338 Animal Life 
Providence that the creature should be blind, and so unable to direct its attacks with 
accuracy. For instance, a popular Herefordshire rhyme says: 
“Tf the blind worm had the adder’s eye, 
Neither man nor beast would pass him by.” 
and no amount of proof will serve to convince the rustic mind that a blind worm is 
neither blind nor venomous. 
The present writer once sought to give ocular demonstration of the harmlessness 
of a blind worm by picking one up and allowing it to wind round his wrist and 
touch his face with its soft tongue; but the old village dame who shudderingly witnessed 
the performance was not to be convinced: ‘It be well known,” she said, “that some 
folks even blind worms won’t sting.’ As to trying for herself whether she was one of 
these favoured individuals, her mind recoiled from the idea. It was a clean flying in 
the face of Providence to handle a beast so notoriously dangerous! 
The blind worm is one of the earliest of our British reptiles to emerge from its 
winter retreat, and a sunny day in the beginning of March is almost sure to tempt 
it out, and it may be seen, 
basking luxuriously on the 
slope of a sheltered bank, 
about the time that the first 
violet appears. The best place 
to search for the creature, at 
all seasons of the year, is 
an old disused stone quarry. 
Here, by turning over the 
larger stones, you are almost 
sure to come upon one or 
more blind worms lying coiled 
up beneath them, and some- 
times a whole family may be 
found of different sizes and 
ages. It is well to exercise 
some caution, however, in 
disturbing these large stones 
: that have for long lam 
TWO'S COMPANY: THREE’S NONE. embedded in the grass, for 
sometimes, instead of the 
smooth brownish-grey body of a blind worm, the boldly-marked folds of an adder may be 
discovered; and an adder, disturbed in such an unceremonious manner by his house being 
unroofed, is apt to be a little ruffled in his temper and prompt to retaliate upon the intruder. 
Just at dusk is the blind worm’s feeding time, and his favourite diet consists of 
small grey meadow slugs, though a nice juicy earth worm is not despised on occasions. 
Possibly small beetles and other insect food are at times devoured; but as far as the 
experience of the present writer goes, slugs are what the blind worm: principally lives 
upon, and for that reason it is most beneficial to the gardener and the agriculturist. 
The blind worm’s method of seizing its prey is curious, and accurately described in 
Bell’s “History of British Reptiles.’ Bending its head, almost at mght angles to its 
body, above the doomed slug, it grips it suddenly in the middle, shakes it just as ‘a 
terrier does a rat, and disposes of it, usually head first. All its motions while feeding 
are slow and deliberate, and it will sometimes wait for some time, with a slug held 
firmly in its mouth, blowing small bubbles of slime, before its victim finally disappears. 
Tn colour, blind worms are rather variable, some being of a much richer brown than others, 
