A Winter Night 219 



sheds : tits are there also ; and sometimes two or 

 three of the latter are captured at once in such holes. 



A dark line across the lower meadows marks the 

 course of the brook ; it is dark because the snow 

 falling on the water melted. Even now there is a nar- 

 row stream unfrozen ; though the banks against which 

 it chafes are hard, and will not take the impression of 

 the moorhen's foot. The water-rats that in summer- 

 time played and fed along the margin among the 

 flags are rarely seen in winter. In walking in day- 

 light by the brook now their plunge into the water 

 will not be heard, nor can they be seen travelling at 

 the bottom. 



They lay up a store of food in a hole away from 

 the stream, generally choosing the banks or higher 

 ground in the withy-beds places that are not often 

 flooded. Their ordinary holes, which are half, and 

 sometimes quite, under water, will not do for winter ; 

 they would be frozen in them, and perhaps their store 

 of food would be spoiled ; besides which the floods 

 cause the stream to rise above its banks, and they 

 could not exist under water for weeks together. 



Sill further down, where the wood ends in 

 scattered bushes and withy-beds, the level shore of 

 the shallow mere succeeds. The once soft, oozy 

 ground is now firm ; the rushes are frozen stiff, and 



