ioo WITH THE WOODLANDERS. 



stop in these swampy localities through a long day, 

 working on empty stomachs ; if you did so you 

 would certainly have the " shakes " at night, in 

 spite of the summer weather. Of all the grasses 

 that grow in swamps or bogs, the oat-grass always 

 arrests the eye most. Great sheaves of it are here, 

 and very beautiful it is, for the tassels show a light 

 crimson against the fresh green leaves and stems. 

 As you look at them, you might fancy you were 

 looking at small reeds instead of this great patch of 

 reed-like grass ; but as you turn from them to the 

 reeds, you find that the resemblance is only a 

 slight one. 



Our leader has gone away somewhere, leaving 

 me buried in the soft centre of a tussock-hump, 

 where I enjoy myself to my heart's content watch- 

 ing the live things that are all around me. I am 

 well hidden from sight, so large is the tussock and 

 so high are the grasses that fall in graceful curves 

 all about the base of it. As I lie half dozing, yet 

 with my eyes wide open, I hear something go 

 crack. Very quietly leaving my nest, I go to see 

 if my companion has got bogged, an accident likely 

 enough to have occurred. But no ; before I have 



