118 THE LIFE OF THE FIELDS 



would seem that trees once grew there, trunks of oak 

 being occasionally dug up from the peat Both the 

 peaty turf and the heather are used for fuel; the 

 heather is pulled up, the turf cut with a particular 

 kind of spade, heart-shaped and pointed, not unlike 

 the traditional spade used by the gravedigger in 

 " Hamlet," but with a very long curved handle. 



Vipers are sometimes encountered among the heather 

 where it is sandy. A viper will sometimes wind itself 

 round the stem of a thorn bush, and thus, turning its 

 head in every direction, defy a dog. Whichever side 

 the dog approaches, the viper turns its venomous head. 

 Dogs frequently kill them, and are sometimes bitten, 

 generally in the face, when the dog's head swells in 

 a few minutes to twice its natural size. Salad oil is 

 the remedy relied on, and seldom known to fail. The 

 effect of anger on the common snake is marked. The 

 skin, if the creature is annoyed, becomes bristly and 

 colder; sometimes there is a strong snake-like smell 

 emitted. It is singular that the goat-sucker, or fern 

 owl, often stuffed when shot and preserved in glass 

 cases, does not keep; the bird looks draggled and 

 falling to pieces. So many of them are like this. 

 Some of the labouring people who work by the 

 numerous streamlets say that the wagtail dives, goes 

 right under water like a diver now and then a cir- 

 cumstance I have not noticed myself. There is a 

 custom of serving up water-cress with roast fowl ; it is 

 also sometimes boiled like a garden vegetable. Some- 

 times a man will take cider with his tea a cup of tea 

 one side and a mug of cider on the other. The German 

 bands, who wander even into these extreme parts of 



