WILD LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 373 



so far from the strand that a boat may pass 

 between. 



Like a wooden island the old oak rears itself up in 

 the midst ; the waves break against it, and when 

 there is but a ripple the sunlight glancing on the 

 water is reflected back, and plays upon the rugged 

 trunk, illuminating it with a moving design as the 

 wavelets roll in. The water is so shallow at the edge 

 that the shadows of the ridges of the waves follow 

 each other over the sandy floor. They reflect the 

 bright rays upon the tree trunk, where they weave 

 a beautiful lace-like pattern beneath, their own 

 shadows glide along the sand. That sand, too, is 

 arranged by the ripple in slightly curved lines. These 

 wave-marks, though so slight that with the hand you 

 may level fifty at a sweep, have yet sometimes proved 

 durable enough to tell the student after many cen- 

 turies where water once has been. Under the founda- 

 tions of some of the oldest churches the monks loved 

 to build near water the wave-mark has been found 

 on the original soil. 



In a hollow of the old oak starlings have made their 

 nest and reared their young in safety for several 

 seasons. They seem to understand that the water 

 gives them protection, for their nest, would not be out 

 of reach were the tree on land. 



Just as at the seashore the wave curls over in an 

 arch as it comes in before dissolving in surf and spray, 

 so here, when a gale is blowing, these lesser waves, as 

 they reach the shelving strand, also curl over. In the 



