50 By Leafy Ways. 



sun, but may often be found in a low-lying meadow, 

 where among the damp grass he may chase the light 

 and active frog upon his native heath. 



But the adder haunts the dry hillside, the stony 

 hedgerow, the warmest corner of the coppice. 



A favourite nook of his is in a heap of stones 

 gathered up long years ago by patient hands, in vain 

 attempts to reclaim the sterile pasture. All around is 

 the bare hillside, dotted with masses of briar or strag- 

 gling hawthorn, on whose swaying boughs the warm- 

 breasted linnets sing to each other in the late summer 

 afternoons. Here, patches of tall columbines cluster 

 on the edge of the slope. There, a group of slender 

 orchises mock the shape and markings of the bee. 

 The gromwell twines its wandering sprays about the 

 stones, and its rich purple blossoms still shine among 

 the dark foliage. 



Yonder among the brambles is a cast snake skin, 

 good evidence that we are near the viper's haunt. It 

 is almost perfect, even to the coverings of the eyes ; 

 but it is inside out, just as its owner wriggled out of it 

 when his new mail coat was ready underneath. 



There's our friend ! his broad body flattened out on 

 the warm ctones, and arranged in a wavy form that is 

 quite different from the attitude of the ringed snake. 

 Down the middle of his back is a very conspicuous 

 chain of black spots, forming a sort of zigzag line. 



Adders are sometimes said to be deaf. Certainly 

 they often permit a very near approach without moving. 



