THE HAUNT OF THE DRAGON-FLY. 



POND LIFE— I 



By F. MARTIN DUNCAN, F.R.P.S. 

 "With Photographs by the Author 



DURING a long country ram]:)le, what 

 can be more delightful than to rest 

 for a while beneath some graceful 

 tree that casts its shadow upon the banks 

 of a quiet pool ? Ever and anon a gentle 

 wind ripples the mirror-like surface of the 

 water, and faintly sways the slender reeds 

 that clothe the margin of the pool, making 

 murmuring music amongst their stems, 

 that sounds like the soft, sweet song of 

 some graceful, slender-limbed dryad. 

 Gradually the breeze sinks to rest, leaving 

 the surface of the pool like a polished 



mirror, in \\-hich the glorious white clouds, 

 sweeping across the deep blue sky like 

 stately sih'er galleons, are reflected. Not 

 a ripple dimples the surface, nor breath 

 stirs the reeds ; a magic stillness broods 

 ovev all. so that indeed we rest beside a 

 silent pool, a pool that " holds as 'twere 

 the mirror up to Nature." Even the 

 Dragon-flies ha\-e for a brief space ceased 

 their swift, darting flight, and rest upon 

 an overhanging spray of foliage, their 

 gauzy wings scintillating rainbow hues in 

 the sunlight, their slender bodies gleaming 



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