THROUGH THE YEAR 13 1 



ing red and yellow. There are two or three birds by 

 such waters I have watched at this time, but never 

 grown quite familiar with, perhaps because their 

 nests are unknown to me. There is the dipper, which 

 reminds me closely of no other English bird, though 

 in its ducking habit, and its low flight from stone 

 to stone along the brawling brook, it might be lik- 

 ened to some gigantic wren. It is somewhat wren- 

 like, too, in restlessness. I have seen the dipper 

 wading in the shallows among the stones : where 

 the grey wagtail scarcely goes over its dainty feet 

 indeed, only ventures on the moist stones amid the 

 spray of the tiny waterfalls and cascades the dipper 

 wades an inch deep in search of food : this as well 

 as boldly diving right under the water in deeper 

 spots. Another bird I have seen something of about 

 this time in the wild streams is the ring ouzel. 

 I have seen it eagerly taking cherries in a moorland 

 garden, and its excited note and bustling flight when 

 interrupted reminded me of the missel-thrush among 

 the yewberries in October. 



THE KNOWING PLANT 



No wild plant attracts me more than that per- 

 sistent, that deliberate twiner, black bryony of the 

 hedge-rows. I found it growing in great strength in 

 March, 1912, on the Atlas Mountains in North Africa. 

 I know it for a very common plant on the light 

 chalk-lands, and I find that it is, if anything, still 

 commoner on the heavy clays of Sussex. Its leaf 

 and serpentine stem are changing colour in October. 



