ADDER AND GRASS-SNAKE 29 



Some people possess a peculiar power over snakes, 

 and are not afraid of handling even adders, which 

 soon become tame and harmless to their friends. 

 The slow-worm is a safer pet, and interesting in his 

 ways. He will bite when annoyed, but not sharply. 

 He is fond of slugs, which on taking he holds for a 

 minute or more before swallowing, head first. A 

 slow- worm may measure fifteen inches in length. 

 His back is silver-grey ; he has a suggestion of the 

 wicked look of the serpent he is like a little harmless 

 imitation adder. 



Late Singers 



"The titlark and yellowhammer breed late, the latter very late; 

 and, therefore, it is no wonder that they protract their song ; for I 

 lay it down as a maxim in ornithology, that as long as there is any 

 incubation going on, there is music. As to the red-breast and wren, 

 it is well known to the most incurious observer that they whistle 

 the year round, hard frost excepted." 



71 Black Bullfinch 



"A few years ago, I saw a cock bullfinch in a cage, which had been 

 caught in the fields after it was come to its full colours. In about a 

 year it began to look dingy, and blackening every succeeding year, 

 it became coal-black at the end of four. Its chief food was hemp- 

 seed. Such influence has food on the colour of animals I The pied 

 and mottled colours of domesticated animals are supposed to be 

 owing to high, various, and unusual food." 



