THE ADDER. 171 
carries, perhaps, more weight with the incredulous 
than any other objection that has yet been mentioned, 
and rightly so. But even supposing the adder-swallow- 
ing theory to be true, it is by no means realised how 
extremely difficult a matter it is to get this kind 
of proof of it. In the first place, adders are not often 
seen at all, even if looked for in places they are known 
to frequent—that is, in comparison with the frequency 
of most of our animals. They will always move away 
quietly and quickly if they can; and it is almost certain 
that unless the searcher happens to go within 3 or 4 
feet of an adder, the reptile will slip away unnoticed. 
Still less common is it to see them with their young. 
Secondly, if it be true that the young are swallowed, 
this can only be supposed to cecur when the family is 
in its infancy—that is, for some days or perhaps weeks 
after their birth. This would be, as a rule, towards 
the end of September, varying, of course, with the date 
of birth. As far as I have observed, the young do 
not remain with the adder- mother very long atter 
birth, and it is a rare occurrence to meet the family 
all together. But if they are quite young when the 
adder-mother looks after them in this way, as they 
must be, the only chance of being able to witness the 
process is to come across the whole family at a fairly 
definite and restricted period in any given year, That 
being so, it is fair toask, How many people in England 
and Scotland and Wales see an udder at all in any given 
week or two in the year? Certainly very few. Of 
