WILD LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 357 



There is as much difference in ponds as in hedges, 

 so far as inhabitants are concerned. Many fields and 

 hedges seem comparatively deserted, while others are 

 full of birds ; and so of several ponds which do not 

 apparently vary much one is a favourite haunt of 

 fish and another has not got a single fish in it. One 

 pond particularly used to attract my attention, because 

 it seemed devoid of any kind of life : not even a 

 stickleback could be found in it, though they will live 

 in the smallest ditches, and this pond was fed by a 

 brook in which there were fish. Not even a newt 

 lived in it it was a miniature Dead Sea. Another 

 pond was remarkable for innumerable water-snails. 

 When the wind blew hard they sometimes lined the 

 lee-shore to which they had drifted. 



The herons are at the same time the largest and 

 most regular visitors to the mere out of which the 

 brook flows. One or more may generally be found 

 there at some time of the day all the year round ; 

 but there is a remarkable diminution in their numbers 

 during the nesting season. The nearest heronry must 

 be about thirty miles distant, which probably explains 

 their absence at that time. It also happens that just 

 before the summer begins the mere is usually at its 

 greatest height ; the water is deep almost everywhere, 

 and there are fewer places where the herons could 

 fish with success. 



They fly at a great height in the air, and a single 

 stroke of the huge wings seems to propel the bird a 

 long distance ; so that, though at first sight they 



