76 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS. [CHAP. vm. 



marked distinction between the two, killing the former quietly 

 and without hurry, but whenever he found an adder, he darted 

 on it with a perfect frenzy of rage, at the same time always ma- 

 naging to escape the fangs of the venomous reptile, quickly as 

 it can use them. The poisonous teeth of the adder greatly re- 

 semble the talons of a cat in shape, and can be raised or laid flat 

 on the jaw according to the wish of their owner ; indeed, the 

 fangs of the adder, which are hollow throughout, are only raised 

 when he is angry, and in self-defence. The common snake, which 

 is quite harmless, has no such teeth. There are stories among 

 the peasants, of adders being seen in Darnaway Forest, of great 

 size and length, measuring five or six feet, but I do not believe 

 that there are any larger than, the usual size. 



I have never seen the Anguis fragilis, or blind-worm, as it is 

 called, but once in this country, though I am told it is not un- 

 common ; a man brought me one last year which he had found 

 floating down the river after a flood, as if swept off some rock by 

 the sudden rise of the water. I mentioned the circumstance to 

 some of my acquaintance, but could find no one who had either 

 seen or heard of such a creature in this country. This one was 

 alive when brought to me, but had received a cut which nearly 

 divided its body in two, so that it did not long survive. 



Amongst the rare feathered visitors to these woods, I forgot to 

 mention the spotted woodpecker, Picits meditis, which bird I 

 killed in Inverness-shire ; I was attracted to the spot, where he 

 was clinging to the topmost shoot of a larch-tree, by hearing his 

 strange harsh cry. 



