IN A SUSSEX HANGER 97 



that proclaims a sanded floor, a mat of dead bracken 

 near by, and little tangles of honeysuckle here and 

 there under the branches that they cannot reach. For 

 there on the bracken lie two vipers sunning their 

 carelessly flung coils. One is a lithe, young-looking, 

 though full-grown, male, the other a thicker, more 

 sluggish-looking female. He is a plain grey viper ; 

 she has a distinctly rosy tinge, both in the black that 

 becomes a sort of deep maroon and in the lighter part 

 of her pattern. They are so near that we can confirm 

 the first impression as to their sex by the relative 

 length of their tails. Then, as our eyes roam a little 

 to see what else may be present, they are caught by a 

 slightly warmer tint in the shadow of one of those 

 honeysuckle tangles. It was but a spot of slightly alien 

 colour that caught the eye, which, steadily focussed, 

 wrests other items of the bush's secret. Yes, we have 

 got it at last. We have managed, or shall we say 

 happened, to spot in this quiet wood a hare sitting on 

 her form. Hundreds of times we have had them burst 

 out from our very feet, and dozens of other times, no 

 doubt, have passed them by without being aware of 

 their existence. But here is a hare discovered before 

 her bolt, and, within four yards of her, two vipers 

 caught in their siesta. As we look from one to the 

 other, something speaks to the hare, and like a furred 

 tornado she bundles from her seat and bounds away 

 in a scurry of dead leaves. In the same second the 

 place of the vipers is empty. It is as though they had 

 melted into their bed of bracken. Not a stirred twig 

 shows which way they went ; there is nothing but a 

 colour impression to persuade us that they were really 

 there. The hare has at least left the " house " in the 



