60 NATURE NEAR LONDON. 



divided from the brook by a strip of sward not more 

 than twenty yards across. The surface of the pond 

 was dotted with patches of scum that had risen from 

 the bottom. Part at least of it was shallow, for a 

 dead branch blown from an elm projected above the 

 water, and to it came a sedge-reedling for a moment. 

 The sedge-reedling is so fond of sedges, and reeds, 

 and thick undergrowth, that though you hear it 

 perpetually within a few yards it is not easy to 

 see one. On this bare branch the bird was well 

 displayed, and the streak by the eye was visible ; 

 but he stayed there for a second or two only, and 

 then back again to the sedges and willows. 



There were fish I felt sure as I left the spot and 

 returned along the dusty road, but where were 

 they? 



On the sward by the wayside, among the nettles 

 and under the bushes, and on the mound the dark 

 green arum leaves grew everywhere, sometimes in 

 bunches close together. These bunches varied in 

 one place the leaves were all spotted with black 

 irregular blotches ; in another the leaves were without 

 such markings. When the root leaves of the arum 

 first push up they are closely rolled together in a 

 pointed spike. 



This, rising among the dead and matted leaves of 

 the autumn, occasionally passes through holes in 

 them. As the spike grows it lifts the dead leaves 

 with it, which hold it like a ring and prevent it from 

 unfolding. The force of growth is not sufficiently 

 strong to burst the bond asunder till the green leaves 

 have attained considerable size. 



