i 4 o HAMPSHIRE STREAMS AND WOODLANDS 



above the bridge are the chosen home of wild-fowl ; 

 the pool below a very paradise of monstrous Hamp- 

 shire trout. Up till mid-day the wild-fowl were still 

 feeding, or moving from one part of the marsh to 

 another. Two or three pairs of dabchicks were busy 

 diving just above the bridge, their plumage almost 

 black, and looking, when they appeared as if by magic 

 on the surface, as if clothed in velvet. Moorhens and 

 coots swam out from the sedges, the former in their 

 best summer suits, with beaks red as sealing-wax, and 

 neat white borders to their tails, crossing the river with 

 that peculiar ducking and jerking motion of the head 

 which distinguishes them from all other fowl upon the 

 water. But at midday the sun asserted his dominion 

 even over the water-fowl. For some time the land- 

 birds had been flying in from the hot and dusty hills, 

 and settling in the water-meadows to drink, feed, and 

 wash themselves. First, a pair of partridges came 

 skimming over the road, and dropped among the dry 

 flags on one of the islands in the stream. Then a flock 

 of plover came floating down, one by one, just clearing 

 the gables of the mill, and settled in the water-meadow 

 beyond, where they first drank from a shallow rill, and 

 then bathed elaborately. The flutter and splash of the 

 black-and-white pinions was clearly visible, until their 

 toilet was completed by running up and down on the 

 bank with wings expanded to the sun and wind. Then 

 the rooks came down to drink, one by one, and a pair 

 of wood-pigeons followed ; but the birds had come, not 

 merely to bathe or satisfy their thirst, but to stay. 



