20 THE BOOK OF A NATURALIST 
don’t know where to set it, for there is not one 
square foot of ground which is not already occupied 
by an adder coiled in readiness to strike. 
In adder-seeking, the main thing is to find your 
adder without disturbing it, so as to be able to 
stand near and watch it lying quiescent in the sun. 
The best plan is to come almost to a stop as soon 
as the creature has been caught sight of, then to 
advance so slowly and stealthily as to appear 
stationary, for the adder although unalarmed is, 
I believe, always conscious of your presence. In 
this way you may approach to within two or three 
yards, or nearer, and remain a long time regard- 
ing it. 
But what is the seeker to do if, after long 
searching, he discovers his adder already in retreat, 
and knows that in two or three seconds it will 
vanish from his sight? As a rule, the person who 
sees an adder gliding from him aims a blow at it 
with his stick so as not to lose it. Now to kill your 
adder is to lose it. It is true you will have some- 
thing to show for it, or something of it which is 
left in your hands, and which, if you feel disposed, 
you may put in a glass jar and label “ Vipera berus.” 
But this would not be an adder. Must we then 
never kill an adder? That is a question I do not 
undertake to answer, but I can say that if we are 
seeking after knowledge, or something we call 
knowledge because it is a convenient word and can 
be made to cover many things it would be difficult 
to name, then to kill is no profit, but, on the contrary, 
