ENGLISH-GAELIC 

 NAMES OF INSECTS AND REPTILES 



ADDER (see also Asp and Viper). — Arcan-luaclirach, arpag, 

 asc, asp, aspic, athair-nei ; Beithir, buafair, buafaire, buaf-athair 

 or nathair, buaf-bheisd ; Esp ; Gille-neamhag (water) ; lol-bheisd ; 

 Na'r, nathair, nathair-nimh (poisonous). 



Addick, ather; Eddre, einatter (Cumb.) ; Heddie, hether 

 (Salop) ; Naedre (A. S.), neddar, nedder, neddir, neddre, neddyr, 

 needer, nether, netter. 



The only poisonous snake in Great Britain. 



The Old Irish name, "snaithe," was given to the adder or 

 serpent from its thj^ead-like shape. The adder is believed to be 

 stone deaf, in fact the deafest creature known, and an old rhyme 

 says, " If the adder could hear and the blind-worm see, neither 

 man nor beast would ever go free." This may be true as regards 

 the adder, though we very much doubt it, as these reptiles, like 

 most others, are by no means aggressive, and only sting — when 

 they do sting — in self-defence. Every one knows the old saying, 

 still applicable, that March should come in like an adder's head. 

 Adders are plentiful, and indeed numerous, over most of the High- 

 lands, though the island of Lewis is free of them, and are reported 

 as frequently found in Strathnaver, out on sunny days in February, 

 as many as twenty-seven being killed in one day in that month by 

 one boy — bonnie Strathnaver. They are from twelve to twenty- 

 five inches in length. Adders bite or sting cattle more readily 

 than human beings, owing, it has been alleged, to their dread of 

 the clothes; but we venture to say that cattle are not sufficiently 

 aware of their danger, and do not avoid it as well as humans can. 

 Adders will always be found on the warmest and dryest side of a 

 hill or slope. The adder is said to partake of the serpent's dislike to 

 the ash-tree, also, it is said, to the birch and the fir ; the spikes of 

 the latter may account for its dislike to at least the neighbour- 

 hood of that tree, being doubtless painful, or at least inconvenient 

 to wriggle or crawl over. Black-faced sheep and deer destroy 



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