WILD LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 371 



wild duck stand on the ice in the daytime for hours 

 together, leaving the marks of their feet on it. 



In walking along the shore lines of drift may be 

 noticed, marking the height to which the waves driven 

 by the wind have carried the floating twigs, weeds, 

 and leaves just as along the sea the beach is formed 

 into terraces by the changing height of the tides. 

 The shallower parts of the lake are so thickly grown 

 in summer with aquatic weeds that a boat can only 

 be forced through them with the utmost difficulty. 

 Some of these grow in as much as eight or even ten 

 feet of water. On the shore, where it is marshy, the 

 mare's-tail flourishes over some acres : there is often 

 a slight marshy odour here, which increases as the 

 foot presses the yielding mud. 



When the water is low in autumn these are mown, 

 and, with the aquatic grasses at the edge and the 

 rushes, made into the roughest kind of hay imaginable. 

 The coarser parts are used as litter ; the best is mixed 

 with fodder and eaten by cattle. Many wagon loads 

 are thus taken away, but as many more remain ; and 

 in walking over the spongy ground a smart " pop " 

 is continually heard : it is caused by the sudden com- 

 pression of air under the foot in the mare's-tails lying 

 about ; for their stems are hollow, and have knots at 

 regular intervals. 



After a continuance of the wind in one quarter for a 

 few days south or south-west the opposite shores 

 are lined with , such weeds carried across, together 

 with great quantities of dead branches fallen from the 



