, and on
the other through the willows and alders the grassy slope of the
Cuckoo-fields was visible. Broad leaves of the marsh marigold, the
flower long since gone, covered the ground; light-green horsetails
were dotted thickly about; and tall grasses flourished, rising to the
knee. Dark shallow pools were so hidden under these grasses and plants
that the presence of the black and yet clear water could not be
perceived until the foot sank into it.

The sedge-birds kept just in front of me, now busy on a willow-stole,
and concealed in the grasses and moss which grew out of the decaying
wood; now among the sedges covering the mudbanks where the brook had
silted up; now in the hedge which divided the willows from the meadow.
Still the peculiar sparrow-like note, the ringing chirp, came
continually from their throats; the warm sultry day delighted them.
One clung to the side of a slender flag, which scarcely seemed strong
enough to support it, yet did not even bend under its weight; then on
again as I came nearer--but only two or three yards--to recommence
singing immediately.

Pushing through the brushwood and past the reddish willow-poles, I
entered a very thicket of flags, rising to the shoulder. These were
not ribbed or bayonet-shaped, but flat, like a long sword. Three or
four sprang from a single root, broad and tall, and beside them a
stalk, and on it the yellow iris in fall flower. The marsh seemed lit
up with these bright lamps of colour under the shadowy willows and the
dark alders. There were a dozen at least within a few yards close
around, and others dimly visible through the branches--three large
yellow petals drooping, and on the curve of each brownish mottled
markings or lines delicately stippled, beside them a rolled spike-like
bloom not yet unfolded: a flower of the waters, crowned with gold,
above the green dwellers by the shore.

Here the sedge-birds left me, doubling back to their favourite
willow-stoles and sedges. Further on, the ground rose, and on the
drier bank the 'gicks' grew shoulder high, towering over the brambles.
It was difficult to move through the tangled underwood, so I went out
into the Cuckoo-fields. Hilary had drained away much of the water that
used to form a far larger marsh about here, and calculated his
levellings in a most ingenious manner with a hollow 'gicks.' He took a
wooden bowl, and filled it to the brim with water. Then cutting a dry
'gicks' so that it should be open at