Summer is come, for every spray now spings; The hart hath hung his old head on the pale; The buck in brake his winter coat he flings; The fishes float with new repair'd scale; The adder all her slough away she slings; The swift swallow pursueth the flies' small; The busy bee her honey now she mings.
Britain - puff adder - The common adder is Britain's only poisonous snake and while its venom isn't very toxic, it should still be treated with respect and left alone.
Summer is come, for every spray now spings; The hart hath hung his old head on the pale; The buck in brake his winter coat he flings; The fishes float with new repair'd scale; The adder all her slough away she slings; The swift swallow pursueth the flies' small; The busy bee her honey now she mings.
A fowler went into the woods to shoot a turtledove with his bow and arrow, when an adder that he had trodden upon in the grass, turned and stung him.
But, just as he was going to pull the trigger, an adder, which he had trod upon under the grass, stung him so painfully in the leg that he was forced to quit his design, and threw his gun down in a passion.
In the wood outside, she found a spot with the most beautiful strawberries, but as she was stooping to gather one, an adder sprang up out of the grass.
So they laid him upon a cart, and harnessed two oxen to it; and the oxen ran off with the sailor over heath and moor to the ocean, as if they had been stung by an adder.
