76 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS. |cHAP. VIII 
marked distinction between the two, killing the former quietly 
and without hurry, but whenever he found an adder, he darted 
on it with a perfect frenzy of rage, at the same time always ma- 
naging to escape the fangs of the venomous reptile, quickly as 
it can use them. The poisonous teeth of the adder greatly re- 
semble the talons of a cat in shape, and can be raised or laid flat 
on the jaw according to the wish of their owner; indeed, the 
fangs of the adder, which are hollow throughout, are only raised 
when he is angry, and in self-defence. ‘The common snake, which 
is quite harmless, has no such teeth. There are stories among 
the peasants, of adders being seen in Darnaway Forest, of great 
size and length, measuring five or six feet, but I do not believe 
that there are any larger than the usual size. 
I have never seen the Anguis fragilis, or blind-worm, as it is 
called, but once in this country, though I am told it is not un- 
common; a man brought me one last year which he had found 
floating down the river after a flood, as if swept off some rock by 
the sudden rise of the water. J mentioned the circumstance to 
some of my acquaintance, but could find no one who had either 
seen or heard of such a creature in this country. This one was 
alive when brought to me, but had received a cut which nearly 
divided its body in two, so that it did not long survive. 
Amongst the rare feathered visitors to these woods, I forgot to 
mention the spotted woodpecker, Picus medius, which bird I 
killed in Inverness-shire ; I was attracted to the spot, where he 
was clinging to the topmost shoot of a larch-tree, by hearing his 
strange harsh cry. 
