In the Osier-bed. 215 



ditch almost everywhere. So heavy and powerful 

 is its odor that the still motionless air between the 

 thick hedges becomes oppressive, and it is a relief 

 to issue forth into the open fields away from the 

 perfume and the brooding heat. But by day it is 

 pleasant to linger in the shadow and inhale its sweet- 

 ness — if ,you are not nervous of snakes, for there is 

 one here and there in the grass gliding away at the 

 jar of the earth under your footstep. Warmth and 

 moisture favor their increase, as on a larger scale in 

 tropic lands, and parts of the mead are often under 

 water when a freshet comes down the brooks so 

 choked with flags that the}^ cannot carry it away 

 quickl}'. 



The osier-bed in the angle where the brooks join 

 is on slightl}' higher ground, for although the" withy 

 likes water at its roots it should not stand in it. 

 Springing across the ditch, and entering among the 

 tall slender wands, which, though the^- look so thick 

 part aside easil}', you may find on the mound behind 

 the butt of an oak sawn just above the ground ; and 

 there, in the shade of the reeds, and with a cool breeze 

 now and again coming along the course of the stream, 

 it is delicious in the heat of summer to repose and 

 listen to the murmur of the water. 



The moor-hens come down the current slowly, 

 searching about among the flags ; the reed warblers 

 are busy in the hedge ; at the mouth of his hole sits 

 a water-rat rubbing his face between his paws ; 

 across the stream comes his mate, swimming slowly 

 with one end of a long green sedge in her mouth, 

 and the rest towed behind on the surface. They 

 are the beavers of our streams — amusing, intelli- 



