96 NATURE IN DOWNLAND 



Once only in the South Downs have I seen the 

 lizard's worst enemy, the smooth snake. He is like 

 the creature he pursues, alert and quick to escape, 

 and may not be quite so rare as we imagine. 



The adder is common in suitable places, on the 

 high slopes, especially where the gorse bushes grow 

 mixed with heath and tussocky grass. In some spots 

 they are no doubt very numerous, as a good many 

 sheep die of adder's bite. Occasionally a sheep is 

 bitten in the side, and one can only suppose in such 

 cases that the animal has lain down on a very sluggish 

 adder basking in the sun at the side of a furze bush. 

 But most of the victims are bitten on the nose. 

 Sheep, I believe, have no instinctive fear of a serpent ; 

 and they are always curious about any odd-looking 

 object they see, and will go out of their way to smell 

 at and touch it with their nose : it is not strange that 

 they occasionally get killed. 



I see fewer adders by chance, and am less successful 

 in finding when I look for them, here than in some 

 favourite haunts in other southern counties, simply 

 because I go to the downs in summer and not in early 

 spring. Those who are familiar with the adder, and 

 occasionally look for and find him, know that he is 

 most easily found and oftenest seen by chance when 

 the year is young. This is not because after his 

 winter sleep he is still dull of sense, slow to move, 

 and made drowsy or lethargic by the unaccustomed 

 heat of the sun. In early spring he is on the con- 



