144 BRITISH SERPENTS. 



killed when curled up together;^ and a correspondent 

 tells me that he once struck at an adder with his stick 

 at this season, and not until he had killed the reptile 

 did he notice that there were two together. Several 

 farmers have told me that they have often killed an 

 adder, and on setting fire to the gorse-bush or thicket 

 by which it was lying, a second adder was driven out 

 by the heat. It is a practical point worth remember- 

 ing, that should an adder be encountered in the spring, 

 it is well to keep a look-out for a second specimen in 

 the same spot. 



Time of birth of the young. — With all deference 

 to a writer in a well-known encyclopaedia, it is hardly 

 the case that the adder " brings forth in April or May" 

 her family — at any rate in this country. The process 

 of development takes about four months, and as the 

 pairing occurs in the spring, the young are born in 

 late summer or autumn. This of course refers to 

 adders in their natural habitats, not in captivity, 

 where the conditions might be different. The first 

 two weeks in September are perhaps the most fre- 

 quent date of birth, varying a few weeks with the 

 season and locality. At this time the females become 

 very sluggish in their movements from the weight 

 they have to carry, and can be captured with greater 

 ease than at any other period of the year, if they can 

 be found. But just before parturition takes place 



^ " Bunching " is al^-o used to refer to a mass of adders hiljernating 

 together. 



