CHAPTER EIGHT BIRDS &f REPTILES 



cording to the wish of their owner; indeed, the fangs of the 

 adder, which are hollow throughout, are only raised when 

 he is angry, and in self-defence. The common snake, which 

 is quite harmless, has no such teeth. There are stories 

 among the peasants,ofadders being seen in Darnaway For- 

 est, of great size and length, measuring five or six feet, but 

 I do not believe that there are any larger than the usual size. 



I have never seen the Aiiguis fragilis,o'c blind- worm, as 

 it is called, but once in this country, though I am told it is 

 not uncommon; a man brought me one last year which he 

 had found floating down the river after a flood, as if swept 

 off some rock by the sudden rise of the water. I mentioned 

 the circumstance to some of my acquaintance, but could 

 find no one who had either seen or heard of such a creature 

 in this country. This one was alive when brought to me, 

 but had received a cutwhich nearlydivided its bodyin two, 

 so that it did not long survive. 



Amongst the rare feathered visitors to these woods, I 

 forgot to mention the spotted woodpecker, Picus medius, 

 which bird I killed in I nverness-shire; I was attracted to the 

 spot, where he was clinging to the topmost shoot of a larch- 

 tree, by hearing his strange harsh cry.* 



*Probably the lesser spotted v;oa&-pt€^tK{Dendrocoptis minor), which has a cry much 

 resembling that of the wryneck. Although still to be accounted a rare bird in Scotland, 

 its presence there has been recorded of late years more frequently than formerly, poss- 

 ibly owing to closer attention having been given to field study. The structure of the 

 woodpeckers, both the green and spotted species, is so modified in a manner peculiarly 

 adapted for climbing as might be expected to interfere with the power of flight in a de- 

 gree prohibitive of oversea migration. The breast-bone has been pared down to a min- 

 imum in order to enable the bird to cling closely to tree-trunks, with the result that the 

 pectoral muscles are so shallow as to seem unfitted for sustained flight. Nevertheless, it 

 has been conclusively proved that British woodpeckers are frequently, if not regularly, 

 recruited from continental sources.— Ed. 



