146 THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
releasing it in the same spot; and a minute later, Mr. H. G.
Taylor and I saw the grey and black individual, and bagged this
after an exciting chase. It struck repeatedly at our sticks, leav-
ing drops of fluid, which dried like pale yellow varnish. This
also was duly released in a few days, not in its old home, but about
a mile to the north, near Ambresbury banks. Both were males.
In May, I heard of still another viper at Jack's Hill; and also
of a young man being bitten at the same place. I got into touch
with the victim, and received a very interesting account of his
unpleasant experience. He saw (11th May, 1919) the reptile
curled up in the road, and jumped off his motor cycle and picked
it up. While holding it in the right hand (it struck him as being
strangely inactive), the beast made a sudden wriggle forward
and bit the top joint of the left thumb. He sucked the two tiny
wounds, bound his wrist, and cycled at once to his doctor at
Leyton. The viper got away.
In five minutes the thumb began to swell, so that when he
reached the end of his journey he could hardly hold the handle-
bar. In four days the swelling had reached the elbow, and the
whole arm was dark purple and yellow, like a bad bruise. In
about a fortnight the hand and arm were quite well again.
This, I fancy, is a typical case of viper bite. Dr. M. C. Cooke,
in his little work on reptiles, mentions the case of a woman being
killed by a viper in Epping Forest about sixty years ago, but
these instances are rare. The late Mr. Leslie Hocking, of Dan-
bury, was bitten by a small "red viper," exactly a foot long;
but although his doctor put him to bed as a precaution, he told
me that the swelling hardly inconvenienced him. It is as well
to remember that a viper is astoundingly swift in striking, and
can manage to hit an object a foot away; and, also, I have seen
one strike quite three times, in different directions, in a space
of time hardly more than a single second. In winter I have
handled large vipers with impunity, and possibly they never bite
at that season. In February, however, they are dangerous.
Vipers rarely feed in captivity, but will live for months. I
had a curious experience with a Danbury animal, which I wanted
to preserve alive. I knew that if you tried to tempt a viper with
a house mouse the mouse nearly always eats the viper; so I
decided to try a field vole, which is, of course, vegetarian. The
vole lived comfortably for some days with its terrible com-