6 WITHIN AN HOUR OF LONDON TOWN. 



One continual hum there is no other word for it 

 sounds all round you. Insect-life is in full swing 

 in the air and on the ground. 



And now for the haunt of the fern owl by day. 

 Keep the green sheep-track. There is a nearer way 

 through that long stretch of whortle-bushes here 

 called hurts but vipers are numerous and remark- 

 ably active. We have found that out long ago ; the 

 colour of burnt sienna, with black markings, they are, 

 here. If they do not hurt you, you might hurt them, 

 poor things. If you accidentally put your foot on 

 one of them it gives you a turn, that curl round the 

 leg. The boys are very clever in catching vipers 

 with a cleft stick. 



In the short space of a mile you will find, if you 

 look, three kinds of the same species red with black 

 markings, among the whortle-bushes ; bronze-green 

 and black markings, under the fir-trees ; bronze-red, 

 on the sandstone littered with dead bramble-leaves. 



Now we clear the fir- wood. Look up the long 

 valley in front, three miles in length : the sides are 

 covered with junipers of every size, from splendid 

 specimens that would ornament the grounds of a 

 prince, if he could get them to flourish, down to little 



