active terror in 



