100 NATUEAL HISTORY AND 



equal length. So prolific in adders was Mull that 

 we have found them in winter coiled up in a hea- 

 ther bush, no doubt surprised and frozen to death 

 by one of those pinching night frosts which often 

 succeed the sunny butterfly-days of early winter. 



The only serpent reptile I have detected in 

 Bute is the familiar slow-worm. It is by no means 

 plentiful here, although in Mull equally numerous 

 with the adders. The rough ground of North 

 Bute being well adapted to furnish food and 

 shelter for reptiles, and the climate to foster 

 them, why there are no adders and few blind- 

 worms I do not pretend to guess. 



The stoat abounds in Bute quite as much as in 

 Mull, but the common weasel I have never seen 

 but once.* A party of us surrounded and killed 

 the creature last January, where it had taken 

 refuge under a bush. It proved to be a beauti- 

 ful example of the "cane" or " mousekiller," con- 

 sidered a distinct species by many English game- 

 keepers. My own impression is that these 

 mousekillers are only the young of the common 



* Since writing the above I have twice detected full-grown 

 specimens of the common weasel in Bute. 



