PIMPERNELS AND VETCHES 209 
position and keep perfectly quiet. I suppose it is 
called the ‘‘ Dipper ”’ because it “ dips ” into water 
in search of food. Sometimes it walks into a 
stream ; at other times it plunges suddenly and 
disappears below the surface. It makes a big 
mossy nest in the cleft of a rock or under the roots 
of a tree by the water-side. It lays four or five 
pure white eggs. 
The Yellow Pimpernel, or Wood Loosestrife 
(Lysimachia nemorum) is growing plentifully on the 
bank underneath the trees and shrubs. This is a 
member of the Primrose tribe (Primulaces). Ob- 
serve its trailing stem, its small, opposite, egg- 
shaped leaves and solitary axillary flowers, which 
have five yellow petals. A charming little flower. 
I might mention two other Pimpernels belonging © 
to the same Order—Anagallis arvensis, the Scarlet 
Pimpernel or Poor Man’s Weather Glass, which 
grows in cornfields and gardens, and opens its 
beautiful little scarlet flowers only in fine weather ; 
and the Bog Pimpernel (Anagallis tenella), a very 
slender plant bearing pink or rose-coloured flowers. 
As its name implies, the Bog Pimpernel haunts 
boggy ground. It is a really elegant little plant, and 
you should look out for it. 
The Vetches, which are members of the Pea and 
Bean tribe, are usually well represented on this 
bank. Here is the Bush Vetch (Vicia sepium), 
bearing its pinnate leaves terminated by tendrils 
and its clusters of from four to six bluish-purple 
flowers. The Tufted Vetch (Vicia cracca) has 
smaller leaflets and more flowers, which are blue 
and crowded on to one-sided spikes. I see the 
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