278 



ON SNAKES. 



warriors cared for the bomb-shell, whizzing through 

 the air, at the siege of doomed Sebastopol. In 

 fact, the thought that I was to lose my life, through 

 the venom emitted from the poison-fang of a snake, 

 never once entered my head. 



We have no vipers in this neighbourhood, but 

 adders are plentiful within the park wall, where 

 I encourage and protect them. I love to see 

 them basking on a dunghill, or catching the 

 meridian rays of our short summers sun, on the 

 southern bank of a hawthorn hedge. Sometimes 

 they will ascend into the trees to the height of 

 twenty feet. 



I despair of persuading my neighbours to enter 

 into these feelings. They seem to have a consti- 

 tutional antipathy against all crows and magpies, 

 jays and hawks, and snakes. A keeper, who can 

 massacre the greatest number of these interesting 

 denizens of earth and air, is sure to rise the highest 

 in his employer's estimation. 



As most travellers in quest of natural history, 

 probably have not been sufficiently versed in the 

 habits of serpents, to distinguish those which 

 ought to be avoided, from those which may be 

 approached with perfect safety ; they take the alarm 

 at every snake which they see ; thus holding the 

 whole family in utter abhorrence. And this, by- 



