WILD CREATURES OF GARDEN AND HEDGEROW 



never be made if it is borne in mind that both 

 our common snakes, the grass snake and the 

 adder, are prettily patterned and marked. 

 Many scores of harmless blindworms get 

 murdered in the belief that they are vipers. 

 When people who know nothing of reptiles see 

 a small snake gliding away through the grass, 

 or lying basking in the sun, they do not stop 

 to find out exactly what it is, but deal it a 

 blow with a stick and there and then settle 

 its fate. Such persons will seldom believe 

 that the creature was quite harmless, being 

 neither able to bite nor sting. ' We saw it 

 putting its sting out,' they will tell you ! 

 The so-called sting is really the little black 

 forked tongue, which the blindworm, like 

 many real snakes, has a habit of running 

 over things. It is very difficult to make some 

 people believe it is nothing more, for they are 

 convinced that it is indeed a ' sting.' I have 

 often let blindworms twist themselves round 

 my hands, their tongues in the meantime 

 flickering about my fingers, and those who have 

 been looking on have still remained uncon- 

 vinced, thinking that there was something 

 strange about me so that the ' snakes ' would 

 not bite me. As a matter of fact not only has 

 240 



