356 WILD LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 



of the reeds ; these beautiful plants have been much 

 diminished in quantity by the progress of agriculture. 

 One or two great mounds by the brook can show a small 

 bed still, and here and there a group grows at the 

 mouth of these deep ditches, on the little delta formed 

 of the sand, mud, and decaying twigs brought down. 

 I have cut them fifteen feet in length. Some people, 

 attracted by the beauty of the feathery heads of these 

 reeds, come a considerable distance to get them. I 

 have made pens of them : it is possible to write with 

 such pens, and they are softer than quills, but on 

 account of that softness quickly wear out. 



A woodcock may occasionally be flushed from such 

 a ditch in winter. Woodcocks are fond of those 

 ditches down which there always trickles a tiny thread 

 of water hardly so much as would be understood by 

 the term streamlet coming from a little spring which 

 even in severe frosts is never frozen. Even when the 

 running brook is frozen such little springs are free of 

 ice, and so, too, is the streamlet for some distance. 



From the bed of the brook proper the reeds are 

 gone; they have taken refuge in nooks and corners. 

 This is probably accounted for by the periodical clean- 

 ing out of the brook not annually, but every now and 

 then, in order to prevent the flooding which would 

 be caused by the accumulation of mud and sand. The 

 roots of the flags seem to withstand this rude treat- 

 ment ; but many other water plants cannot, and are 

 consequently only found in places which have not 

 been disturbed for many years. 



