80 THE FRIENDSHIP OF NATURE 



sleepy, lies a flat-headed adder, of a 

 brownish colour, patched with a darker 

 brown, and with the upper lip horny 

 and aggressive. Instantly there springs 

 up the old grudge born in the Garden 

 of Eden, but Eve cautiously holds 

 aloof, fearing perhaps that she may be 

 further tempted, and Adam, replacing 

 the Biblical heel with a stone, promptly 

 bruises the serpent's head. Whether 

 they are hurtful or not, snakes always 

 seem a token of evil, the sign of some 

 sinister power, and doubly so when we 

 come upon them amid birds and 

 flowers. 



Again the undergrowth changes, and 

 grows bolder. Great bushes of meadow- 

 sweet appear, — the wild white spirea 

 salicifolia, — burr-reeds, and flowering 

 sedge, with thickets of spurred jewel- 

 weed, and feathers of the late meadow- 

 rue. Parting the tall weeds, we pushed 



