128 KRIDER'S SPORTING ANECDOTES. 



stifling heat which is endured among them on 

 an August or September noon, and the various 

 descriptions of animal life, with which, at this 

 season of the year, the miniature forest abounds. 

 The waters alternately leave the flats bare, 

 and cover them to the depth of four or five feet; 

 the reeds rise from the ooze by erect stems, 

 stout and strong below, and tapering away to 

 their tops which bend and bow with every pass- 

 ing breeze : upon the upper branches of these 

 panicled tops, the nutritious seeds which are the 

 bread of the wild birds of the air, are produced ; 

 yellow blossoms adorn the lower ones ; long, 

 sword-like leaves flaunt from the stems, and 

 drooping towards the water in the sultry silence 

 of noon, seem, at every cool splash, to woo the 

 embraces of the flood, or by their wild wavings 

 and rustlings in the wind, when the tide is 

 down, contribute not a little to the poetry of the 

 scene. The reeds also grow abundantly upon 

 the shore of all the tributaries of the Delaware, 

 upon its bars and low, marshy islands, and along 

 the ditches which intersect the meadows by the 

 river-side. Cattle are fond of them, and may be 

 daily seen straggling across the bank, and wad- 

 ing upon the edge of the flats, to browse upon 

 them on the flood. Many varieties of winged 



