58 THE MUSIC OF WILD FLOWERS 



such coarse plants as comfrey and willow-herb and 

 water-dock. Moreover, the ground around is swampy 

 and difficult of approach, and birds are quick to discover 

 a safe and secure refuge. In the Old Barge, near the 

 willow-tree, dabchicks dive and splash about in the 

 stream, and moorhens swim sedately among the water- 

 weeds. One season a couple of coots made their appear- 

 ance and took possession of a side-stream. They 

 doubtless came from a sheet of water known as Fisher's 

 Pond, some five miles away, where they congregate in 

 large numbers. We could do without them in Water- 

 meads, for they are pugnacious birds, and often drive 

 away rarer and more interesting species. In another 

 part of Watermeads there is a wild-ducks' nest, and a 

 couple of snipe are breeding at least the other evening 

 I heard them " drumming," a peculiar sound which 

 they make only in nesting-time. Numbers of reed- 

 sparrows or black-headed buntings haunt the rank 

 herbage that lines the river, and the chatter of the sedge- 

 warbler is unceasing. All day long swallows and sand- 

 martins dart over the surface of the water, and when the 

 atmosphere is heavy the swifts will leave the vicinity of 

 College Tower and join their confreres in the meadows 

 below. 



In winter-time Watermeads is not destitute of bird 

 life. Morning and evening nights of wild-duck pass 

 overhead to or from the higher reaches of the Itchen ; 

 a stately heron may, perchance, be seen standing in the 

 shallower waterways, and a number of snipe feed in soft 

 and swampy places. Every winter a pair of " grey 

 wagtails," one of the most elegant and graceful of 

 British birds, haunt St ^Ethelwold's stream, and it is not 

 unlikely that a kingfisher will flash by. But the most 



