. Birds through the year . h grows abundantly onnewly thrown marsh soil,and assumes a creepinghabit. Odd snow buntingsare disturbed from that samefavourite weed, which evenattracts to the waterside thecovert-haunting , wailing on the marsh-lands, are fairly numerous,and an occasional bunch of golden plovers is seen. Butthe merry reed and sedge warblers, so familiar from theirconfidential manners and pleasant snatches of song toyachting folk in summer days, are absent. The visping ofthe snipe, the babbling voices of the wild-fowl, and the harshgrating notes of the hooded crows
. Birds through the year . h grows abundantly onnewly thrown marsh soil,and assumes a creepinghabit. Odd snow buntingsare disturbed from that samefavourite weed, which evenattracts to the waterside thecovert-haunting , wailing on the marsh-lands, are fairly numerous,and an occasional bunch of golden plovers is seen. Butthe merry reed and sedge warblers, so familiar from theirconfidential manners and pleasant snatches of song toyachting folk in summer days, are absent. The visping ofthe snipe, the babbling voices of the wild-fowl, and the harshgrating notes of the hooded crows, prowling around, likecamp followers, seeking to despoil the dead and wounded,become familiar, and are, perhaps, more in keeping with therougher spirit of winter. The creaking of the pump-millsand the sighing of the winds through the reed beds makeappropriate wintry music. Let any one who wishes to see acharacteristic winter scene visit such a place as the Sounds,where dark pools, reflecting the sombre cloud, nestle among. BY THE SIDE OF THE WATERS 343 the acres of brown reed, and bulrush stems, where the over-ripe pokers of the reed-mace nod and dance to the roughhustling of the north wind. Floating on these pools, someasleep, some preening their feathers, and others pulling atthe sodden vegetation beneath them, are scores of mallardwith glossy green heads and their more sober mates. Maybea shoveller or a bunch of teal come into view, or a divingbird pops up into notice. Now and again you may see thegrebe,—the great-crested grebe, more abundant during thesummer, and the gossander. Any one living in the neigh-bourhood, who follows up these waters from day to day, maysee—and too often shoots—even less commonplace visitors,some vagrant buzzard or peregrine falcon keenly bent onharrying the wild-fowl; some wing-wearied northern diver, ora rare gull, a Bewicks swan, or a skulking bittern. Rigor-ously protected by the riparian owners and their gamekeepersfrom the more vulgar
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectbirdspi, bookyear1922
