APRIL DAYS 71 



Many years passed before the adders and I 

 renewed our acquaintanceship. It was a lovely 

 day in spring. The thickets were vocal with 

 freshly-arrived warblers, and the breeze scarcely 

 ruffled the long dead grasses on the hillside. In 

 the warmest corner was an old heap of stones, 

 partly covered by brambles and matted creeping 

 plants. A fine place this for a lizard or a blind- 

 worm. Approaching quietly, I suddenly saw a 

 slim green snake of great beauty (afterwards the 

 pet already described) dart into an accustomed 

 shelter. A pause ; one step farther, and lo ! within 

 easy reach is the shining length of a blindworm. 

 Stooping, I would catch it ; but at that moment 

 there is a hissing rustle nearer my feet, and a large, 

 dark-hued viper is wriggling through the plants at 

 the very edge of the stones. Instantly the walking- 

 stick is placed firmly on the nearest reptile ; but at 

 that instant another viper, a liver-coloured horror, 

 glides from the very spot where the blindworm lay 

 in fact, the two reptiles must have been almost 

 in contact. The adder pressed under the stick 

 writhes and hisses, and then makes another 

 attempt to escape, but he is promptly seized by 



