WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS 



powdered state will they continue fighting, regardless of 

 the heat, which shrivels up their skin, or of passers by, who 

 may tread on them and maim them, but cannot stop their 

 fighting. There is more character and energy in a toad than 

 is supposed. After the young ones have acquired their per- 

 fect shape, they appear to leave the water, and frequently 

 the roads and paths are so covered with minute but well- 

 formed toadlings,that it is impossible to put your foot down 

 without crushing some of them. 



In some of the drier banks and hills in this country, there 

 are numerous adders; like most other snakes, however, 

 they never willingly fly at people, only biting when trod 

 upon or taken hold of. I have had my dogs occasionally, 

 but rarely, bitten by adders. The swelling is very severe, 

 and only reduced after several hours' rubbing with oil and 

 laudanum. A retriever of mine, having been bit by an 

 adder, conceived the most deadly hatred against them ever 

 after, and killed a great number of them without being 

 again bit; his method was to snap quickly at the adder, 

 biting it in two almost instantaneously, and before the rep- 

 tile could retaliate. A favourite amusement of this dog, 

 when he was in Sussex with me some time afterwards, used 

 to be hunting the hedgerows for snakes and adders. He 

 made a most marked distinction between the two, killing 

 the former quietly and without hurry, but whenever he 

 found an adder, he darted on it with a perfect frenzy of 

 rage.at the same time always managing to escape the fangs 

 of the venomous reptile, quickly as it can use them. The 

 poisonous teeth of the adder greatly resemble the talons of 

 a cat in shape, and can be raised or laid flat on the jaw ac- 



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