246 WITH THE WOODLANDERS. 



get at them ; but this they are not able to do, 

 for the water is waist-high on the bottom floor 

 of the mill. A rushing, swirling, clay-coloured 

 torrent is now that usually sluggish river called 

 the Mole. Rabbits, rats, moor-hens, dabchicks, 

 rails, and otters are all out in the fields the 

 rabbits and birds showing openly, the otters and 

 rats under cover close to the water. It is still 

 raining heavily, and I am out for purposes of 

 observation. 



I like to watch the various ways in which wild 

 creatures shift for themselves when driven to ex- 

 tremities. The rabbits, moor-hens, rails, and rats 

 will find plenty to eat on the edge of the fields ; 

 and the otters will kill and eat any of these, if they 

 get hungry. The greater part of these flooded-out 

 creatures feed openly, but they keep close to cover 

 of some sort into which they can dash if alarmed. 

 Nothing could live in the river at the rate the 

 rain is coming down now. The brooks that lead 

 into the river are bank-high, kept back by the 

 water rushing down mid-stream, for the brook 

 is six and seven feet in depth now; the pollard- 

 willow stems are showing only half their height. 



