WILD LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 245 



the bottom, or seem to do so, as swiftly as on dry 

 land. But in a few minutes out they come again, being 

 at the same time extremely timid and as quickly re- 

 assured ; so that if you remain perfectly still they 

 will approach within a yard. 



Where the two brooks meet a hollow willow tree 

 hangs over the brown pool brown with suspended 

 sand and dead leaves slowly rotating under the sur- 

 face where the swirl of the meeting currents, one swift 

 and shallow, the other deeper and stronger, has scooped 

 out a basin. A waving line upon the surface marks 

 where the two streams shoulder each other and strive 

 for mastery, and its curve, yielding now to this side, 

 now to that, responds to their varying volume and 

 weight. While the under-currents sweep ever slowly 

 round, whirling leaf and dead, black, soddened twigs 

 over the hollow, the upper streams are forced together 

 unwillingly by the narrowing shores, and throw them- 

 selves with a bubbling rush onwards. Through the 

 brown water, from under the stooping willow whose 

 age bows it feebly, there shine now and again silvery 

 streaks deep down as the roach play to and fro. There, 

 too, come the perch ; they are waiting for the insects 

 falling off the willows and the bushes, and for the 

 food brought down by the streams. 



" Hush ! " it is the rustle of the reeds, their heads 

 are swaying a reddish brown now, later on in the 

 year a delicate, feathery white. Seen from beneath, 

 their slender tips, as they gracefully sweep to and fro, 

 seem to trace designs upon the blue dome of the sky. 



