the belly of the dam : they twisted and wriggled 

 about, and set themselves up, and gaped very wide 

 when touched with a stick, showing manifest tokens 

 of menace and defiance, though as yet they had no 

 manner of fangs that we could find, even with the 

 help of our glasses. 



To a thinking mind nothing is more wonderful 

 than that early instinct which impresses young ani- 

 mals with the notion of the situation of their natural 

 weapons, and of using them properly in their own 

 defence, even before those weapons subsist or are 

 formed. Thus a young cock will spar at his adver- 

 sary before his spurs are grown ; and a calf or a 

 lamb will push with their heads before their horns 

 are sprouted. In the same manner did these young 

 adders attempt to bite before their fangs were in 

 being. The dam, however, was furnished with very 

 formidable ones, which we lifted up (for they fold 

 down when not used), and cut them off with the 

 point of our scissors. 



There was little room to suppose that this brood 

 had ever been in the open air before ; and that they 

 were taken in for refuge, at the mouth of the dam, 

 when she perceived that danger was approaching ; 

 because then probably we should have found them 

 somewhere in the neck, and not in the abdomen. 

 Selborne, Apiil 29, 1776. 



73 



