246 WILD LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 



A whispering in the reeds and tall grasses ; a faint 

 murmuring of the waters : yonder s across the broad 

 water-meadow, a yellow haze hiding the elms. 



In the nooks and corners on the left side of the 

 mead the hemlock rears its sickly-looking stem ; the 

 mound is broad and high, and thickly covered with 

 grasses, for the most part dead and dry. These form 

 a warm cover for the fox : there is usually one hiding 

 somewhere here, the mead being so quiet. Where 

 the ground is often flooded watercress has spread out 

 into the grass, growing so profusely that, now the 

 water is low, it might be mown by the scythe. And 

 everywhere in their season the beautiful forget-me- 

 nots nestle on the shores among the flags, where the 

 water, running slower at the edge t lingers to kiss 

 their feet. 



Once, some five-and-twenty years ago, a sportsman 

 startled a great bird out of the spot where the streams 

 join, and shot it, thinking it was a heron. But see- 

 ing that it was no common heron, he had it examined, 

 and it was found to be a bittern, and as such was 

 carefully preserved. It was the last visit of bitterns 

 to the place ; even then they were so rare as not to 

 be recognized : now the progress of agriculture has 

 entirely banished them. 



