94 
BRITISH REPTILES 
I FEAR that this subject is not a favourite one with 
the public generally ; but I must ask those who have 
read my articles on wild life in its other shapes to 
bear with me in this one, although at the first glance 
the title may not seem attractive. 
The fact is, few are acquainted with the real 
nature of the beautiful creatures, as they really are, 
divested of all technical ' scientism,' and apart from 
those specimens preserved in spirits, with which all 
are familiar. To know them properly one must 
examine their haunts, where they find food, and bask 
in the sun ; also the spots to which they retire when 
cold weather sets in. 
A straw hat, carefully manipulated with the thumb 
and forefinger of my right hand, has been my very 
easy method of capturing them, and, what is of vital 
importance, without the least injury to myself or 
them. Up to the present I have, fortunately, never 
been bitten ; quickness and some slight nerve are 
