Spring Nooks in Winter 301 



lie at the foot of a protecting slope ; their waters 

 are gathered in the mass above, and are forced out 

 by some belt of clay at its foot. When they have 

 washed out a deep hollow in this sheltered site, there 

 is warm covert in the bitterest winds. The water 

 bubbling upwards is always a little less cold than 

 the air on frosty days ; often a wreath of thin 

 steam hangs above it, with an added suggestion 

 of warmth. The crusted ice on the stream-bank 

 closes very slowly in the hardest frost upon the eye 

 of the spring and the main channels which it 

 feeds. The water keeps alive through winter a 

 fresh carpet of cress and brooklime, making a 

 vivid contrast with the parched clods and bleached 

 grass of the fields ; and the small snails and insects 

 of the waterways keep up an undisturbed vitality 

 through the frost, while the minnows flicker as 

 in summer over the bubbling sand. 



Except for the grain- eating species, which waver 

 in clouds about the stacks, most of the common 

 winter birds of a district will feed about the margin 

 of such a spring; and it is a resort for scarcer 

 settlers. Kingfishers often haunt it after they 

 have left in autumn their breeding-places along 

 the smaller and more exposed streams. A king- 

 fisher will take up its post day after day on a branch 

 of a thorn or willow overhanging the six- inch 

 shallows where the minnows play ; from time to 

 time it flings itself upon the water with a sharp 

 crack, and returns to its post before swallowing 

 the small silver fish. Now and then it can be 

 seen hovering above the shallows in search of its 



