MTNSMERE LEVEL 115 



The name "frogge-bit " goes back to mediaeval times 

 and enshrines the belief that frogs fed upon the plant, 

 while its scientific designation of Hydrocharis has refer- 

 ence to its elegant appearance. And it would indeed 

 be difficult to exaggerate the beauty of this little water 

 plant, with its floating leaves deep green above and of 

 a reddish tint beneath, and white flowers of three 

 crumpled petals and clusters of barren yellow stamens. 

 In spite of the artificial dykes which intersect the 

 Level, and the almost constant working of the three 

 windmills to draw off the stagnant water, the marsh in 

 places is very swampy and of little use as pasture-land. 

 In these boggy parts of Minsmere Level, amid the 

 tussocks of coarse grass and rushes, snipes and red- 

 shanks make their nests every spring, as in the old days 

 of Abbot John. Now, as then, the " drumming " of 

 snipes is a frequent sound on the desolate marshes 

 during the breeding season, when the beautiful buck- 

 bean is in flower. Later on, as the summer advances, 

 the very rare grass-of-Parnassus, with its delicately 

 veined, cream-coloured blossoms, will grace the swamp 

 with its presence, as it doubtless has done since the 

 far-off days of the fifteenth century, when the good 

 hermit meditated in " the chapel of St Mary in the 

 old monastery by the sea." 



