244 Wild Life in a Southern County. 
somewhere here, the mead being so quiet. Where the 
ground is often flooded watercress has spread out 
into the grass, growing so profusely that now the 
water is low it might be mown by the scythe. And 
everywhere in their season, the beautiful forget-me- 
nots nestle on the shores among the flags, where the 
water, running slower at the edge, lingers to kiss 
their feet. 
Once, some five-and-twenty years ago, a sports- 
man startled a great bird out of the spot where the 
streams join, and shot it, thinking it was a heron. 
But seeing that it was no common heron, he had it 
examined, and it was found to be a bittern, and as 
such was carefully preserved. It was the last visit of 
bitterns to the place ; even then they were so rare as 
not to be recognised : now the progress of agriculture 
has entirely banished them. 
