1902 Norfolk Broads in Spring 1 15 



is an enemy of peat. The ist of May is, however, entered 

 on the minutes of our parish meeting-book as the annual 

 date upon which " hover-cutting" may be commenced. An 

 unwritten law forbids the cutting of reed before Christmas 

 and after the i6th of April. But the humble-bees on 

 the willow-blossoms and a solitary sulphur butterfly which 

 has just danced by remind me of digression from my 

 subject. 



Let us step into the punt and look for further signs of 

 new life. There on the bank are a pair of the delicate 

 Yellow Wagtails, never so brightly coloured as upon their 

 first arrival from Africa, and close by some fresh blossoms 

 of the Marsh Marigold have now taken the place of the few 

 surviving blooms which this hardy plant always manages 

 here and there to maintain during a mild winter. Moreover, 

 the accumulated temperature has been sufficient to hatch 

 the frog-spawn, and the ditch in which our boat lies is full 

 of these marvels of amphibian life, locally called "spot- 

 spoons." Their careless parents have for the past few even- 

 ings commenced to rejoice in the unstopping of their lips, 

 for during hibernation it is popularly supposed that "their 

 lips are gummed up, and if you force 'em open they will 

 die directly." But more curious than this fallacy is the fact 

 of Frogs and Toads croaking after and not before or during 

 the breeding season, a habit which, so far as I am aware, 

 has no counterpart in British wild life. The Vipers, too, 

 begin now to leave the dry banks around the broad and to 

 seek their food upon the marshes, where the beautifully 

 veined but odourless Marsh Violet has already opened its 

 lowly petals to useful guests, for several insects are upon 

 the wing. A precocious May-fly clung to our coat-sleeve 

 just now as we pushed through the reeds, and a specimen 

 of the antlike beetle {PcEclerus riparius), fairly numerous 

 hereabouts, was discovered in the litter in the boat a 

 moment ago. 



That great splounce in the water yonder, with its subse- 

 quent miniature whirlpool, reminds us that the pairing-time 

 of the Pike has come, and those who at this season of the 

 year take a mean and poaching advantage of the love-mak- 

 ing of this fish, know well how far the word " pairing " may 



