132 HAMPSHIRE STREAMS AND WOODLANDS 



Sir Bedivere heard by the frozen lake, " among the 

 mountains by the winter sea," the whispering of 



" The many-knotted water-flags, 

 That whistled stiff and dry about the marge." 



But there are hundreds of streams in the South of 

 England which no power of frost can either freeze or 

 stay ; and it may be doubted whether even the glories 

 of spring buds, or the richest growth of summer by 

 their banks, can match the beauty of these wintry 

 waters in a strong and lasting frost. Take, for 

 instance, the lower reaches of the Itchen, one of the 

 most beautiful of Hampshire streams, with clear, swift, 

 translucent waters springing warm and bright from the 

 deep chalk that lies beneath the frozen downs. The 

 river is so mild and full, that it runs like a vein of 

 warm life through the cold body of the hills. Its 

 water-meadows are still green, though ribbed across with 

 multitudinous channels of white and crackling ice ; and 

 to them crowd plovers and redwings, snipe and water- 

 hens, sea-gulls, field-fares, and missel-thrushes, pipits 

 and larks, and all the soft-billed birds in search of food. 

 On and around the stream itself there is more life than 

 at any time since the swallows left and the gnats died. 

 That, at least, was the impression left on -the writer's 

 mind, when standing on one of the main bridges over 

 the river below St. Cross, in the bright sunlight of New 

 Year's Day. Though the banks were frozen like iron, 

 not a particle of ice appeared on the broad surface 

 of the river. A pair of dabchicks were fishing and 



