IN SUMMER HEAT. 59 



vipers have been killed, far exceeding any that I 

 have ever seen or handled. These were females, 

 for it is with them as it is with falcons and hawks, 

 and in fact with all birds of prey, — the gentler sex is 

 the larger and the stronger, and in some instances 

 the most vindictive. 



This season, although I have been in those haunts 

 where they are as a rule generally to be found, I 

 have not myself seen one of these vipers alive ; and 

 those men I know, who look for them for their 

 precious " ile," as they call the fat inside of them, 

 have had the same tale to tell. 



Two blindworms and one heath-lizard — killed, it 

 would seem, by some one as the poor things were 

 crossing the highroad in self-defence — are all that I 

 have noticed. No matter what the creature -may 

 be, furred or feathered, it will get as close to the 

 highroads as possible. Those giant viperesses I 

 have mentioned were killed in a much-frequented 

 road, as they were basking, stretched out full 

 length in the middle of it. I know why they got 

 there, but cannot enter into that matter here. 



Rooks and jackdaws make short work of any 

 creature they can settle. In hot dry times they 



