274 



FIELD, FOREST AND FARM 



and Provence. It is straw-color in hue and inhabits 

 sandy hillocks where the sun beats down with the 

 fiercest heat. There, under some large stone, it digs 

 itself a den, a spacious retreat, whence it issues only 

 by night in quest of something to eat. It is never 

 known to intrude into houses, nor does it ever leave 

 the warmth of its desert solitudes. Unless you dis- 

 turb it by lifting up the flat stone that roofs its 



lii^iiil!! 1 ; 



"'IViSllli, 



Plumed Viper, or Puff-adder, One of the Viperidae 



Head and Tail of Common Viper with Erect Fangs 



abode, you run no risk of encountering the sting ; but 

 woe to the reckless one who should rashly venture to 

 rummage in that retreat. The creature's sting is 

 sometimes deadly, they say. 



1 ' The viper makes its home, by preference, on some 

 warm and stony hillside, where it lurks under the 

 stones and in the tangled underbrush. Its color is 

 brown or reddish, with a darker zigzag stripe on the 

 back and a row of spots on each side. Its belly is 



