A BROOK 



and reeds and thick undergrowth, that though you 

 hear it perpetually within a few yards it is not easy 

 to see one. On this bare branch the bird was well 

 displayed, and the streak by the eye was visible; 

 but he stayed there for a second or two only, and 

 then back again to the sedges and willows. 



There were fish I felt sure as I left the spot 

 and returned along the dusty road, but where 

 were they? 



On the sward by the wayside, among the nettles 

 and under the bushes, and on the mound the dark 

 green arum leaves grew everywhere, sometimes in 

 bunches close together. These bunches varied 

 in one place the leaves were all spotted with black 

 irregular blotches ; in another the leaves were with- 

 out such markings. When the root leaves of the 

 arum first push up, they are closely rolled together 

 in a pointed spike. 



This, rising among the dead and matted leaves 

 of the autumn, occasionally passes through holes in 

 them. As the spike grows it lifts the dead leaves 

 with it, which hold it like a ring and prevent it 

 from unfolding. The force of growth is not suffi- 

 ciently strong to burst the bond asunder till the 

 green leaves have attained considerable size. 



A little earlier in the year the chattering of mag- 

 pies would have been heard while looking for the 

 signs of spring, but they were now occupied with 

 -6 9 - 



