28 THE BOOK OF A NATURALIST 



I laughed and said I didn't mind being a 

 criminal in that way, and I also thought people 

 greatly exaggerated the danger of adder bites. 



" You are wrong again ! " he yelled, quite in a 

 temper now. " As a naturalist, you ought to know 

 better. Let me tell you that last summer I nearly 

 lost my little son through an adder bite. He 

 was in the Isle of Wight with his nurse, and 

 trod on the thing and was bitten on the leg. For 

 a whole day his life was trembling in the balance, 

 and you dare to tell me that adders are not a 

 danger ! " 



I apologised for having made light of the subject. 

 He was right and I was wrong. But I couldn't 

 explain to him why I could not kill adders — or 

 anything else. 



Let us now return to the adder-seeker who has 

 unwittingly disturbed the adder he has found, and 

 who sees it about to vanish into the brake. He 

 has been waiting all this time to know what to do 

 in such a case. He must let it vanish, and comfort 

 himself with the thought that he has discovered 

 its haunt and may re-find it another day, especially 

 if he is so fortunate as to scare it from its favourite 

 bed on which it is accustomed to lie sunning itself 

 at certain hours each day tmtil the progress of the 

 season will make it too warm or otherwise un- 

 suitable, when the old basking-place will be changed 

 for a new one. But should he not be satisfied to 

 lose sight of the adder immediately after dis- 



