THE DIPPER 83 



fears and wholly surrendered himself to a 

 subtler, more insistent influence. He had gone 

 for some distance from his home, and much 

 rustling and squeaking had caused me to believe 

 that lighting and love-making were in progress 

 among the withered leaves, when suddenly, as 

 I turned my head towards the brook, I saw, to my 

 surprise, that a dipper stood leisurely preening 

 her feathers on a stone in the middle of the 

 stream, not more than three or four yards from 

 my hiding-place. 



The scene before my eyes was one of great 

 beauty. The brook reached away like a shining 

 path through an avenue of trees ; a steep 

 declivity, strewn with fern-clad boulders, be- 

 tween which, here and there, grew stunted oaks 

 and pines, towered from the farther margin of 

 the stream ; while on the nearer side, beyond 

 the firs, the glade ended in a gradual slope on 

 which were some of the stateliest beeches on the 

 country-side. The wood, except beneath the 

 firs, was, as I have already said, almost shadow- 

 less, for the trees had not yet opened their leaf- 

 buds ; but the colours of spring were on the 

 flowers in the grass and on the fresh green weed 

 that, in long filaments, trailed from the pebbles 

 on the bank of the brook ; and the air was full of 

 rein vigorat ion. 



The dipper, unaware of my presence, showed 



