HINTS TO ADDER-SEEKERS 25 



I am tempted to go further with this digression to 

 give an account of it. 



The adventure was the finding of my biggest 

 adder. It was in a tract of ground overgrown with 

 furze and thorn, at a spot not far from the turn- 

 pike road that runs from Salisbury to Blandford. 

 Having discovered that this spot, with an area of 

 several hundred acres, teemed with interesting wild 

 life, I made it a haunt for several weeks. I soon 

 found out that it was a valuable game preserve 

 and that the keeper had strict orders from the 

 shooting tenant not to allow any person on the 

 land. However, I approached him in the proper 

 way, and he left me to enjoy myself in my own 

 fashion. 



Never had I seen adders so abundant as at this 

 spot, yet the keeper assured me that he had been 

 trying for years to extirpate them, and often killed 

 as many as half a dozen in a day. 



One morning, near the end of June, I found my 

 big adder, and picking it up, held it suspended by 

 the tip of its tail for nearly half an hour, until, 

 exhausted with its vain wriggling, it allowed itself 

 to hang limp and straight. Then I got out my 

 tape-measure and set about the difficult task of 

 getting the exact length ; but the adder would not 

 have it, for invariably when the tape was dropped 

 at its side it drew itself up into a series of curves 

 and defeated me. Tired of the long business, I set 

 it down at length and stunned it with a rap on its 

 head with my stick, then setting the tape on its 



