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diff --git a/old/7thms10.txt b/old/7thms10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b563efe --- /dev/null +++ b/old/7thms10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6253 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Naturalist on the Thames, by C. J. Cornish + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Naturalist on the Thames + +Author: C. J. Cornish + +Release Date: August, 2005 [EBook #8682] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on July 31, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NATURALIST ON THE THAMES *** + + + + +Produced by Eric Eldred, Robert Connal +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + +[Illustration: FOX FLUSHING PHEASANTS. _From a drawing by Lancelot +Speed._] + + +THE NATURALIST ON THE THAMES + +BY + +C.J. CORNISH, F.Z.S. + + + + + + +PREFACE + +Having spent the greater part of my outdoor life in the Thames Valley, in +the enjoyment of the varied interests of its natural history and sport, I +have for many years hoped to publish the observations contained in the +following chapters. They have been written at different intervals of time, +but always with a view to publication in the form of a commentary on the +natural history and character of the valley as a whole, from the upper +waters to the mouth. For permission to use those which have been +previously printed I have to thank the editors and proprietors of the +_Spectator_, _Country Life_, and the _Badminton Magazine_. + +C.J. CORNISH. + +ORFORD HOUSE, +CHISWICK MALL. + + + + + + +CONTENTS + + +THE THAMES AT SINODUN HILL + +THE FILLING OF THE THAMES + +THE SHELLS OF THE THAMES + +THE ANTIQUITY OF RIVER PLANTS + +INSECTS OF THE THAMES + +"THE CHAVENDER OR CHUB" + +THE WORLD'S FIRST BUTTERFLIES + +BUTTERFLY SLEEP + +CRAYFISH AND TROUT + +FOUNTAINS AND SPRINGS + +BIRD MIGRATION DOWN THE THAMES + +WITTENHAM WOOD + +SPORT AT WITTENHAM + +SPORT AT WITTENHAM (_continued_) + +A FEBRUARY FOX HUNT + +EWELME--A HISTORICAL RELIC + +EEL-TRAPS + +SHEEP, PLAIN AND COLOURED + +SOME RESULTS OF WILD-BIRD PROTECTION + +OSIERS AND WATER-CRESS + +FOG AND DEW PONDS + +POISONOUS PLANTS + +ANCIENT THAMES MILLS + +THE BIRDS THAT STAY + +ANCIENT HEDGES + +THE ENGLISH MOCKING BIRD + +FLOWERS OF THE GRASS FIELDS + +RIVERSIDE GARDENING + +COTTAGES AND CAMPING OUT + +NETTING STAGS IN RICHMOND PARK + +RICHMOND OLD DEER PARK + +FISH IN THE LONDON RIVER + +CHISWICK EYOT + +CHISWICK FISHERMEN + +BIRDS ON THAMES RESERVOIRS + +THE CARRION CROW + +LONDON'S BURIED ELEPHANTS + +SWANS, BLACK AND WHITE + +CANVEY ISLAND + +THE LONDON THAMES AS A WATERWAY + +THE THAMES AS A NATIONAL TRUST + + + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +A FOX FLUSHING PHEASANTS + +WILD DUCK + +A FULL THAMES + +SHELLS OF THE THAMES + +A FLOWERY BANK + +BURR REED AND FLOWERING RUSH + +A MONSTER CHUB + +BUTTERFLIES AT REST + +A TROUT + +OTTERS + +A WATERHEN ON HER NEST + +A DABCHICK + +A BADGER + +FOX AND CUB + +EWELME POOL + +A NIGHTJAR AND YOUNG ONE + +A REED-BUNTING + +PEELING OSIERS + +BOTLEY MILL + +EEL BUCKS + +ORCHIS + +WATER VIOLET AND WILD IRIS + +A NETTED STAG + +BREAM AND ROACH + +A GRAMPUS AT CHISWICK + +SMELTS + +THE LOBSTER SMACK INN, CANVEY ISLAND + +THE STEPPING-STONES AT BENFLEET + +HAULING THE NETS FOR WHITEBAIT + +FISHING BOATS AT LEIGH + + + + + + +THE NATURALIST ON THE THAMES + + + + +THE THAMES AT SINODUN HILL + + +Fresh water is almost the oldest thing on earth. While the rocks have been +melted, the sea growing salter, and the birds and beasts perfecting +themselves or degenerating, the fresh water has been always the same, +without change or shadow of turning. So we find in it creatures which are +inconceivably old, still living, which, if they did not belong to other +worlds than ours, date from a time when the world was other than it is +now; and the fresh-water plants, equally prehistoric, on which these +creatures feed. Protected by this constant element the geographical range +of these animals and plants is as remarkable as their high antiquity. +There are in lake Tanganyika or the rivers of Japan exactly the same kinds +of shells as in the Thames, and the sedges and reeds of the Isis are found +from Cricklade to Kamschatka and beyond Bering Sea to the upper waters of +the Mackenzie and the Mississippi. The Thames, our longest fresh-water +river, and its containing valley form the largest natural feature in this +country. They are an organic whole, in which the river and its tributaries +support a vast and separate life of animals and plants, and modify that of +the hills and valleys by their course. Civil law has recognised the Thames +system as a separate area, and given to it a special government, that of +the Conservators, whose control now extends from the Nore to the remotest +springs in the hamlets in its watershed; and natural law did so long +before, when the valley became one of the migration routes of certain +southward-flying birds. Its course is of such remote antiquity that there +are those who hold that its bed may twice have been sunk beneath the sea, +and twice risen again above the face of the waters.[1] It has ever been a +masterful stream holding its own against the inner forces of the earth; +for where the chalk hills rose, silently, invisibly, in the long line from +the vale of White Horse to the Chilterns the river seems to have worn them +down as they rose at the crossing point at Pangbourne, and kept them +under, so that there was no barring of the Thames, and no subsequent +splitting of the barrier with gorges, cliffs, and falls. Its clear waters +pass from the oolite of the Cotswolds, by the blue lias and its fossils, +the sandstone rock at Clifton Hampden, the gravels of Wittenham, the great +chalk range of the downs, the greensand, the Reading Beds, to the +geological pie of the London Basin, and the beds of drifts and brick earth +in which lie bedded the frames and fragments of its prehistoric beasts. In +and beside its valley are great woods, parks, downs, springs, ancient +mills and fortresses, palaces and villages, and such homes of prehistoric +man as Sinodun Hill and the hut remains at Northfield. It has 151 miles of +fresh water and 77 of tideway, and is almost the only river in England in +which there are islands, the famous eyots, the lowest and largest of which +at Chiswick touches the London boundary. + +After leaving Oxford the writer has lived for many years opposite this +typical and almost unspoilt reach of the London river, and for a +considerable time shot over the estate on the upper Thames of which +Sinodun Hill is the hub and centre. This fine outlier of the chalk, with +its twin mount Harp Hill, dominates not only the whole of the Thames +valley at its feet, but the two cross vales of the Thame and the Ock. On +the bank opposite the Thame joins the Isis, and from thence flows on the +THAMES. Weeks and months spent there at all seasons of the year gave even +better opportunities for becoming acquainted with the life of the Upper +Thames, than the London river did of learning what the tidal stream really +is and may become. Fish, fowl and foxes, rare Thames flowers and shy +Thames chub, butterflies, eel-traps, fountains and springs, river shells +and water insects, are all parts of the "natural commodities" of the +district. There is no better and more representative part of the river +than this. Close by is Nuneham, one of the finest of Thames-side parks, +and behind that the remains of wild Oxfordshire show in Thame Lane and +Clifton Heath. How many centuries look down from the stronghold on Sinodun +Hill, reckoning centuries by human occupation, no one knows or will know. +There stands the fortress of some forgotten race, and below it the double +rampart of a Roman camp, running from Thame to Isis. Beyond is Dorchester, +the abbey of the oldest see in Wessex, and the Abbey Mill. The feet of the +hills are clothed by Wittenham Wood, and above the wood stretches the +weir, and round to the west, on another great loop of the river, is Long +Wittenham and its lovely backwater. Even in winter, when the snow is +falling like bags of flour, and the river is chinking with ice, there is +plenty to see and learn, or in the floods, when the water roars through +the lifted hatches and the rush of the river throbs across the misty +flats, and the weeds and sedges smell rank as the stream stews them in its +mash-tub in the pool below the weir. + +[1] Phillips, "Geology of Oxford and of the Valley of the Thames." + + + + +THE FILLING OF THE THAMES + + +In the late autumn of 1893, one of the driest years ever known, I went to +the weir pool above the wood, and found the shepherd fishing. The river +was lower than had ever been known or seen, and on the hills round the +"dowsers" had been called in with their divining rods to find the vanished +waters. + +"Thee've got no water in 'ee, and if 'ee don't fill'ee avore New Year, +'ee'll be no more good for a stree-um"! Thus briefly, to Father Thames, +the shepherd of Sinodun Hill. He had pitched his float into the pool below +the weir--the pool which lies in the broad, flat fields, with scarce a +house in sight but the lockman's cottage--and for the first time on a +Saturday's fishing he saw his bait go clear to the bottom instead of being +lost to view instantly in the boiling water of the weir-pool. He could +even see the broken piles and masses of concrete which the river in its +days of strength had torn up and scattered on the bottom, and among them +the shoals of fat river fish eyeing his worm as critically as his master +would a sample of most inferior oats. Yet the pool was beautiful to look +upon. Where the water had sunk the rushes had grown taller than ever, and +covered the little sandbanks left by the ebbing river with a forest of +green and of red gold, where the frost had laid its finger on them. In the +back eddies and shallows the dying lily leaves covered the surface with +scales of red and copper, and all along the banks teazles and frogbits, +and brown and green reeds, and sedges of bronze and russet, made a screen, +through which the black and white moorhens popped in and out, while the +water-rats, now almost losing the aquatic habit, and becoming pedestrian, +sat peeling rushes with their teeth, and eyeing the shepherd on the weir. +Even the birds seemed to have voted that the river was never going to fill +again, for a colony of sandpipers, instead of continuing their migration +to the coast, had taken up their quarters on the little spits of mud and +shingle now fringing the weir-pool, and were flitting from point to point, +and making believe it was a bit of Pagham Harbour or Porchester Creek. On +every sunny morning monster spiders ran out from the holes and angles of +the weir-frame, and spun webs across and across the straddling iron legs +below the footbridge, right down to the lowered surface of the water, +which had so sunk that each spider had at least four feet more of web than +he could have reckoned upon before and waxed fat on the produce of the +added superficies of enmeshed and immolated flies. So things went on +almost till New Year's Eve. The flats of the Upper Thames, where the +floods get out up the ditches and tributaries, and the wild duck gather on +the shallow "splashes" and are stalked with the stalking-horse as of old, +were as dry as Richmond Park, and sounded hollow to the foot, instead of +wheezing like a sponge. The herons could not find a meal on a hundred +acres of meadow, which even a frog found too dry for him, and the little +brooks and land-springs which came down through them to the big river were +as low as in June, as clear as a Hampshire chalk stream, and as full of +the submerged life of plants. Instead of dying with the dying year at the +inrush of cold water brought by autumn rains, all the cresses, and +tresses, and stars, and tangles, and laced sprays of the miniature growth +of the springs and running brooks were as bright as malachite, though +embedded in a double line of dead white shivering sedge. And thus the +shortest day went by, and still the fields lay dry, and the river shrank, +and the fish were off the feed; and though murky vapours hung over the +river and the flats and shut out the sun, the long-expected rains fell not +until the last week's end of the year. Then at last signs and tokens began +by which the knowing ones prophesied that there was something the matter +with the weather. The sheep fed as if they were not to have another bite +for a week, and bleated without ceasing, strange birds flew across the sky +in hurrying flocks, and in all the country houses and farmers' halls the +old-fashioned barometers, with their dials almost as big as our eight-day +clocks and pointers as long as a knitting-needle, began to fall, or rather +to go backwards, further than was ever recorded. And whereas it is, and +always has been, a fact well known to the owners of these barometers that +if they are tapped violently in the centre of their mahogany stomachs the +needle will jerk a little in the direction of recovery, and is thereby +believed to exercise a controlling influence in the direction of better +weather, the more the barometers were tapped and thumped the more the +needle edged backwards, till in some cases it went down till it pointed to +the ivory star at the very bottom of the dial, and then struck work and +stuck there. + +[Illustration: WILD DUCK. _From a photograph by Charles Reid._] + +[Illustration: A FULL THAMES. _From a photograph by Taunt & Co._] + +That night the storm began. To connoisseurs in weather in the +meteorological sense it was a joy and an ensample, for it was a perfect +cyclonic storm, exactly the right shape, with all its little dotted lines +of "isobars" running in ovals one inside another. From another point of +view it was the storm of an hour spread over two days, so that there was +plenty of time to see and remember the normal ways of cyclones, which may +be briefly described as first a flush of heat whether in summer or winter, +then a furious wind, then hurrying clouds and much rain, with changes of +wind, then more clouds and more rain, then a "clearing shower" with most +rain, then a furling and brailing-up of the rain clouds, splashes of blue +in the sky, with nets of scud crossing them, sudden gleams of sun, sudden +cold, and perhaps a hail shower, and then piercing cold and sunlight. All +which things happened, but took a long time about it. The storm began in +the night, and howled through the dark. The rain came with the morning; +but it was the "clearing shower," which lasted ten hours, which caused the +filling of the Thames. The wind still blew in furious gusts, but the rain +was almost too heavy to be moved. The sky was one dark, sombre cloud, and +from this the rain poured in slanting lines like pencils of water. But +across this blanket of cloud came darker, lower, and wetter clouds, even +more surcharged with water, from which the deluge poured till the earth +was white like glass with the spraying drops. Out in the fields it was +impossible to see through the rain; but as the end of the column of cloud +began to break and widen the water could be seen in the act of passing +from the land to the river. On the fallows and under the fences all the +surface earth was beaten down or swept away. All seeds which had sunk +naturally below the surface were laid bare. Hundreds of sprouting horse +chestnuts, of sprouting acorns beneath the trees, thousands of grains of +fallen wheat and barley, of beans, and other seeds of the farm were +uncovered as if by a spade. + +Down every furrow, drain, watercourse, ditch, runnel, and watercut, the +turbid waters were hurrying, all with one common flow, all with increasing +speed, to the Thames. The sound of waters filled the air, dropping, +poppling, splashing, trickling, dripping from leaves to earth, falling +from bank to rills below, gurgling under gate-paths, lapping against the +tree-trunks and little ridge piles in the brooks, and at last sweeping +with a hushed content into the bosom of Thames. And the river himself was +good for something more than a "stree-um." He was bank-full and sweeping +on, taking to himself on this side and on that the tributes of his +children, from which the waters poured so fast that they came in almost +clear, and the mingled waters in the river were scarcely clouded in their +flow. The lock-men rose by night and looked at the climbing flood, and +wakened their wives and children, and raised in haste hatch after hatch of +the weirs, and threw open locks and gates. Windsor Weir broke, but the +wires flashed the news on, and the river's course was open, and after the +greatest rain-storm and the lowest barometer known for thirty years, the +Thames was not in flood, but only brimful; and once more a "river of +waters." + + + + +THE SHELLS OF THE THAMES + + +Of the thousands who boat on the Thames during the summer few know or +notice the beauty of the river shells. They are among the most delicate +objects of natural ornament and design in this country. Exquisite pattern, +graceful shapes, and in some cases lovely tints of colour adorn them. +Nature has for once relaxed in their favour her rigid rules, by which she +turns out things of this kind not only alike in shape, but with identical +colour and ornament. Among humming-birds, for instance, each bird is like +the other, literally to a feather. The lustre on each ruby throat or +amethyst wing shines in the same light with the same prismatic divisions. +But even in the London river, if you go and seek among the pebbles above +Hammersmith Bridge when the river is low, you may find a score of +_neretina_ shells not one of which is coloured like the rest or +ornamented with exactly the same pattern, yet each is fit to bejewel the +coronet of some Titania of the waters. A number of these tiny shells, +gathered from below the bridge, lie before the writer, set on black satin +to display the hues. They look at a little distance like a series of mixed +Venetian beads, but of more elegant form. From whichever side they are +seen, the curves are the perfection of flowing line. The colouring and +ornament of each is a marvel and delight. Some are black, with white spots +arranged in lines following the curves, and with the top of the blunt +spiral white. These "black-and-white marble" patterns are followed by a +whole series in which purple takes the place of black, and the spots are +modified into scales. Then comes a row of rose-coloured shells, some with +white lance-heads, or scales, others with alternate bands of white scales +and white dots. Some are polished, others dull, some rosy pink, others +almost crimson. Some are marked with cream and purple like the juice of +black currants with cream in it. In some the scale pattern changes to a +chequer, some are white with purple zig-zags. And lastly come a whole +series in pale olive, and olive and cream, in which the general colour is +that of a blackcap's egg, and the pattern made by alternate spots of olive +and bands of cream. If these little gems of beauty come out of the London +river, what may we not expect in the upper waters of the silver Thames?[1] +A search in the right places in its course will show. But these +_neretinae_ are everywhere up to the source of the river, for they +feed on all kinds of decaying substances. If the pearl is the result of a +disease or injury, the beauty of the _neretina_ is a product or +transformation from foul things to fair ones. + +As the Thames is itself the product and union of all its vassal streams, +an "incarnation" of all the rest, so in its bed it holds all the shells +collected from all its tributaries. Different tribes of shells live in +different waters. Some love the "full-fed river winding slow," some the +swift and crystal chalk-stream. Some only flourish just over the spots +where the springs come bubbling up from the inner cisterns of earth, and +breathe, as it were, the freshness of these untainted waters; others love +the rich, fat mud, others the sides of wearings and piles, others the +river-jungles where the course is choked with weeds. But come what may, or +flourish where they please, the empty shells are in time rolled down from +trout-stream and chalk-stream, fountain and rill, mill-pool and ditch, +cress-bed and water-cut, from the springs of the Cotswolds, the Chilterns, +the downs, from the valleys of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Surrey, +Gloucester, Oxford, and Essex, into the Thames. Once there the river makes +shell collections on its own account, sorting them out from everything +else except a bed of fine sand and gravel, in which they lie like birds' +eggs in bran in a boy's cabinet, ready for who will to pick them up or +sift them out of it. These shell collections are made in the time of +winter floods, though how they are made or why the shells should all +remain together, while sticks, stones, and other rubbish are carried away, +it is impossible to say. They are laid on smooth points of land round +which the waters flow in shallow ripples. Across the river it is always +deep, swift, and dark, though the sandbanks come in places near the +surface, and in the shallows grow water-crowfoot, with waving green hair +under water, and white stems above it. The clean and shining sand shelves +down to the water's edge, and continues below the surface. Here are living +shells, or shells with living fish in them. In the bright water lie +hundreds of the shells of the fresh-water mussels, the bearers of pearls +sometimes, and always lined with that of which pearls are made, the +lustrous nacre. The mealy masses of dry sand beyond the river's lip are +stuffed with these mussel shells. They lie all ways up, endways, sideways, +on their faces, on their backs. The pearl lining shines through the sand, +and the mussels gleam like silver spoons under the water. They crack and +crunch beneath your feet as you step across to search the mass for the +smaller and rarer shells. Many of those in the water contain living +mussels, yellow-looking fat molluscs, greatly beloved of otters, who eat +them as sauce with the chub or bream they catch, and leave the broken +shells of the one by the half-picked bones of the other. There was a +popular song which had for chorus the question, "Did you ever see an +oyster walk upstairs?" These mussels _walk_, and are said to be +"tolerably active" by a great authority on their habits. They have one +foot, on which they travel in search of feeding ground, and leave a +visible track across the mud. There are three or four kinds, two of which +sometimes hold small pearls, while a third is the pearl-bearer proper. +_Unio pictorum_ is the scientific name of one, because the shells +were once the cups in which the old Dutch painters kept their colours, and +are still used to hold ground gold and silver for illuminating. The +pearl-bearing mussel is longer than the other kinds, flatter and darker, +and the lining of mother-of-pearl is equal to half the total thickness of +the shell.[2] + +[Illustration: SHELLS OF THE THAMES. _From a photograph by E. Seeley_] + +Though not so striking from their size and pearly lustre, there are many +shells on the Thames sandbanks not less interesting and in large numbers. +Among these are multitudes of tiny fresh-water cockle shells of all sizes, +from that of a grain of mustard seed to the size of a walnut, flat, curled +shells like small ammonites, fresh-water snail shells of all sizes, river +limpets, _neretinae_, and other and rounder bivalve shells allied to +the cockles. The so-called "snails" are really quite different from each +other, some, the _paludinas_, being large, thick-striped shells, +while the _limnaeas_ are thin, more delicately made, some with fine, +pointed spiral tops, and others in which the top seems to have been +absorbed in the lower stories. There are eight varieties of these +_limnaeas_ alone, and six more elegant shells of much the same +appearance, but of a different race. + +The minute elegance of many of these shells is very striking. Tiny +_physas_ and _succineas_, no larger than shot, live among big +_paludinas_ as large as a garden snail, while all sizes of the larger +varieties are found, from microscopic atoms to the perfect adult. Being +water shells, and not such common objects as land shells, these have no +popular names. The river limpets are called _ancylus fluviatilis_. +Some are no larger than a yew berry, and are shaped like a Phrygian cap; +but they "stick" with proper limpet-like tenacity. On the stems of +water-lilies, on piles, on weeds and roots in any shallow streams, but +always on the under side of the leaves, are the limpets of the Thames. The +small ammonite-like shells are called _planorbis_, and like most of +the others, belong also to the upper tertiary fossils. They feed on the +decaying leaves of the iris and other water plants, and from the number of +divisions on the shell are believed to live for sometimes twenty years. Of +the many varieties, one, the largest, the horn-coloured _planorbis_, +emits a purple dye. Two centuries ago Lister made several experiments in +the hope that he might succeed in fixing this dye, as the Tyrians did that +of the murex, but in vain. There are eleven varieties of this creature +alone. It is easier to find the shells than to discover the living +creature in the river. For many the deep, full river is not a suitable +home; they only come there as the water does, from the tributary streams. +Far up in some rill in the chalk, from the bed of which the water bubbles +up and keeps the stones and gravel bright, whole beds of little +pea-cockles may be found, lying in masses side by side, like seeds sown in +the water-garden of a nymph. + +[1] I have a series of _neretina_ shells from the Philippines, much +larger in size and brown in colour, in which many of the same kinds of +ornament occur. + +[2] A fresh-water mussel shell from North America in my possession is +coloured green, and so marked and crimped as to resemble exactly a patch +of water-weed, such as grows on stones and piles. + + + + +THE ANTIQUITY OF RIVER PLANTS + + +In the still gossamer weather of late October, when the webs lie sheeted +on the flat green meadows and spools of the air-spiders' silk float over +the waters, the birds and fish and insects and flowers of the best of +England's rivers show themselves for the last time in that golden autumn +sun, and make their bow to the audience before retiring for the year. All +the living things become for a few brief hours happy and careless, +drinking to the full the last drops of the mere joy of life before the +advent of winter and rough weather. The bank flowers still show blossom +among the seed-heads, and though the thick round rushes have turned to +russet, the forget-me-not is still in flower; and though the water-lilies +have all gone to the bottom again, and the swallows no longer skim over +the surface, the river seems as rich in life as ever; and the birds and +fish, unfrightened by the boat traffic, are tamer and more visible. + +[Illustration: A FLOWERY BANK NEAR COOKHAM. _From a photograph by E. +Seeley_.] + +The things in the waters and growing out of the waters are very, very old. +The mountains have been burnt with fire; lava grown solid has turned to +earth again and grows vines; chalk was once sea-shells; but the clouds and +the rivers have altered not their substance. Also, so far as this planet +goes, many of the water plants are world-encircling, growing just as they +do here in the rivers of Siberia, in China, in Canada, and almost up to +the Arctic Circle. The creatures which lived on these prehistoric plants +live on them now, and in exactly the same parts of the stream. The same +shells lie next the banks in the shallows as lie next the bank of the +prehistoric river of two million years ago whose bed is cut through at +Hordwell Cliffs on the Solent. The same shells lie next them in the deeper +water, and the sedges and rushes are as "prehistoric" as any plant can +well be. In the clay at Hordwell, which was once the mud of the river, lie +sedges, pressed and dried as if in the leaves of a book, almost exactly +similar in colour, which is kept, and in shape, which is uninjured, to +those which fringe the banks of the Thames to-day. These fresh-water +plants show their hoary antiquity by the fashion of their generation. Most +of them are mono-cotyledonous--with a single seed-lobe, like those of the +early world. There is nothing quite as old among the Thames fishes as the +mud fishes, the lineal descendants of the earliest of their race. But the +same water creatures were feeding on the same plants perhaps when the +Thames first flowed as a river. + +[Illustration: BURR REED AND FLOWERING RUSH. _From photographs by E. +Seeley._] + +The sedge fringe in the shallows, the "haunt of coot and tern" elsewhere, +and of hosts of moorhens and dabchicks on the now protected river, is +mainly composed of the giant rush, smooth and round, which the water-rats +cut down and peel to eat the pith. These great rushes, sometimes ten feet +high, _die_ every year like the sickliest flowers, and break and are +washed away. Few people have ever tried to reckon the number of kinds of +sedges and reeds by the river, and it would be difficult to do so. There +are forty-six kinds of sedge (_carex_), or if the _Scirpus_ tribe be +added, sixty-one, found in our islands. They are not all water plants, for +the sand-sedge with its creeping roots grows on the sandhills, and some of +the rarest are found on mountain-tops. But the river sedges and grasses, +with long creeping roots of the same kind, have played a great part in the +making of flat meadows and in the reclamation of marshes, stopping the +water-borne mud as the sand-sedge stops the blowing sand. They have done +much in this way on the Upper Thames, though not on the lower reaches of +the river. The "sweet sedge," so called--the smell is rather sickly to +most tastes--is now found on the Thames near Dorchester, and between +Kingston and Teddington among other places, though it was once thought +only to flourish on the Norfolk and Fen rivers. It is not a sedge at all, +but related to the common arum, and its flower, like the top joints of the +little finger, represents the "lords and ladies" of the hedges. So the +burr reed, among the prettiest of all the upright plants growing out of +the water, is not a reed, but a reed mace. Its bright green stems and +leaves, and spiky balls, are found in every suitable river from Berkshire +to the Amur, and in North America almost to the Arctic Circle. In the same +way the yellow water villarsia, which though formerly only common near +Oxford, has greatly increased on the Thames until its yellow stars are +found as low as the Cardinal's Well at Hampton Court, extends across the +rivers of Europe and Asia as far as China. The cosmopolitan ways of these +water plants are easily explained. They live almost outside competition. +They have not to take their chance with every new comer, for ninety-nine +out of a hundred stranger seeds are quietly drowned in the embosoming +stream. The water itself keeps its temperature steadily, and only changes +slowly and in no great degree, and then, when the plants are in their +winter sleep the stream may well say that "men may come and men may go, +but I go on for ever." The same is very largely true of the things which +live in the brook. + +Many of the flowers are not quite what their names imply. The true lilies +are among the oldest of plants. But "water-lilies" are not lilies. They +have been placed in order between the barberry and the poppy, because the +seed-head of a water-lily is like the poppy fruit. The villarsia, which +looks like a water-lily, is not related at all, while the buck-bean is not +a bean, but akin to the gentians. Water-violet might be more properly +called water-primrose, for it is closely related to the primrose, though +its colour is certainly violet, and not pale yellow. By this time all the +bladderworts have disappeared under water. In June in a pool near the +inflow of the Thames at Day's Lock, opposite Dorchester, the fine leafless +yellow spikes of flower were standing out of the water like orchids, while +the bladders with their trapdoors were employed in catching and devouring +small tadpoles. There is something quietly horrible about these +carnivorous plants. Their bladders are far too small to take one in whole, +but catch the unhappy infant tadpoles by their tails and hold them till +they die from exhaustion. + +The bank flora of the Thames is nearly all the same from Oxford to Hampton +Court, made up of some score of very fine and striking flowers that grow +from foot to crest on the wall of light marl that forms the bank. +Constantly refreshed by the adjacent water, they flower and seed, seed and +flower, and are haunted by bees and butterflies till the November frosts. +The most decorative of all are the spikes of purple loose-strife. In +autumn when most of the flowers are dead the tip of the leaf at the heads +of the spikes turns as crimson as a flower. The other red flowers are the +valerian, in masses of squashed strawberry, and the fig-wort, tall, +square-stemmed, and set with small carmine knots of flower. In autumn +these become brown seed crockets, and are most decorative. The fourth tall +flower is the flea-bane, and the fifth the great willow-herb. The lesser +plants are the small willow-herbs, whose late blossoms are almost carmine, +the water-mints, with mauve-grey flowers, and the comfrey, both purple and +white. The dewberry, a blue-coloured more luscious bramble fruit, and tiny +wild roses, grow on the marl-face also. At its foot are the two most +beautiful flowers, though not the most effective, the small yellow +snapdragon, or toad-flax, and the forget-me-not. This blue of the +forget-me-nots is as peculiar as it is beautiful. It is not a common blue +by any means, any more than the azure of the chalk-blue butterflies is +common among other insects. Colour is a very constant feature in certain +groups of flowers. One of these includes the forget-me-nots, the borage, +the alkanet, and the viper's bugloss, which keep up this blue as a family +heirloom. Others of the tribe, like the comfrey, have it not, but those +which possess it keep it pure. + +The willows at this time are ready to shed their leaves at the slightest +touch of frost. Yet these leaves are covered with the warts made by the +saw-flies to deposit their eggs in. The male saw-fly of this species and +some others is scarcely ever seen, though the female is so common. The +creature _stings_ the leaf, dropping into the wound a portion of +formic acid, and then lays its egg. The stung leaf swells, and makes the +protecting gall. It is difficult to say when "fly," in the fisherman's use +of the term as the adult insect food of fish, may not appear on the water. +Moths are out on snowy nights, as every collector knows, and on any mild +winter day flies and gnats are seen by streams. In the warm, sunny days of +late September, numbers of some species of ephemerae were seen on the +sedges and willows, with black bodies and gauzy wings, which the dace and +bleak were swallowing eagerly, in quite summer fashion. The water is now +unusually clear, and as the fish come to sun themselves in the shallows +every shoal can be seen. + +Among the typical Thames-valley flowers, all of which would be the better +for protection, are the very rare soldier orchis (_Orchis Militaris_) +and the monkey orchis (_Orchis Simia_), the water-snowflake, the +_hottonia_, or water-violet, the water-villarsia, more elegant even +than the water-lilies, the flowering rush, with a crown of bright +rose-pink flowers. The two orchids named are very interesting plants. Of +the monkey orchis Mr. Claridge Druce says in his "Flora of Oxfordshire" +that it has become exceedingly scarce, not so much from the depredations +of collectors, but from the fondness of rabbits for it and the changes +brought about by agriculture. The soldier orchis is very rare indeed; both +are only found in a few woods in the Thames valley, and possibly in Kent. +The bladderworts fade instantly, and are not much interfered with, and +though the fritillaries are picked for market, the roots are not dug up +because that would injure the meadow turf in which they grow, and business +objections would be raised. + + + + +INSECTS OF THE THAMES + + +Except among the select few, generally either enthusiastic boys or London +mechanics of an inquiring mind, who keep fresh-water aquariums and +replenish them from ponds and brooks at "weekends," few persons outside +the fancy either see or know much of the water insects,[1] or are aware, +when floating on a summer day under the willows in a Thames backwater, of +the near presence of thousands of aquatic creatures, swift, carnivorous, +and pursuing, or feeding greedily on the plants in the water garden that +floats below the boat, or weaving nests, tending eggs, or undergoing the +most astonishing transitions of form and activity, on or below the +surface. Many of them are perhaps better equipped for encountering all the +chances of existence than any other creatures. They can swim, dive, and +run below water, live on dry land, or fly in the air, and many are so +hardy as to be almost proof against any degree of cold. The great +carnivorous water-beetle, the dytiscus, after catching and eating other +creatures all day, with two-minute intervals to come up, poke the tips of +its wings out of the water and jam some air against its spiracles, before +descending once more to its subaqueous hunting-grounds, will rise by night +from the surface of the Thames, lift again those horny wing-cases, unfold +a broad and beautiful pair of gauzy wings, and whirl off on a visit of +love and adventure to some distant pond, on to which it descends like a +bullet from the air above. When people are sitting in a greenhouse at +night with no lamp lighted, talking or smoking, they sometimes hear a +smash as if a pebble had been dropped on the glass from above. It is a +dytiscus beetle, whose compound eyes have mistaken the shine of the glass +in the moonlight for the gleam of a pond. At night some of the whirligig +beetles, the shiny, bean-like creatures seen whirling in incessant circles +in corners by the bank, make a quite audible and almost musical sound upon +the water. The activity of many of the water insects is astonishing. +Besides keeping in almost incessant motion, those which spend most of +their time below water have generally to come up constantly to breathe. +Such are the water-bugs, water-scorpions and stick insects, which, though +slender as rushes, and with limbs like hairs, can catch and kill the fry +of the smaller fishes. Most of these are like divers, who have to provide +themselves with air to breathe, and work at double speed in addition. + +If a group of whirligig beetles is disturbed, the whole party will dive +like dabchicks, rising to the surface again when they feel the need for +breathing-air again. The diving-bell spiders, which do not often frequent +the main Thames stream, though they are commonly found in the ditches near +it, gather air to use just as a soldier might draw water and dispose it +about his person in water-bottles. They do this in two ways, one of which +is characteristic of many of the creatures which live both in and out of +the water as the spider does. The tail of the spider is covered with +black, velvety hair. Putting its tail out of the water, it collects much +air in the interstices of the velvet. It then descends, when all this air, +drawn down beneath the surface, collects into a single bubble, covering +its tail and breathing holes like a coat of quicksilver. This supply the +spider uses up when at work below, until it dwindles to a single speck, +when it once more ascends and collects a fresh store. The writer has seen +one of these spiders spin so many webs across the stems of water plants in +a limited space that not only the small water-shrimps and larvae, but even +a young fish were entangled. The other and more artistic means of +gathering air employed by the spider is to catch a bubble on the surface +and swim down below with it. The bubble is then let go into a bell woven +under some plant, into which many other bubbles have been drawn. In this +diving-bell the eggs are laid and the young hatched, under the constant +watch of the old spider. Few people care to take the trouble to gaze for +any time into a shallow, still piece of water, in which the bottom is +plainly discernible, and a crop of water-weeds makes a wall on either side +of some central "well." If they do find some such pond near the Thames +banks or a shallow backwater, they may see after a few minutes much that +is new and suggestive of strange activities. Everything will be quiet and +motionless at first, for water beasts are very suspicious of movement +above them, and all sham dead, or lie quite still, and are strangely +invisible. On the other hand, they have none of the power of remaining +motionless for half-an-hour like land animals. Soon what look like sticks, +but are caddis larva, begin to creep on the bottom. Then more brown +objects, larvae of dragon-flies and water-beetles, detach themselves from +the stems of the plants and cruise up and down seeking what they may +devour. Other creatures feeding and swimming among or beneath the plants +crawl out on to the upper surface, and the water-beetles come up to +breathe, or to play upon the surface. One of the largest of these is a +very fine _black_ beetle, a vegetable-feeding creature. It is most +interesting to see two of them--they generally live in pairs--browsing on +one of the fern-like plants of the Thames. This plant has leaves like fern +blades, each having in turn its own small spikelets. The big beetles work +along the leaf like a cow in a cabbage yard, biting off, chewing, and +swallowing each in succession, and leaving the stem perfectly bare. +Sometimes it looks as if the two beetles were eating for a match, like the +beef-eating contests held in country public-houses, in which the winner +once boasted that he won easily "afore he came to vinegar." + +The number of carnivorous creatures found in the water seems out of all +proportion to the usual order of Nature. But this is perhaps because the +minute, almost invisible creatures, or entomostraca, of which the rivers +and ponds are full, and which are the main food of the smaller water +carnivora, live mainly on decaying vegetable substance, which is +practically converted and condensed into microscopical animals before +these become in turn the food of others. It is as if all trees and grass +on land were first eaten by locusts or white ants, and the locusts and +white ants were then eaten by semi-carnivorous cows and sheep, which were +in turn eaten by true carnivora. The water-weeds, both when living and +decaying, are eaten by the entomostraca, the entomostraca are eaten by the +larvae of insects, the perfect insects are eaten by the fish, and the fish +are eaten by men, otters, and birds. Thus we eat the products of the water +plants at four removes in a fish; while we eat that of the grass or +turnips only in a secondary form in beef or mutton. + +The water-shrimp is a very common crustacean in the small Thames +tributaries, and valuable as fish food. It has a very rare subterranean +cousin known as the _well shrimp_. A lady in the Isle of Wight, who in a +moment of energy went to the pump to get some water to put flowers in, +actually pumped up one of these subterranean shrimps into a glass bowl. +The well was eighty feet deep. The shrimp was absolutely white, and +probably blind. + +Flesh-eating insects are fairly common on land; wasps will actually raid a +butcher's shop, and carry off little red bits of meat, besides killing and +eating flies, spiders, and larvae. Dragon-flies are the hawks of the +insect world, and slay and devour wholesale, when in the air as well as +when they are larvae on the water, though few persons actually witness +their attacks on other creatures, owing to the swiftness of their flight. +Some centipedes will attack other creatures with the ferocity of a +bulldog. An encounter between one of the smaller centipedes and a worm is +like a fight between a ferret and a snake, so frantic is the writhing of +the worm, so determined the hold which the hard and shiny centipede +maintains with its hooked jaws. But the ferocity and destroying appetite +of some of the water creatures would be appalling were it not for their +small size. The desire of killing and devouring appears in the most +unexpected quarters, among creatures which no one would suspect of such +intentions. Of two kinds of water snail found in the Thames, and among the +commonest molluscs, one is a vegetable feeder. It is found living on water +plants, the snails being of all sizes, from that of a mustard seed to a +walnut. The other will feed not only on dead animal substances, but on +living creatures, and is equipped with sharp teeth, which work like a saw. +One of these kept in an aquarium fastened on to and slowly devoured a +small frog confined in the same vessel. The large dytiscus beetle is the +great enemy of small fish. If the salmon is ever restored to the Thames +these creatures will be among the worst enemies of the fry, though in +swift rivers they are not plentiful. Frank Buckland states that in +Hollymount Pond they killed two thousand young salmon. One of these was +put into a bowl with a dytiscus beetle, which, "pouncing upon him like a +hawk upon an unsuspecting lark, drove its scythe-like horny jaws right +into the back of the poor little fish. The little salmon, a plucky fellow, +fought hard for his life, and swam round and round, up and down, hither +and thither, trying to escape from this terrible murderer; but it was no +use, he could not free himself from his grip; and while the poor little +wretch was giving the last few flutterings of his tail, the water-beetle +proceeded coolly to peck out his left eye, and to devour it at once." The +larva not only of the carnivorous dytiscus but also of the +vegetable-feeding water-beetle are ferocious and carnivorous, and deadly +enemies of young fish and ova. + +[1] In mentioning some of the Thames _insecta_ I have also noticed some of +the _mollusca_ and _crustacea_. It is a pity these have not some common +names. One cannot write easily of "pulmonate gasteropods." + + + + +"THE CHAVENDER OR CHUB" + + + "Now when you've caught your chavender, + (Your chavender or chub) + You hie you to your pavender, + (Your pavender or pub), + And there you lie in lavender, + (Sweet lavender or lub)." + + _Mr. Punch._ + + +I went into the Plough Inn at Long Wittenham in mid-November to arrange +about sending some game to London. The landlord, after inquiring about our +shooting luck, went out and came back into the parlour, saying, "Now, sir, +will you look at my sport?" He carried on a tray two large chub weighing +about 2-1/2 lbs. each, which he had caught in the river just behind the +house. Their colour, olive and silver, scarlet, and grey, was simply +splendid. Laid on the table with one or two hares and cock pheasants and a +few brace of partridges they made a fine sporting group in still life--a +regular Thames Valley yield of fish and fowl. The landlord is a quiet +enthusiast in this Thames fishing. It is a pleasure to watch him at work, +whether being rowed down on a hot summer day by one of his men, and +casting a long line under the willows for chub, or hauling out big perch +or barbel. All his tackle is exquisitely kept, as well kept as the +yeoman's arrows and bow in the Canterbury Tales. His baits are arranged on +the hook as neatly as a good cook sends up a boned quail. He gets all his +worms from Nottingham. I notice that among anglers the man who gets his +worms from Nottingham is as much a connoisseur as the man who imported his +own wine used to be among dinner-givers. + +Drifting against a willow bush one day, the branches of which came right +down over the water like a crinoline, I saw inside, and under the +branches, a number of fair-sized chub of about 1 lb. or 1-1/2 lbs. It +struck me that they felt themselves absolutely safe there, and that if in +any way I could get a bait over them they might take it. The entry under +which I find this chronicled is August 24th. Next morning when the sun was +hot I got a stiff rod and caught a few grasshoppers. Overnight I had cut +out a bough or two at the back of the willow bush, and there was just a +chance that I might be able to poke my rod in and drop the grasshopper on +the water. After that I must trust to the strength of the gut, for the +fish would be unplayable. It was almost like fishing in a faggot-stack. +Peering through the willow leaves I could just see down into the water +where a patch of sunlight about a yard square struck the surface. Under +this skylight I saw the backs of several chub pass as they cruised slowly +up and down. I twisted the last two feet of my line round the rod-top, +poked this into the bush with infinite bother and pluckings at my line +between the rings, and managed to drop the hopper on to the little bit of +sunny water. What a commotion there was. The chub thought they were all in +a sanctuary and that no one was looking. I could see six or seven of them, +evidently all cronies and old acquaintances, the sort of fish that have +known one another for years and would call each other by their Christian +names. They were as cocky and consequential as possible, cruising up and +down with an air, and staring at each other and out through the screen of +leaves between them and the river, and every now and then taking something +off a leaf and spitting it out again in a very independent +connoisseur-like way. The moment the grasshopper fell there was a regular +rush to the place, very different from what their behaviour would have +been outside the bush. There was a hustle and jostle to look at it, and +then to get it. They almost fought one another to get a place. Flop! +Splash! Wallop! "My grasshopper, I think." "I saw it first." "Where are +you shoving to?" "O--oh--what is the matter with William?" I called him +William because he had a mark like a W on his back. But he was hooked fast +and flopping, and held quite tight by a very strong hook and gut, like a +bull with a ring and a pole fastened to his nose. I got him out too--not a +big fish, but about 1-1/2 lbs. + +This showed pretty clearly that where chub can be fished for "silently, +invisibly," they can still be caught, even though steam launches or +row-boats are passing every ten minutes. This was mid-August; my next +venture nearly realised the highest ambitions of a chub-fisher. It also +showed the sad limitations of mere instinctive fishing aptitudes in the +human being as contrasted with the mental and bodily resources of a fish +with a deplorably low facial angle and a very poor _morale_. There +was just one place on the river where it seemed possible to remain unseen +yet to be able to drop a bait over a chub. A willow tree had fallen, and +smashed through a willow _bush_. Its head stuck out like a feather +brush in front and made a good screen. On either side were the boughs of +the bush, high, but not too high to get a rod over them, if I walked along +the horizontal stem of the tree. It was only a small tree, and a most +unpleasant platform. But I had caught a most appetising young frog, rather +larger than a domino, which I fastened to the hook, and after much +manoeuvring I dropped this where I knew some large chub lay. As the tree +had only been blown down a day before, I was certain that they had never +been fished for at that spot. + +[Illustration: A MONSTER CHUB. _From a drawing by Lancelot Speed._] + +I was right; hardly had the frog touched the water when I saw a monster +chub rise like a dark salamander out of the depths. Slowly he rose and +eyed the frog, moving his white lips as if the very sight imparted a gusto +to the natural excellence of young frogs. I nearly dropped from the tree +stem from sheer suspense, when he made up his mind, put on steam, and took +it! He was fast in a minute, and kindly rushed out into the river, where I +played him. Then I wound in my line and hauled him up till his head and +mouth were out of the water. As there was an impenetrable screen of bushes +between him and me I laid the rod down, trusting to the tackle, and ran +round to where close by was a farm punt, made fast. It had been used +during harvest time, and was full of what in the classics they call the +"implements of Ceres." All of these that do not seem made to cut your leg +off are designed to run into and spike you. Besides scythes and reap +hooks, there were iron rakes (sharp end upwards), wooden rakes, +pitchforks, and garden forks, and the difficulty was to move in the punt +without getting cut or spiked. The last users of the punt had also taken +peculiar care to fasten it up. It was anchored by a grapnel, and by an +iron pin on a chain, the pin eighteen inches long and driven hard into the +bank. In a desperate hurry I hauled up the grapnel, did a regular Sandow +feat in pulling up the iron peg, seized a punt pole apparently weighted +with lead, but made out of an ash sapling, and started the punt. It would +not move. I found there was another mooring, so picking my way among the +scythes, spikes, rakes, &c., I hauled this in. It was most infernally +heavy, and turned out to be a cast-iron wheel of a steam plough or other +farming implement. Then I was under weigh, and got round to the fish. It +was still there. I could see its expressionless eye (about as big as a +sixpence) out of the water and its mouth wide open, when I remembered I +had forgotten the landing-net in my hurry. Then came the period of mental +aberration common to the amateur. The fish was certainly 4 lbs. in weight, +yet I tried to get him in with my hands. Of course he gave one big flop, +slipped out, and disappeared--the biggest chub I ever shall not catch. + + + + +THE WORLD'S FIRST BUTTERFLIES + + +Thames plants must strike every one as belonging to an ancient order of +life. But the vast clouds of winged _ephemeridae_ that dance over its +waters when there is a rise of "May-fly" in early summer look to be not +only the creatures of a day, but of our day. In the astonishing wave and +rush of life seen at such times, when from every plant and pool winged +creatures are ascending to float in air, it is difficult to picture the +silence and stillness of a world where there were no birds, or hum of +bees, and no signs of the other insects which exceed the other population +of the earth by unnumbered myriads of millions; yet the insects, even the +same identical species which dance over the Thames to-day, are among the +very oldest of living things, just as its plants and its shells are. Rocks +and slate are not ideal butterfly cases; and if the fragile limbs of the +beetle and grasshopper of the successive prehistoric worlds had perished +beyond the power of identification, no one could have felt surprise. But +such has been the industry of modern naturalists--to give the widest name +to those who have devoted their time to the search for, and description +of, fossil insects--that the remains of thousands of species have been +identified, and the time of their appearance upon the earth approximately +fixed. The latest contributor to this elegant branch of the study of +fossils is Mr. Herbert Goss.[1] Perhaps the most interesting of his +conclusions is the antiquity, not only of the existing orders of insects, +but even of their particular families and genera, as compared with +vertebrate animals. It is astonishing to find not only crickets and +beetles existing at periods enormously earlier than the appearance of +birds or fish, but that they conformed in type to the families in which +they are classed to-day. Though they become fewer and fewer as they are +tracked back up the river of time, there are not found in the earliest +fossil-bearing rocks any connecting links or earlier and simpler forms of +insect life, or a clue to the common ancestor of insects, spiders, and +shrimps, which naturalists would dearly like to discover. There is a +baffling completeness about these creatures. When in the lias period, for +instance, the vertebrates were huge saurian reptiles and flying lizards, +and scarcely any of our existing classes of fish had come into existence, +the beetles, cockroaches, crickets, and white ants were there, with all +the distinguishing characteristics of the existing families as they were +settled by Linnaeus. + +The first insect known to have existed, a creature of such vast antiquity +that it deserves all the respect which the parvenu man can summon and +offer to it, was--a cockroach. This, the father of all black-beetles, +probably walked the earth in solitary magnificence when not only kitchens, +but even kitchen-middens were undreamt of, possibly millions of years +before Neolithic man had even a back cave to offer with the remains of +last night's supper for the cockroach of the period to enjoy. His +discovery established the fact that in the Silurian period there were +insects, though, as the only piece of his remains found was a wing, there +has been room for dispute as to the exact species. Mr. Goss in his preface +to the second edition of his book notes that what is probably a still +older insect has been found in the lower Silurian in Sweden. This was not +a cockroach, but apparently something worse. If the Latin name, +_Protocimex Silurius_, be literally translated, it means the original +Silurian bug. It was a fair conjecture that insects appeared about the +same time as land plants first grew on the earth. As almost all the +species either feed on some vegetable substances in growth or decay, or +else live upon other insects, some such provision of food was necessary +for them. Remains of such plants were discovered in the Silurian rocks. In +the Devonian formations, which contain the next oldest set of fossil +insects, numbers of conifers and ferns are found. Yet even then the only +vertebrate animals seem to have been fish. The insects still had the land +all to themselves. Of one of these Devonian insects the base of a wing was +the only part preserved in the rock. From this it was possible to tell the +order to which the creature belonged. It was one of the _Neuroptera_ +--insects with wings in which the veins run straight down the wing, +sometimes joined by cross branches at right angles. Some of the modern +kinds are very beautiful four-winged flies, with bright colours on their +wings like butterflies. Others are ant-lions or caddis-flies. The curve of +the fragment of wing also suggested its probable size when unbroken. It +was perhaps two inches long. As there are little horny rings round the +wing base like those which crickets have, on which they rub their legs and +so "chirp," it is also quite likely that this insect of hoary antiquity +did the same, and enlivened the silence of Devonian fern groves with a +prehistoric hum. It is quite in keeping with modern ideas that in that age +of fishes one of the most remarkable insects should have been a kind of +May-fly, "a large species of _Ephemerina_, which must have measured +five inches in expanse of wings." Thus our Thames May-flies had gigantic +prehistoric ancestors, which appeared on earth, possibly with their +present associates the caddis flies, at an enormously remote age. + +So far no butterfly had yet appeared on earth, though the +_Ephemerinae_ might dance over the still lagoons and swamps. In the +coal-forest period, and the age of trees and rank vegetation, insects of +many kinds seem to have multiplied, even though the most beautiful of all +were not yet launched in air. In England the first beetle wandered on to +the stage of life--the oldest British insect fossil known. It was +discovered in the ironstone of Coalbrookdale, and was a kind of weevil. +Another creature found in the same ironstone was a cricket. It is quite in +keeping with the forest and tree surroundings of the time that white ants +should have abounded to eat up the decayed and dead wood. Strictly +speaking, black-beetles are not beetles at all. But they are a very good +imitation. As some hundreds of families of _Paltaeoblattidae_, which +may be translated as "old original cockroaches," and _Blattidae_, or +cockroaches _pur sang_, pervaded these forests, and the doyen of all +Swiss fossil animals is one of these, the "state of the streets" in a coal +forest may be imagined when there were no bird police to keep the insects +in order. Thus the end of the Palaeozoic world--a very poor world at +best--was fairly well stocked with insects, though the moths, bees, and +butterflies had yet to come. Then came the sunrise of a new time--mammals, +any number of reptiles, possibly some birds, and an insect life more +teeming than any we now know. The "insect limestone" attests these +multitudes. Beetles, of which the scarabs were a numerous family, +increased vastly, and the oldest known dragon-fly and supposed ancestor of +those which hawk over the Oxford river, left his skeleton, or what +represents a dragon-fly's skeleton, among some two thousand other +specimens of fossil insects, in the Swiss Alps. It was then that the first +bird and the first butterfly appeared. The bird was the famous +Archaeopteryx, found in the Solenhofen slate, and the first butterfly, to +use an Irishism, was a moth, a sphinx moth, apparently about the size of +the Convolvulus sphinx moth. This stone-embedded relic of the moth that +sucked the juices of the plants of the Mesozoic world, incalculable ages +before the time even of the gigantic mammals, is preserved in the Teyler +Museum at Haarlem. When the new era of the Eocene period developed modern +forms of plants, their rapid growth was accompanied by a great increase in +the number of insects. Those which, like the moths, had only made their +first venture on earth, now appeared in greater numbers. Near Aix, in +Provence, five butterflies and two moths were found in some beds of marl +and gypsum long celebrated for their fossils, and with the fossil +butterflies were, in every case but one, fossil remains of the plants +which had served its larvae as food. Thus the May-flies and beetles are +perhaps older than the Thames shells, and older than the prehistoric +plants on which the river molluscs feed. + +[1] Secretary of the Entomological Society, and an accomplished botanist. +The work is entitled "The Geological Antiquity of Insects," and published +by Gurney and Jackson, London. + + + + +BUTTERFLY SLEEP + + +Fond as the butterflies are of the light and sun, they dearly love their +beds. Like most fashionable people who do nothing, they stay there very +late. But their unwillingness to get up in the morning is equalled by +their equal desire to leave the world and its pleasures early and be +asleep in good time. They are the first of all our creatures to seek +repose. An August day has about fifteen hours of light, and for that time +the sun shines for twelve hours at least; but the butterflies weary of sun +and flowers, colour and light, so early that by six o'clock, even on warm +days, many of them have retired for the night. I climbed Sinodun Hill, on +a cold, windy afternoon, and found that hundreds of butterflies were all +falling asleep at five o'clock. Their dormitory was in the tall, +colourless grass, with dead seed-heads, that fringes the tracks over the +hills, or the lanes that cross the hollows. Common blues were there in +numbers, and small heath butterflies almost as many. The former, each and +every one of them, arrange themselves to look like part of the seed-spike +that caps the grass-stem. Then the use and purpose of the parti-coloured +grey and yellow under-colouring of their wings is seen. The butterfly +invariably goes to sleep head downwards, its eyes looking straight down +the stem of the grass. It folds and contracts its wings to the utmost, +partly, perhaps, to wrap its body from the cold. But the effect is to +reduce its size and shape to a narrow ridge, making an acute angle with +the grass-stem, hardly distinguishable in shape and colour from the +seed-heads on thousands of other stems around.[1] The butterfly also +sleeps on the top of the stem, which increases its likeness to the natural +finial of the grass. In the morning, when the sunbeams warm them, all +these grey-pied sleepers on the grass-tops open their wings, and the +colourless bennets are starred with a thousand living flowers of purest +azure. Side by side with the "blues" sleep the common "small heaths." They +use the grass-stems for beds, but less carefully, and with no such obvious +solicitude to compose their limbs in harmony with the lines of the plant. +They also sleep with their heads downwards, but the body is allowed to +droop sideways from the stem like a leaf. This, with their light +colouring, makes them far more conspicuous than the blues. Moreover, as +grass has no leaves shaped in any way like the sleeping butterfly, the +contrast of shape attracts notice. Can it be that the blues, whose +brilliant colouring by day makes them conspicuous to every enemy, have +learnt caution, while the brown heaths, less exposed to risk, are less +careful of concealment? Be it noticed that moths and butterflies go to +sleep in different attitudes. Moths fold their wings back upon their +bodies, covering the lower wing, which is usually bright in colour, with +the upper wing. They fold their antennas back on the line of their wings. +Butterflies raise the wings above their bodies and lay them back to back, +putting their antennae between them if they move them at all. On these +same dry grasses of the hills, another of the most brilliant insects of +this country may often be seen sleeping in swarms--the carmine and green +burnet moth. But it is a sluggish creature, which often seems scarcely +awake in the day, and its surrender to the dominion of sleep excites less +surprise than the deep slumber of the active and vivacious butterflies. +The "heaths" and "blues" should perhaps be regarded as the gipsies of the +butterfly world, because they sleep in the open. They are even worse off +than the nomads, because, like that regiment sleeping in the open which +the War Office lately refused to grant field allowance to on the ground +that they were "not under canvas," they do not possess even a temporary +roof. What we may call the "garden butterflies," especially the red +admirals, often do seek a roof, going into barns, sheds, churches, +verandahs, and even houses to sleep. There, too, they sometimes wake up in +winter from their long hibernating sleep, and remind us of summer days +gone by as they flicker on the sun-warmed panes. Mrs. Brightwen +established the fact that they sometimes have fixed homes to which they +return. Two butterflies, one a brimstone, the other, so far as the writer +remembers, a red admiral, regularly came for admission to the house. One +was killed by a rain-storm when the window was shut; the other hibernated +in the house. Probably it was as a sleeping-place and bedroom that the +butterflies made it their home. There is a parallel instance, mentioned by +a Dutch naturalist quoted by Mr. Kirby, when a butterfly came night after +night to sleep on a particular spot in the roof of a verandah in the +Eastern Archipelago. In the East the sun itself is so regular and so rapid +in rising and setting that the sleeping hours of insects and birds are far +more regular than in temperate lands, with their shifting periods of light +and darkness. Our twilight, that season that the tropics know not, has +produced a curious race of moths, or rather, a curious habit confined to +certain kinds. They are the creatures neither of day nor of night, but of +twilight. They awake as twilight begins, go about their business and enjoy +a brief and crepuscular activity, and go to sleep as soon as darkness +settles on the world. At the first glimmer of the dawn they awaken again +to fly till sunrise, when they hurry off like the fairies, and sleep till +twilight falls again. + +[Illustration: BUTTERFLIES AT REST. _From photographs by R.B. Lodge._] + +At the time of writing a border of bright flowers runs in straight +perspective from the window opposite, with a rose arcade by the border, +and a yew hedge behind that. The shafts of the morning sun fly straight +down to the flowers, and every blossom of hollyhock, sunflower, campanula, +and convolvulus, and the scarlet ranks of the geraniums, are standing at +"attention" to welcome this morning inspection by the ruler and +commander-in-chief of all the world of flowers. The inspecting officers, +rather late as inspecting officers are wont to be, are overhauling and +examining the flowers. These inspectors, also roused by the sun, are the +butterflies and bees. Splendid red admirals are flying up, and alighting +on the sunflowers, or hovering over the pink masses of valerian. Peacock +butterflies, "eyed" like Emperors' robes, open and shut their wings upon +the petals; large tortoiseshells are flitting from flower to flower; +mouse-coloured humming-bird moths are poising before the red lips of the +geraniums; and a stream of common white butterflies is crossing the lawn +to the flowers at the rate of twenty a minute. They all come from the same +direction, across a cornfield and meadow, behind which lies a wood. The +bees came first, as they are fairly early risers; the butterflies later, +some of them very late, and evidently not really ready for parade, for +they are sitting on the flowers stretching, brushing themselves, and +cleaning their boots--or feet. The fact is that the butterflies, late +though it is, are only just out of bed. You might look all the evening to +find the place where these particular butterflies sleep, and not discover +it, unless some of them have taken a fancy to the verandah or the inside +of a dwelling-room in the house. But each and every one of them has been +asleep in a place it has chosen, and it is probable that some, the red +admirals, for instance, will go back to that place to sleep at evening. + +As there are hundreds of moths that fly by night and sleep by day at +seasons when there are perhaps only twenty species of butterflies flying +by day and sleeping by night, it is strange that the sleeping moths are +not more often found. Some kinds are often disturbed, and are seen. But +the great majority are sleeping on the bark of trees, in hedges, in the +crevices of pines, oaks and elms, and other rough-skinned timber, and we +see them not. Some prefer damp nights with a drizzle of rain to fly in, +not the weather which we should choose as inviting us to leave repose. Few +like moonlight nights; darkness is their idea of a "fine day" in which to +get up and enjoy life, many, like the dreams in Virgil's Hades, being all +day high among the leaves of lofty trees, whence they descend at the +summons of night, the-- + + "Filmy shapes + That haunt the dusk, with ermine capes, + And woolly breasts, and beaded eyes," + +The connection between character and bedtime which grew up from +association when human life was less complex than now has some counterpart +in the world of butterflies and insects. The industrious bees go to bed +much earlier than the roving wasps. The latter, which have been out +stealing fruit and meat, and foraging on their own individual account, +"knock in" at all hours till dark, and may sometimes be seen in a state of +disgraceful intoxication, hardly able to find the way in at their own +front door. The bees are all asleep by then in their communal dormitory. + +It would not be human if some belief had not arisen that the insects that +fly by night imitate human thieves and rob those which toil by day. There +has always been a tradition that the death's-head moth, the largest of all +our moths, does this, and that it creeps into the hives and robs the bees, +which are said to be terrified by a squeaking noise made by the gigantic +moth, which to a bee must appear as the roc did to its victims. It is said +that the bees will close up the sides of the entrance to the hive with +wax, so as to make it too small for the moth to creep in. Probably this is +a fable, due to the pirate badge which the moth bears on its head. But it +is certainly fond of sweet things, and as it is often caught in empty +sugar-barrels, it is quite possible that it does come to the hive-door at +night and alarm the inmates in its search for honey. + +[1] In the illustration it was impossible to photograph butterflies +actually sleeping. They show their attitude, but not the degree to which +the wings are flattened into a very acute angle. + + + + +CRAYFISH AND TROUT + + +About the middle of August, when walking by one of the locks on a disused +canal in the Ock Valley, I saw a man engaged in a very artistic mode of +catching crayfish. The lock was very old, and the brickwork above water +covered with pennywort and crane's-bill growing where the mortar had +rotted at the joints. In these same joints below water the crayfish had +made holes or homes of some sort, and were sitting at the doors with their +claws and feelers just outside, waiting, like Mr. Micawber, for something +to turn up. To meet their views the crayfish catcher had cut a long willow +withe. From the tapering tip of this he had cut the wood, leaving the +bark, which had been carefully slit and the woody tip extracted from it. +This pendant of bark he had made into a running noose, and leaning over +the bank he worked it over the crayfish's claws and then snared them. It +was a neat adaptation of local means to an end; for if you think of it, +string would not have answered, because it would not remain rigid, and +wire would be too stiff for the job. + +Crayfish catching, until lately one of the minor fisheries of the Thames, +is now a vanished industry. Ten years ago the banks of the river from +Staines to the upper waters at Cricklade were honeycombed with crayfish +holes, like sandmartins' nests in a railway cutting. These holes were +generally not more than eighteen inches below the normal water line of the +river. In winter when the stream was full fresh holes were dug higher up +the bank. In summer when the water fell these were deserted. The result +was that there were many times more holes than crayfish, and that for +hundreds of miles along the Thames and its tributaries these burrows made +a perforated border of about three feet deep. The almost complete +destruction of the crayfish was due to a disease, which first appeared +near Staines, and worked its way up the Thames, with as much method as +enteric fever worked its way down the Nile in the Egyptian Campaign after +Omdurman. The epidemic is well known in France, where a larger kind of +crayfish is reared artificially in ponds, and serves as the material for +_bisque d'ecrevisses_, and as the most elegant scarlet garnish for +cold and hot dishes of fish in Paris restaurants; but it was new to recent +experience of the Thames. Perhaps that is why its effects were so +disastrous. The neat little fresh-water lobsters turned almost as red as +if they had been boiled, crawled out of their holes, and died. Under some +of the most closely perforated banks they lay like a red fringe along the +riverside under the water. Near Oxford, and up the Cherwell, Windrush, and +other streams they were, before the pestilence, so numerous that making +crayfish pots was as much a local industry as making eel-pots, the smaller +withes, not much larger than a thick straw, being used for this purpose. +Most cottages near the river had one or two of these pots, which were +baited on summer nights and laid in the bottom of the stream near the +crayfish holes. It must be supposed that they only use them by day, and +come out by night, just as lobsters do, to roam about and seek food on a +larger scale than that which they seize as it floats past their holes by +day. That time of more or less enforced idleness the crayfish used to +spend in looking out of their holes with their claws hanging just over the +edge ready to seize and haul in anything nice that floated by. Their +appetite by night was such that no form of animal food came amiss to them. +The "pots" were baited with most unpleasant dainties, but nasty as these +were they were not so unsavoury as the food which the crayfish found for +themselves and thoroughly enjoyed, such as dead water-rats and dead fish, +worms, snails, and larvae. They were always hungry, and one of the +simplest ways of catching them was to push into their holes a gloved +finger, which the creature always seized with its claw and tried to drag +further in. The crayfish, who, like the lobster, looked on it as a point +of honour never to let go, was then jerked out into a basket. They rather +liked the neighbourhood of towns and villages because plenty of dirty +refuse was thrown into the water. In the canalised stream which runs into +Oxford city itself there were numbers, which not only burrowed in the +bank, but made homes in all the chinks of stone and brick river walls, and +sides of locks, and in the wood of the weiring, where they sat ensconced +as snugly as crickets round a brick farmhouse kitchen fireplace. They were +regularly caught by the families of the riverine population of boatmen, +bargees, and waterside labourers, and sold in the Oxford market. A dish of +crayfish, as scarlet as coral, was not unfrequently seen at a College +luncheon. Possibly the recovery from the epidemic may be rapid, and the +small boys of Medley and Mill Street may earn their sixpence a dozen as +delightfully as they used to. Young crayfish, when hatched from the egg, +are almost exactly like their parents. The female nurses and protects +them, carrying them attached to its underside in clinging crowds. They +grow very fast, and this makes it necessary for the youthful crayfish to +"moult" or shed their shells eight times in their first twelvemonth of +life, as the shell is rigid and does not grow with the body. The constant +secretion of the lime necessary to make these shells is so exhausting to +the youthful crayfish that only a small number ever grow up. In America, +where a large freshwater crayfish nearly a foot long is found, its +burrowing habits are a serious nuisance, especially in the dykes of the +Mississippi. In those streams from which these interesting little +creatures have entirely disappeared it might be worth while to introduce +the large Continental crayfish. As it is bred artificially, there would be +no difficulty in obtaining a supply, and it would be a useful substitute +for the small native kind. + +Sea crayfish, which grow to a very large size, are not much esteemed in +this country. They are not so well flavoured as their cousin the lobster. +But as river crayfish of a superior kind can be cultivated, and are reared +for the table abroad, it might be worth while to pay some attention to +what has been done in the United States to replenish by artificial +breeding the stock of lobsters now somewhat depleted by the great +"canning" industry. The method of obtaining the young lobsters is +different from that employed to rear trout from ova. The female lobsters +carry all their eggs fastened to hair-fringed fans or "swimmerets" under +their tails, the eggs being glued to these hairs by a kind of gum which +instantly hardens when it touches the water. For some ten months the +female lobster carries the eggs in this way, aerating them all the time +with the movement of the swimmerets. When they are caught in the +lobster-pots in the months of June and July, the eggs are taken to the +hatchery, and the ova are detached. As they are already fertilised, they +are put into hatching jars, where in due course they become young +lobsters, or rather lobster larvae, for the lobster does not start in life +quite so much developed as does the infant crayfish. It is about one-third +of an inch long, has no large claws, and swims naturally on the surface of +the water, instead of lurking at the bottom as it does when it has come to +lobster's estate. It seems to be compelled to rise to the surface, for +sunlight, or any bright illumination, always brings swarms of lobsterlings +to the top of the jars in which they are hatched. In the sea this impulse +towards the light stands them in good stead, for in the surface-waters +they find themselves surrounded by the countless atoms of animal life, or +potential life, the eggs and young of smaller sea beasts. The young +lobster is furiously hungry and voracious, because, like the young +crayfish, it has to change not only its shell but the lining of its +stomach five times in eighteen days. Unfortunately, in the hatching jars +there is no such store of natural food as in the sea. The result is that +the young lobsters have to eat each other, which they do with a cheerful +mind, if they are not at once liberated. When they have reached their +fifth month they go to the bottom and "settle down" in the literal sense +to the serious life of lobsters. + +[Illustration: A TROUT. _From a photograph by Charles Reid._] + +I believe no one ever saw trout spawning in the Thames, though there are +plenty of shallows where they might do so. Consequently the Thames trout +must be regarded as a fish which was born in the tributaries and descended +into the big river, and as the mouths of these trout-holding tributaries, +such as the Kennet at Reading, the Pang, the lower Colne, and others, +become surrounded with houses and the trout no longer haunt the +_embouchure_, so the tendency is for fewer trout to get into the +Thames. Still, places like the Windrush, the Evenlode, and the other upper +tributaries hold rather more trout than they did, as they are better +looked after; and the Fairford Colne is still a beautiful trout stream. +For some reason, however, the Thames trout do not seem fond of the upper +waters, where if found they seem to keep entirely in the highly aerated +parts by the weirs, but mainly haunt the lower ones from Windsor +downwards, and one was recently caught in the tidal waters below the +bridge. It is very difficult to see why there are so few above Oxford, or +from Abingdon to Reading. It is not because they are caught, for very few +are caught. A friend of mine who had lived on the river near Clifton +Hampden for some eight years, could only remember eight trout being caught +in that time. I thought I was going to have one once. I was fishing for +chub with a bumble bee, and a great spotted trout rose to it in a way +which made me hope I was going to have a trophy to boast of for life. But +he "rose short," and I saw him no more. I believe _all_ the brooks +which rise in the chalk hills of the Thames Valley have trout in them. One +runs under the railway line at Steventon. A resident there had quite a +number of tamed trout in the conduit which took the stream under the line, +and used to feed them with worms as a show. At the head waters of the +Lockinge brook, close to the springs, I saw the trout spawning on New +Year's Day. The big fish had wriggled up into the very shallowest water, +and were lying with their back fins and tails out, I suppose from some +instinct either that this water is the most highly aerated, or because +floods do less harm on a shallow, or for both reasons combined. At Long +Wittenham, though I never saw a trout in the river (they are, however, +taken there), Admiral Clutterbuck recently had a fine old stew pond in the +picturesque old grounds of the Manor House cleaned out, and stocked it +with rainbow trout. They did well and grew fast, and so far as I know, +none died. The water was not suited for their breeding, but the fish were +very ornamental, and rose freely to the fly. + + + + +FOUNTAINS AND SPRINGS + + +Is it true that our fountains and springs of sweet water are about to +perish? A writer in _Country Life_ says "Yes," that in parts of the +Southern counties the hidden cisterns of the springs are now sucked dry, +and that the engineers employed to bring the waters from these natural +sources to the village or the farm lament that where formerly streams +gushed out unbidden, they are now at pains to raise the needed water by +all the resources of modern machinery. When the old fountains fail new +sources are eagerly sought, and where science fails the diviner's art is +called in to aid. At the Agricultural Show the water-diviner sits +installed, surrounded by votive tablets picturing the springs discovered +by his magic art; and County Councils quarrel with the auditors of local +expenditure over sums paid for the successful employment of his mysterious +gift. + +It is not strange that the springs of England should still suggest a faint +echo of Nature-worship. If rivers have their gods, fountains and springs +have ever been held to be the home of divinities, beings who were by right +of birth gods, even though, owing to circumstances, they did not move +exactly in their circle. _Procul a Jove, procul a fulgure_ may have +been the thought ascribed by Greek fancy to the gracious beings who made +their home by the springs, for whether in ancient Greece or in our Western +island, they breathe the sense of peace, security, and quiet, and to them +all living things, animal and human, come by instinct to enjoy the sense +of refreshment and repose. A spring is always old and always new. It is +ever in movement, yet constant, seldom greater and seldom less, in the +case of most natural upspringing waters, syphoned from the deep cisterns +of earth. Absolutely material, with no mystery in its origin, it impresses +the fancy as a thing unaccountable, like the source of life embodied, +something self-engendered. It has pulses, throbbing like the ebb and flow +of blood. Its dancing bubbles, rising and bursting, image emotion. It is +the only water always clear and sparkling. Streams gather mud, springs +dispel it. They come pure from the depths, and never suffer the earth to +gather where they leap from ground. They are the brightest and the +cleanest things in Nature. From all time the polluter of a spring has been +held accursed. + +One of the sources of the Thames was a real spring, rising from the earth +in a meadow, until the level of the subterranean water was reduced. + +These suddenly uprising springs are not common in our country, and need +seeking. Our poets, who borrowed from the classics all their epithets for +natural _fountains_, wrongly applied them to our modest springs +welling gently from the bosom of the earth. The springs of old Greece and +Italy gushed spouting from the rocks or flowed like the fountains of +Tivoli in falling sheets over dripping shoots of stone. Even a Greek of +to-day never speaks of a "spring," because he seldom sees one. "Fountain" +is the word used for all waters flowing from the earth, and the difference +of words corresponds to a difference of fact. The springs of his land +_are_ fountains, waters gushing from the rock or flowing from caverns +and channels in the hills. The fountains of Greece flow down from above, +and do not bubble up from below. These are the waters that tell their +presence by sound, and have been the natural models of all the drinking +fountains ever built,--jets that, spouting in a rainbow curve, hollow out +basins below them, cut in the marble floor, cool cisterns ever running +over, at which demi-gods watered their horses, and the white feet of the +nymphs were seen dancing at sundown. + +A tributary of the Severn, near Bisley, in the Cotswolds, bursts from a +real fountain pouring from a hollow face of stone. But fountains in this +sense are rare in England, though among the Welsh hills and the Yorkshire +dales they may be seen springing full grown from the sides of the glens or +"scarrs," and cutting basins and steps in marble or slate. But in the +South the gentle springs take their place, silent, retiring, seldom found, +except by chance, or by the local tradition which always attaches to the +more important of our English natural wells. These it is the ambition of +misdirected zeal to enclose in walls of stone, and to furnish with steps +and conduits. If the old goddess Tan was once worshipped as the deity of +the spring, it has usually undergone conversion by the early monks and +changed its title to "St. Anne's Well," or been assigned to St. Catherine +or some other of the holy sisterhood of saints.[1] But there are hundreds +of tiny springs in Britain still left as Nature made them, and not yet +settled in trust on any of the modern successors to the water rights of +classic nymphs and Celtic goddesses. He who discovers for himself one of +these springs will visit it each time he passes near. Some are in the +woods, known only to the birds and beasts which live in them, and come +daily to drink the pure, untainted waters. Wood springs are among the most +beautiful of all, for they have a setting of tall timber, and their +margins are never trampled by cattle, or the natural play of their waters +disturbed to draw for the beasts of the farm. In the wood below Sinodun +Hill there rises an everlasting spring. There may be seen how great an +area of land it takes to make and keep one tiny spring. All the waters +which gather in the millions of tons of chalk on Sinodun rise and flow out +in the wood in the one pool, not larger than the circle of a wheel. It is +always full, with the water throbbing up clear from the invisible vents +below, and tiny white water-shells floating and falling in the basin, set +round with liverwort and moss, and watering a bed of teazles in the wood +below. Children drink from it, and pluck wild strawberries by its banks, +and the pheasant and the fox come there to quench their thirst. An +unexpected but not uncommon site of such springs is close to the margin of +streams, which themselves are fed, not mainly by springs, but from the +surface waters. [2] Wherever high ground slopes down to a stream, and ends +in a rising bank at some distance from the river, there a true spring +often rises, with an existence wholly apart from that of the river close +by, into which its surplus of waters flows. Such springs have their +special flora, their own "phenomena," and their own little set of effects +on their liliput landscape. In the centre the waters well up, absolutely +pure, and only discoloured when a more impatient earth-throb drives up a +column of cloudy sand or earth. The spreading circles broaden outwards, +and make their little marsh, planted with water-grass and forget-me-nots +and blue bog-bean, and in the spring with butterburs. Outside, on the +firmer but still moist soil the creeping jenny mats the ground; and the +succulent grasses which attract the cattle to tread the marsh into a muddy +paste. At the foot of the larger chalk downs the springs sometimes break +out in different fashion, a modest imitation of classical fountains. The +chalky soil breaks down, and from its sides the water often spouts in +jets, as may be seen in Betterton glen, above Lockinge House, and in many +other heads of the chalk brooks. + +Springs of this kind are the natural outflowing of the water-bearing +strata, where they lie upon others not pervious. But the upflowing springs +are often fed by the accumulations of a great area of country, coming to +the surface like water from the orifice of a syphon, and flowing +permanently neither in greater nor less volume with constant force. If +these cease to run the inference is that the old conditions are seriously +disturbed. This has happened so frequently of late that local authorities +would do well to schedule lists of the larger springs and request the +owners or occupiers of the land to inform them from time to time whether +there is a decrease in the flow. Stored water is almost as valuable as +earth in a cycle of deficient rainfall, and the loss of any of our +fountains and springs is a local misfortune not easily remedied. + +[1] "Well deckings" are still common festivals in the North. Quite lately +a Scotch loch was dragged with nets to catch a kelpie, and the bottom +sowed with lime. The Church early forbade well worship. + +[2] There is one such just above Marston Ferry, near Oxford, on the +Cherwell, and two in a field below Ardington, near Lockinge. + + + + +BIRD MIGRATION DOWN THE THAMES + + +On September 16, 1896, after a period of very stormy wet weather, I saw a +great migration of swallows down the Thames. It was a dark, dripping +evening, and the thick osier bed on Chiswick Eyot was covered with wet +leaf. Between five and six o'clock immense flights of swallows and martins +suddenly appeared above the eyot, arriving, not in hundreds, but in +thousands and tens of thousands. The air was thick with them, and their +numbers increased from minute to minute. Part drifted above, in clouds, +twisting round like soot in a smoke-wreath. Thousands kept sweeping just +over the tops of the willows, skimming so thickly that the sky-line was +almost blotted out for the height of from three to four feet. The quarter +from which these armies of swallows came was at first undiscoverable. They +might have been hatched, like gnats, from the river. + +In time I discovered whence they came. They were literally "dropping from +the sky." The flocks were travelling at a height at which they were quite +invisible in the cloudy air, and from minute to minute they kept dropping +down into sight, and so perpendicularly to the very surface of the river +or of the eyot. One of these flocks dropped from the invisible regions to +the lawn on the river bank on which I stood. Without exaggeration I may +say that I saw them fall from the sky, for I was looking upwards, and saw +them when first visible as descending specks. The plunge was perpendicular +till within ten yards of the ground. Soon the high-flying crowds of birds +drew down, and swept for a few minutes low over the willows, from end to +end of the eyot, with a sound like the rush of water in a hydraulic pipe. +Then by a common impulse the whole mass settled down from end to end of +the island, upon the osiers. Those in the centre of the eyot were black +with swallows--like the black blight on beans. + +Next morning, at 6.30 a.m., every swallow was gone. In half an hour's +watching not a bird was seen. Whether they went on during the night, or +started at dawn, I know not. Probably the latter, for Gilbert White once +found a heath covered with such a flock of migrating swallows, which did +not leave till the sun dispelled the mists. + +The migration routes of birds follow river valleys, when these are +conveniently in line with the course they wish to take. There is far more +food along a river than elsewhere, and this is a consideration, for most +birds, in spite of the wonderful stories of thousand-mile flights, prefer +to rest and feed when making long migrations, and also those short shifts +of locality which temporary hard weather causes. A friend just back from +Khartoum tells me that he saw the storks descending from vast heights to +rest at night on the Nile sandbanks, and saw their departing flight early +in the morning, these birds being in flocks of hundreds and thousands. + +By watching the river carefully for many years I have noticed that it is a +regular migration route for several species besides swallows. The first to +begin the "trek" down the river are the early broods of water-wagtails, +both yellow and pied. They turn up in small flocks so early in the summer +that one might almost doubt if they could fly well enough to take care of +themselves. On June 26th last summer nearly forty were flying about in the +evening, and went across to roost on the eyot. Later numbers of blackbirds +arrive, also moving down the river. Sand-martins, when beginning the +migration, travel down the Thames in small flocks, and sleep each night in +different osier beds. How many stages they make when "going easy" down the +river no one knows. But I have seen the flocks come along just before +dusk, straight down stream, and then dropping into an osier bed. + +In the second week of September there is usually an immense migration of +house-martins and swallows down the river. I have already described what I +once saw on a migration night on Chiswick Eyot. Sometimes they go on past +London, and find themselves near Thames mouth with no osier beds or +shelter of any kind. Then they settle on ships. I was told that one +morning the craft lying in Hole Haven off Canvey Island were covered with +swallows, all too numb to move, but that when the sun came out the greater +number flew away towards the sea. The same thing happened on the windmill +at Cley, in Norfolk, a famous starting and alighting place for birds. +Moorhens evidently migrate up or down the river in spring and autumn, and +occasionally dabchicks; otherwise their sudden appearance and +disappearance on the eyot could not be accounted for. Snipe follow the +Thames up the valley. Formerly Chiswick Eyot was their first alighting +place when east winds were blowing, after the fatigue of crossing London; +and persons still living used to go out and shoot them. A friend of mine, +whose family has resided in Chiswick for several generations, used to go +down the outside of the eyot and kill snipe, and also kill teal and duck +in the stream which runs from Chiswick House into the river. Another +friend broke a young pointer to partridges on the market garden between +Barnes Bridge and Chiswick. + +Probably a number of the warblers also use the river as a migration road, +though I only notice them in spring. But as I am never here in early +September possibly many pass without being noticed. Also they are silent +in autumn, whereas in spring they sing, a little, but enough to show that +they are there. + +Among the birds of this kind which pass up the river, but of which only a +few pairs stay to breed on the eyot, are whitethroats, blackcaps, +chiff-chaffs, and, I believe, nightingales. One beautiful early morning in +spring I could not believe my ears, but I heard a nightingale in a bush by +the side of the garden overhanging the river. It sang for about an hour, +"practising" as nightingales do. Another person in a house near also heard +it, and was equally astonished. It probably passed on, for next day it was +inaudible. + +In hard weather a migration of a different kind takes place down the river +towards the sea. These birds are recruited from the ranks of the birds +that stay, with some foreign winter visitors also. They pass down the +river feeding on the mud and among the stones at ebb tide. Among those I +have seen are flocks of starlings and scattered birds, mainly redwings, +thrushes, blackbirds, and occasionally robins. Sandpipers also migrate up +the Thames in spring, and down it in autumn. + + + + +WITTENHAM WOOD + + +In Wittenham Wood, which in our time was not spoiled, from a naturalist's +point of view, by too much trapping or shooting the enemies of game, +though there was plenty of wild game in it, the balance of nature was +quite undisturbed. Of course we never shot a hawk or an owl, and I think +the most important item of vermin killed was two cats, which were hung up +as an awful instance of what we could do if we liked. + +[Illustration: OTTERS. _From a photograph by J. S. Bond_.] + +[Illustration: WATERHEN ON HER NEST. _From a photograph by R. B. Lodge_.] + +In such large isolated woods, the wild life of the ordinary countryside +exists under conditions somewhat differing from those found even in +estates where the natural cover of woodland is broken up into copses and +plantations. Birds and beasts, and even vegetation, are found in an +intermediate stage between the wholly artificial life on cultivated land +and the natural life in true forest districts like the New Forest or +Exmoor. Most of these woods are cut bare, so far as the underwood extends, +once in every seven years. But the cutting is always limited to a seventh +of the wood. This leaves the ground covered with seven stages of growth, +the large trees remaining unfelled. With the exception of this annual +disturbance of a seventh of the area, and a few days' hunting and +shooting, limited by the difficulty of beating such extensive tracts of +cover, the wood remains undisturbed for the twelve months, and all wild +animals are naturally tempted to make it a permanent home. + +As I have said, the wood stands on the banks of the Thames, below the old +fortress of Sinodun Hill, and opposite to the junction of the River Thame. +All the British land carnivora except the martin cat and the wild cat are +found in it. The writer recently saw the skin of a cat which had reverted +to the exact size, colouring, and length of fur of the wild species, +killed in the well-known Bagley Wood, an area of similar character, but of +much greater extent, at a few miles distance in the direction of Oxford. A +polecat was domiciled in Wittenham Wood as lately as August, 1898. Though +this animal is reported to be very scarce in many counties, there is +little doubt that in such woods it is far commoner than is generally +believed. Being mainly a night-hunting animal it escapes notice. But in +the quiet of the wood it lays aside its caution, and hunts boldly in the +daytime. The cries of a young pheasant in distress, running through some +thick bramble patches and clumps of hazel, suggested that some carnivorous +animal was near, and on stepping into the thicket a large polecat was seen +galloping through the brushwood. Its great size showed that it was a male, +and the colour of its fur was to all appearance not the rich brown common +to the polecat and the polecat cross in the ferret, but a glossy black. +This, according to Mr. W.E. de Winton, perhaps the best authority on the +British _mustelidae_, is the normal tint of the male polecat's fur in +summer. "By the 1st of June," he writes, "the fur is entirely changed in +both sexes. The female, or 'Jill,' changes her entire coat directly she +has young; at the end of April or the beginning of May. The male, or +'Hob,' changes his more leisurely throughout the month of May. He is then +known locally as the black ferret, and has a beautiful purplish black +coat. As in all _mustelidae_ the male is half as big again as the +female." Stoats and weasels are of course attracted to the woods, where, +abandoning their habit of methodical hedgerow hunting, they range at +large, killing the rabbits in the open wood, and hunting them through the +different squares into which the ground is divided with as much +perseverance as a hound. They may be seen engaged in this occupation, +during which they show little or no fear of man. They will stop when +crossing a ride to pick up the scent of the hunted rabbit, and after +following it into the next square, run back to have another look at the +man they noticed as they went by, with an impudence peculiar to their +race. The foxes have selected one of the prettiest tracts of the wood for +their breeding-earth. It is dug in a gentle hollow, and at a height of +some forty feet above the Thames. From it the cubs have beaten a regular +path to the riverside, where they amuse themselves by catching frogs and +young water-voles. The parent foxes do not, as a rule, kill much game in +the wood itself, except when the cubs are young. They leave it early in +the evening and prowl round the outsides, over the hill, and round the +Celtic camp above, and beat the river-bank for a great distance up and +down stream, catching water-hens and rats. At sunrise they return to the +wood, and, as a rule, go to earth. The cubs, on the other hand, never +leave it until disturbed by the hounds cub-hunting in September. Otters, +which travel up and down the river, and occasionally lie in the osier-bed +which joins the wood, complete the list of predatory quadrupeds which +haunt it. With the exception of the first, the wild cat, and the last, the +otter, they constitute its normal population, and as long as the stock of +rabbits and hares is maintained, they may remain there as long as the wood +lasts. + +Numerically, the rabbits are more than equal to the total of other +species, whether bird or beast.[1] In dry seasons, they swarm in the +lighter tracts of the wood, and burrow in every part of it. These +wood-rabbits differ in their way of life from those in the open warren +outside. Their burrows are less intricate, and not massed together in +numbers as in the open. On the other hand, the whole rabbit population of +the one hundred acres seems to keep in touch, and occasionally moves in +large bodies from one part of the area to another. During one spring and +early summer the first broods of young rabbits burrowed tunnels under the +wire-netting which encircled the boundary for many hundred yards, and went +into a large field of barley adjoining. This they half destroyed. By the +middle of August it was found that, instead of the barley being full of +rabbits, it was deserted. They had all returned to the wood, and were in +their turn bringing up young families. One colony deserted the wood +altogether, and formed a separate warren some hundreds of yards away on a +steep hillside. On the eastern boundary the river is a complete check to +their migration. Except in the great frosts, when the Thames is frozen, no +rabbit ever troubles to cross it. Hares do so frequently when coursed, and +occasionally when under no pressure of danger. After harvest, when the +last barley-fields are cut, the wood is full of hares. They resort to it +from all quarters for shelter, and do not emerge in any number until after +the fall of the leaf. During the months of August, September, and October +these hares, which during the spring and winter lie out in the most open +parts of the hills above, lead the life of woodland animals. In place of +lying still in a form throughout the day, they move and feed. At all hours +they may be heard fidgeting about in the underwood and "creeping" in the +regularly used paths in the thick cover. When disturbed they never go at +speed, but, confident in the shelter of the wood, hop and canter in +circles, without leaving cover. In the evening they come out into the +rides, and thence travel out into the clover layers, returning, like the +foxes, early in the morning. A badger was found dead in the wood the first +year I rented it. This I much regretted, for though it had probably been +shot coming out of a cornfield next the wood, the badger is quite +harmless, and most useful to the fox hunter, for he _cleans out the +earths_. Mr. E. Dunn, late master of the Old Berkshire, tells me that +they are of great service in this way, as they _dig_ and enlarge the +earths, and so prevent the taint of mange clinging to the sides if a mangy +fox has lain in them. + +[Illustration: DABCHICK. _From a photograph by R.B. Lodge._] + +[Illustration: BADGER. _From a photograph by J.S. Bond._] + +Lying between the river and the hills, this wood holds nearly every +species of the larger woodland and riverine birds common to southern +England. The hobby breeds there yearly. The wild pheasant, crow, +sparrow-hawk, kestrel, magpie, jay, ringdove, brown owl, water-hen (on the +river-bounded side), in summer the cuckoo and turtle-dove, are all found +there, and, with the exception of the pigeons and kestrels, which seek +their food at a distance during the day, they seldom leave the shelter of +its trees. One other species frequents the more open parts of the cover in +yearly greater numbers; this is the common grey partridge. The wood has an +increasing attraction for them. They nest in it, fly to it at once for +shelter when disturbed, lie in the thick copses during the heat of the +day, and roost there at night. Several covies may be seen on the wing in a +few minutes if the stubbles outside are disturbed in the evening, flying +to the wood. There they alight, and run like pheasants, refusing to rise +if followed. It is said that in the most thickly planted parts of +Hampshire the partridge is becoming a woodland bird, like the ruffed +grouse of North America. All that it needs to learn is how to perch in a +tree, an art which the red-legged partridge possesses. The birds, unlike +the foxes, hares, and rabbits, avoid the centre of the wood. Only the owls +and wood-pigeons haunt the interior. All the other species live upon the +edge. They dislike the darkness, and draw towards the sun. The jays keep +mainly to one corner by the river. The sparrow-hawks have also their +favourite corner. The wild pheasants lead a life in curious contrast to +that of the tame birds in the preserves. Like their ancestors in China and +the Caucasus, they prefer the osier-beds and reeds by the river to the +higher and drier ground. But in common with all the other birds of the +wood, with the exception of the brown owls, they move round the wood +daily, _following the sun_. In the early morning they are on the +eastern margin to meet the sunrise. At noon they move round to the south, +and in the evening are on the stubbles to the west. Where the pheasants +are there will the other birds be found, in an unconscious search for +light. It is the shelter and safety of the big wood, and not the presence +of crowded vegetation, that attracts them. They seek the wood, not from +choice, but because it is a city of refuge. + +[1] These observations were made some years ago. I believe it has been +found necessary to kill down the rabbits since. + + + + +SPORT AT WITTENHAM + + +There is always some rivalry about shooting different woods on adjacent +properties, and the villages near always take a certain interest in the +results. Visiting our nearest riverside inn to order luncheon for our own +shoot that week, I found about a dozen labourers in the front room, with a +high settle before the fire to keep the draught out, sitting in a fine +mixed odour of burning wood, beer, and pipes. Sport was the pervading +topic, for a popular resident had been shooting his wood, and many of the +men had been beating for him, and had their usual half-crown to spend. +They were all talking over the day at the top of their voices; it had been +a very good one. The wood is quite isolated and not more than forty acres. +All round it is the property of one of the Oxford Colleges, which retains +the sporting rights over about fifteen hundred acres. This is exercised by +one of their senior fellows under some arrangement which works perfectly +well so far as I can see. I asked our keeper, who always calls him "The +Doctor," whether he was a medicine doctor or a doctor of divinity. He +inclined to think he was the latter, as he belonged to college shooting. +This way of putting it struck me as odd, but he was right. Any way, he +looked a very pleasant figure in his long shooting coat and old-fashioned +Bedford cords. There is also a college keeper, who is an institution in +the village. The day's sport in "the Captain's wood" had been a success. +Forty hares had been shot, or just one per acre, as well as a number of +rabbits and wild pheasants. The hares were being sent round the village in +very generous fashion, and a dozen lay on a bench in a back room. + +Our own day was also a satisfactory one. Rabbits were unusually numerous, +and many squares had to be beaten twice. The gross total of the two days +was only something over three hundred head; but it was all wild game, and +shot in very pretty surroundings. With the beaters were the keeper, who is +also head woodman, and two assistant woodmen. These three men cut the +whole of the hundred acres down in the course of seven years. Putting +their lives at something over three score and ten, they will, as they +began before they were twenty-one, have cut the wood down about eight +times in the course of their existence. The beaters are entirely recruited +from the staff of this very large and well-managed farm. They have beaten +the woods so often that they know exactly what to do, when properly +generalled. Our landlord was one of the guns, and his son, who does not +shoot, but knows the wood thoroughly, kindly took command of the men, and +kept things going at best pace through the day. Anything prettier than the +entrance to the wood would be hard to find. A long meadow slopes steeply +to the Thames, with an old church and the remains of a manor house at one +end and the wood at the other. Below the house is a roaring weir, and +opposite the abbey of Dorchester across the flats. Our little campaign +gave an added interest to the scene. The bulk of the men were going round +behind the hills to drive these "kopjes" into the wood. The guns and one +or two ladies, and some small boys bearing burdens were walking up the +middle ride. Below was the silver Thames in best autumn livery, for the +leaf was not yet off the willows, though the reed-beds were bright russet. +The sky was blue, the sun bright, and the sound of the weir came gaily up +through the trees. All the wood-paths were bright with moss, the air +still, and an endless shower of leaves from the oaks was falling over the +whole hundred acres. There were just enough wild pheasants in the wood to +make a variety in the rabbit-shooting. Hares were unexpectedly numerous, +and we lined up on the side of the wood furthest from the river for a hare +drive. The whole hillside is without a hedge. Watching the long slope it +is a pretty and exciting sport to see the coveys of partridges, of which +there are sometimes a number on the hill, rise, fly down and pitch again, +and then rise once more and come fifty miles an hour over your head into +the wood. + +The hares are generally very wild, getting up while the folds of the +ground are still between them and the beaters. As they seldom come +straight into the wood it is amusing to guess which particular gun they +will make for. Most of them slipped in at a safe distance, only to be +picked up in the wood later. A few birds were shot, and the cover now held +some forty partridges, though they are very wild in the low slop, and +seldom leave more than one or two stragglers behind when the wood is +beaten. The rabbit-shooting in the cover is difficult unless firing at +"creepers" from the cover in front is indulged in. The rides are often +very narrow, and the rabbits cross like lightning. Shooting "creepers" is +also highly dangerous if there are many guns, or if the men are near. They +do not seem to mind; indeed, I have known them shout out exhortations for +us to fire, when only screened by a row of thistles. One thing I have +learnt by shooting this big wood. The hares, and late in the season the +rabbits, move at least one square ahead of the beaters. If a single gun is +kept well forward, choosing his own place and taking turnabout with the +others, the bag--if it is wished to kill down the ground game--will be +considerably increased. One object when shooting this wood is to get the +ground beaten quickly; if there are twenty squares to be beaten, and five +minutes are wasted at each, it means a loss of one hour forty minutes. The +guns consequently go best pace to their places forward after each beat. +What with running at a jog-trot down the rides, shooting hard when in +place, and then getting on quickly to the next stand, often along spongy +or clayey rides on a nice, warm, moist November day, this is by no means +the armchair work which people are fond of calling wood shooting. The +variety of scenery in the wood added much to the charm. Sometimes we were +in the narrow rides covered with short turf and almost arched over by the +tall hazels; sometimes we were in low slop or walking through last year's +cuttings, shooting at impossible rabbits. There we had an occasional rise +of those most difficult of all birds to kill, partridge in cover, killing +both French and English birds; or a cock pheasant would rise and hustle +forward, an agreement having been made to leave these till properly beaten +up later in the day. Two very pretty corners were perhaps the most +enjoyable parts of the sport. By the river was a flat reed- and +rush-covered corner, with a ring of oaks round, the Thames at the bottom, +and some tall chestnut-trees on the outside. As the men advanced we had a +regular rise of wild pheasants, rocketing up from the reeds in every +direction high over the oaks and chestnuts. A fox helped the fun by +trotting up and down in the reeds uncertain which way to go, and flushing +the birds as he did so. Then the rushes were walked out and the rabbits +sent darting in every direction. After this we hardly found a bird or +rabbit in that corner during the season. + +That year the wood gave constant sport, far better than in the later +years. There were three times as many rabbits, as well as hares and +pheasants. + +One day in January we shot it during a fall of fine, dry snow. As the day +went on the ground grew white, and our coats whiter. At luncheon the men +were quite prepared for the emergency, or rather had prepared for it the +day before when the frost began. They had a bonfire of brambles a dozen +feet high, and faggots ready as seats, one set for us on one side of the +fire, another for themselves on the other. The roaring blaze of the fire +warmed us through and through, and by the end of luncheon our coats, which +had been powdered with snow, were grey with wood ash descending. During +this day a fox hung round us during the whole shoot. I think he must have +been picking up and burying or hiding wounded rabbits, for every now and +then he would come out into the ride, carefully smell the various places +where rabbits had crossed, and then, selecting one, would go off like a +retriever into the cover. + + + + +SPORT AT WITTENHAM (_continued_) + + +A month later Mr. Harcourt was shooting his woods at Nuneham. There are +more than four hundred acres of woods round this most beautiful park, all +of them giving ideal English estate scenery. The oaks of the park are like +those at Richmond, but there is not much fern except in the covers. +Nuneham is the best natural pheasant preserve in the Thames Valley, except +Wytham, Lord Abingdon's place, above Oxford. The woods lie roughly in a +ring round the park, in which the pheasants sun themselves. Outside these +woods are arable fields with quantities of feed, and all along the front +lies the river, which the pheasants do not often cross. The most striking +sport at Nuneham is the driving of the island by the lock cottage. Every +one who has been at Oxford has rowed down to have tea under the lovely +hanging woods by the old lock. Few see it later in the year when the +island opposite is covered with masses of silver-white clematis and +thousands of red berries of the wild rose and thorn. In the late autumn +mornings, when the mists are floating among the tall trees on the hill and +the sunbeams just striking down through the vapours as they top the wood +from the east, it is one of the prettiest sights on the Thames. In +November or early December, when the woods are shot, numbers of pheasants +are always found on the island. It holds a pool, in which and on the river +are usually a number of wild ducks. Shooting from the river itself is now +forbidden, and these and the half-wild duck have multiplied. The beaters, +in white smocks, all cross the old rustic bridge like a procession of +white-robed monks, and drive this island, and wild ducks and pheasants +come out high over the river, making for the top of the hill. The shooting +is fast and difficult, and the scene as the guns fire from the stations +all along the bank is most picturesque. + +Shooting with a neighbour on some land adjoining Nuneham, my attention was +drawn to the very elegant appearance of all the gates and rails adjacent +to the road. As the ground was always beautifully farmed and in good +order, the condition of the gates did not surprise me. There was, however, +a story attached to their smartness. A seller of quack medicines had sent +out advertisers with most objectionable little bills, which he had posted +on every gate adjoining the roads. My entertainer, who was the occupier of +the land, had brought an action against the medicine man for defacing his +gates, which was only compromised by the delinquent undertaking to paint +every gate. He demurred at first to painting the railings too, but in the +end had to do this also. + +The stalking-horse is still part of the sporting equipment of some old +Thames-valley farmhouses, but not in this neighbourhood. Only one wet +season fell to my lot, and then, though I often saw bodies of duck, I had +no opportunity of getting near them. A neighbour anchored a punt under a +hedge on the line which he believed the duck would take at dusk, and +killed several. Hard frosts send large bodies of duck to the river; they +come as soon as ever the large private lakes, like those at Blenheim, +Wootton, and Eynsham are frozen, and lie in small flocks all along the +river. Water-hens are so numerous on the river now, owing to their +preservation by the Conservancy, that any small covers of osier near are +full of them. They make extremely pretty old-fashioned shooting when +beaten up by a spaniel from the sedge and osier cover. I once turned out a +dozen water-hens, a brown owl, a woodcock, and a water-rail from one +little withe patch. When shooting the wood we always had one or two +water-hens in the bag, and sometimes a chance at a duck flying overhead +from the river. Only once were there many woodcocks in the cover. There +must have been at least five, and all were missed. At last, as we were +finishing the beat, one of the guns, who was young and keen, went off +after the last-missed cock along the river bank. As we were loading up the +game at the wood gate we heard a single shot. Then he appeared in the ride +with the cock. Both he and his excellent old spaniel received warm +congratulations. For my own part I was never tired of by-days in the wood +in my first season. The best sport was starting rabbits from under the +rows of fresh-felled ash and hazel poles, which the woodman called drills. +They are about five feet high and seven feet through. The rabbits get +under them in numbers, and sit there all day. We had an old retriever who +was an expert at finding them. The next process was for the gun to clamber +on to the top and stand knee-deep on the springing faggots, while a +woodman on each side poked the rabbit out with a pole. He might bolt any +way, and was under the next drill in a trice, so the shooting was quick. I +bagged twelve one afternoon in this cheerful manner. Another great +ambition of our lives was to get the better of the hill partridges. There +were plenty of them, but they always dived into the wood, and were lost +for the day. Only once did we score off them. We drove about sixty from +the hills into the wood. There they were seen running along the rides like +guinea fowls, but by placing a gun at the corner of the wood, and beating +towards him, we killed nine brace. + + + + +A FEBRUARY FOX HUNT + + +When the Yeomanry left the hunting field for South Africa, and +"registered" horses were commandeered by Government, fox hunting in +counties where it is not the main business of life might be supposed to +languish. As a matter of fact, it did not; and if the fields were smaller +than usual, and a good many familiar faces missing, the master very +properly felt that as he had his pack and there were plenty of foxes, he +might as well employ the one and hunt the other, and keep up the spirits +of the county by good, sound sport and plenty of it. Masters who take this +view, and there are very few who do not, are public benefactors and +shining examples; for it is not only the men who hunt who benefit vastly +by the change and exhilaration which hunting brings in its train. The +whole countryside enjoys a wholesome tonic by the frequent visits of the +hounds, and the well-equipped company with them. Nothing cheers up the +village, or cures the influenza, or brings oblivion of war news, or puts +every one into conceit with themselves, so quickly, or leaves such a glow +of sound satisfaction behind it. It would be odd if it did not, +considering the amount of time, money, and trouble spent before the pack +trots up to the green before the old grey church at eleven on a February +morning. Wittenham Wood lies on the very edge of the Old Berkshire +country, and as the river blocks all one side of it is naturally not one +of the favourite meets. But at the time of writing, early in February a +meet was duly advertised, and punctually to time the hounds were there. +Some people seem to think that modern fox-hunting is not so thorough as it +was in the past. We know better, and without imitating Mr. Jack Spraggon, +or reminding every one present of that "two thousand five +hundred--twenty-five 'undred--pounds a year" which Lord Scamperdale did or +did not spend on his pack, are very well aware of what our master and the +servants and the hounds had done that morning. The meet is on the edge of +his country, sixteen miles from his house, and he has ridden over all the +way, rising before the sun has got through more than the outside layer of +the mists. There is no special honour and glory awaiting him in return. +The cover to be drawn is surrounded for miles by deep and holding land now +soaked with rain. A run of any distinction is most improbable. On the +other hand, there will be plenty of hunting of a certain kind, and the +chance of seeing it, for the wood is overlooked by lofty hills. Therefore, +though the meet is small, the neighbourhood as a body expect to see plenty +of the hounds, and turn up expectant, the farmers on their cobs, the young +ladies on ponies and in dog-carts, and all the village who can be spared +for an hour on foot, while the small boys regard each other with rapturous +grins, and practise "holloaing" to improve their lung-power when the fox +breaks. When the hounds appear--they have come nearly as far from the +kennels as the master has from home--they are covered with road mud from +foot to head. The gritty splashes have changed all the white and tan to +grey, and made the black badger-pied. While some roll on the grass and +push themselves along sideways to get clean, and others attempt the +impossible task of licking the mud off their legs and feet, the older +hounds, who are less self-conscious, poke their heads into the hands and +against the chests of their ready-made friends, the village children, who +rush in while the master and the field and lookers-on are exchanging +courtesies, and embrace all the pack whom they can reach. Meantime the +"assets" for the day's sport, the material complement on which this +present assembly must rely for its day's hunting, lie in the cover and its +contents. A hundred acres of wood, in all stages of growth, from the high +thickets which the woodmen were felling yesterday, to the teazle and +stump-studded slope which they cut last year, with the deep river below +and the swelling hills above, is the cover. + +[Illustration: FOX AND CUB. _From photographs by Charles Reid_.] + +What the master would like would be that it should hold but one fox, that +that fox should get away over the hills and on to the downs beyond as +quickly as possible, and that he should never come back, but be killed +three parishes away. But no one believes in such luck; and the local +lookers-on do not in the least desire it. They want to see "a day's +hunting" in the wood, and a fox to every half-dozen hounds. As a fact +there are five foxes, not one, in the wood; and, passing from the general +to the particular, we may explain how they came there. The heavy rains of +the end of January filled all the drains, in which many foxes lie, so full +of water that they abandoned them in sheer disgust, and took to the warm +lying of the wood. Among these was a most attractive vixen, whose society +kept the rest from leaving when the weather improved; consequently, the +wood seemed full of foxes, none of which were disposed to leave it. When +the pack trotted up to the main ride, and the huntsman's ringing voice +sent them crashing into the four-years' growth by the river, a brace were +lying snug and dry in the old ash-stumps. One slipped into the river at +once and quietly swam to the opposite bank, while the other crept all +along the outside hedge and curled up in the corner waiting on events. The +vixen slipped into a badger earth under an old oak and stayed there, and a +couple more dog-foxes moved on into four acres of low slop, brambles, +shoots, and blackthorns, where they were winded by half the pack, while +the other half were running the first fox up the fence. The crash and +music of the hounds re-echoed from the trees and the enfolding hills +above, the shrieking of the jays as they flit protesting from tree to +tree, the hearty ring of the huntsman's voice cheering his hounds--surely +all this should send each fox flying out over the fields beyond! But a fox +has no nerves. He keeps his head with the coolness of a Red Indian, and a +"slimness" all his own. The first fox doubles back along his tracks, +crosses the big ride, twenty yards lower, just as that part of the pack +which is hunting him flings on up the fence, and waits again till he hears +them break out where he first stopped. From outside, where the field are +waiting on a knoll which gives a downward view into the rolling acres of +the wood, the rest of the pack are seen forcing another fox upwards +towards the hills. The sight is as pretty as our woods can show. Down +below the red coats of the master and huntsman move up the rides, and the +heads and sterns of the broad line of hounds, now all clean and bright +after brushing through the wood, rise and fall, appear and vanish, as they +leap over or thrust through the low slop and brambles. In front, where a +goyle runs up to a hollow of the hill, the ground has been cleared of +wood, and the forest of tall teazle-tops is full of goldfinches, flying +from seed-head to seed-head, too tame to mind the noise or care for +anything but their breakfast. Yet even they gather and fly before the +approaching tumult. Hares come hurrying out, and dash over the smooth +hillside; magpies rise, poise themselves, slue round, and dive backwards +into the wood; and then circumspect, lopping easily and lightly along, a +fox crosses through the teazles, and slips down to a drain in the hollow; +and see! another fox behind him, along the same path, and on the same +errand, for each trots up to a covered drain, looks at it, and finding it +stopped, pauses a second to think, and takes his resolve. One slips back +into the wood, the other canters to the fence, rising the hill, looks out, +whisks his brush and is off--across the turf, over the fifty-acre field of +growing wheat, and away to the back of the hills. Half the pack are +running the first fox, who has slipped back to the river, but with the +other half every one gets clear off, and does his best over the awful +ground. The mud explodes like shells as the hoofs crush into it, but +somehow every one is across and away, and on to the green road and a line +of sainfoin much sooner than could be expected. The fox can be seen +crossing the back of the hill, looking big and red, and full of running; +but after twenty-five minutes over all sorts of ground, from medium bad to +"downright cruel," for the soaking rains have made a very pudding even of +the pasture, the fox is run into and killed close to the Thames. No one +need be sorry for him, for he had lived by theft and violence for the past +two years, and was duly eaten himself by his natural enemies. Then back to +the wood again, where the rest of the pack had been whipped off their fox, +and were waiting dolefully to begin again, by which time the other foxes, +of which two elected to stay, had resolved that come what might, they +would stick to the wood, of which they knew every inch by heart; and by +keeping under the river bank, sneaking under layers of felled brushwood, +dodging along drains, and other devices, postponed their fate for two +hours, when one was "chopped" and one broke away and was run till dark. +This is not the kind of thing that keeps hunting alive, but it is the kind +of day which occurs in most ordinary counties in February, and at which no +one greatly grumbles. But if a slow woodland day is unattractive, the man +who hunts in a modest way from London and wishes to be sure of a run has +no lack of choice. Try, for instance, a day on the South Downs, five miles +from the sea, on the vast uplands and among the furze-covered bottoms +behind Beachy Head, when the snow-clouds are rolling in from the Channel +and dusting the summits of the downs with white. There is at least the +certainty of foxes, and of a gallop over the highest and soundest land in +the South, and even "February fill-dike" cannot make the going heavy. + + + + +EWELME--A HISTORICAL RELIC + + +At the head of one of the smaller Thames tributaries, a few miles from the +river, lies Ewelme, the ancient Aquelma, so called from the springing +waters which rise there. There are trout in the brook and excellent +water-cresses higher up, which are cultivated scientifically. Also there +was a political row in Gladstonian days over an appointment to the living. +But the real interest of this exceptionally beautiful Thames-valley +village is that it is a survival, almost unchanged, of a "model village" +made in the time of the Plantagenets. As such it deserves a place in any +history, even a "natural" history, which deals with the river. + +The village lies at the foot of the Chiltern Hills, not far from +Dorchester. The persons who made it a model village just before the Wars +of the Roses were William de la Pole, the first Duke of Suffolk, and his +Duchess, Alice, the grandchild of Geoffrey Chaucer. The Duke, as every one +knows, was for years the leading spirit in England during the early part +of the reign of Henry VI., whose marriage with Margaret of Anjou he +arranged in the hope of putting an end to the disastrous war with France. +His murder in mid-Channel--when his relentless enemies followed him out to +sea, took him from the ship in which he was going into exile, and beheaded +him on the thwarts of an open boat--was the forerunner of the most ghastly +chapters of blood and vengeance in civil feud ever known in this country. +But the grace and dignity of his home life in his palace at Ewelme, with +his Duchess to help him, are less well known, though the evidences of it +remain little altered at the present day. + +[Illustration: EWELME POOL. _From a photograph by Taunt & Co_.] + +Of course there was a village there long before the Duke of Suffolk became +possessed of it. It was such a perfect site that if any place in the +country round were inhabited, Ewelme would have been first choice. The +flow of water is one of the most striking natural features and amenities +of the place. It is a natural spring, coming out from the chalk of the +Chilterns, and forming immediately a lovely natural pool, under high, +tree-grown banks. This is still exactly as it was in the ancient days. No +water company has robbed it, and besides "The King's Pool," which is the +old name of the water, there are overflowing streams in every direction, +now used in careful irrigation for the growth of watercress, one of the +prettiest of all forms of minor farming. Fertile land, shelter from gales +by the overhanging hill, great trees, and abundance of ever-flowing water, +are the natural commodities of the place. It was of some importance very +early, for it gave its name to a Hundred. This hundred contains among +other places Chalgrove, where Hampden received his death-wound. Ewelme +belonged to the Chaucer family. The last male heir was Thomas, son of +Geoffrey Chaucer the poet, who left an only daughter Alice, destined to +become the greatest lady of her time. She married first the celebrated +Earl of Salisbury, who was killed by a cannon-shot while inspecting the +defences of Orleans during the siege which Joan of Arc raised. William de +la Pole, then Earl of Suffolk, was appointed commander of the English +forces in the Earl of Salisbury's place, and not only succeeded to his +office, but also married his Countess, who now became Countess of Suffolk. +It was long before either the Earl or his Countess could revisit Ewelme, +where the Earl must have had some property before his marriage, for his +elder brother, Earl Michael, was buried at the public expense in the +church of Ewelme after his death at Agincourt. For seventeen years the +Earl never left the war in France; but when Henry VI. was grown up he +arranged the marriage with Margaret of Anjou, and did his best to promote +peace. At this time Suffolk was the most powerful subject in the kingdom. +He was made a Marquis, and finally a Duke, and his Duchess was granted the +livery of the Garter. In 1424 they built a palace at Ewelme, and in due +course rebuilt the church, founded a "hospital for thirteen poor men and +two priests," and added to this a school. Palace, church, hospital, and +school were all of the same period of architecture, and that the very best +of its kind. Thus in the fifteenth century Ewelme was eminently a "one +man" place, like most of the model villages of to-day. The palace was +moated, and used as a prison as late as the Civil War. Margaret of Anjou +was kept there in a kind of honourable confinement for a short time, for +long after the Duke's murder the Duchess was in favour once more, in the +triumph of the Yorkists, and Margaret, who had been her Queen and +patroness, was given to her keeping as a prisoner both in her palace and +later at Wallingford Castle. Henry VIII. spent his third honeymoon there, +with Jane Seymour, and Prince Rupert lived in it during the Civil War. +Later, only the banqueting hall remained, which was converted into a manor +house. + +But if the palace is gone, the church remains as evidence of the +magnificence of the Duke's ideas on the subject of a village place of +worship. He seems to have shared the apprehension felt by the Duke in +Disraeli's novel "Tancred," that he might be accused of "under-building +his position." In design it is very like another large church at Wingfield +in Suffolk, where his hereditary possessions lay, and where he was buried +after his murder, his body having been given to his widow. The same +architect possibly supervised both, but of the two Ewelme Church is the +finer. The interior is especially splendid, for in it are the tombs of the +Chaucers, and the magnificent sepulchre of the Duchess herself, on which +her emaciated figure lies wrapped in her shroud. This tomb of the Duchess +Alice is one of the finest monuments of the kind in England. The other +relic of the prosperity of Ewelme under the De la Poles is the hospital +and school they founded. "God's House" is the name now given to it, and it +is kept in good repair and used as an almshouse. The inner court is +surrounded by cloisters, and the whole is in exactly the same condition as +when it was built. The higher parts, constructed of brick, were the +quarters of the priest and schoolmaster. The ruin and subsequent murder of +the Duke, who adorned and beautified this model village in the early +fifteenth century, took place in 1450. Nearly all France was lost, and in +the hopes of conciliating the enemy, Maine and Anjou were given up by +Suffolk's advice. He was accused of "selling" the provinces, and a number +of vague but damaging charges were drawn up against him on evidence which +would not be listened to now in any court or Parliament, except perhaps in +a French State trial. Suffolk drew up a petition to the king, which shows +among other things the drain which the French wars made on the lives and +fortunes of the English nobles. After referring to the "odious and +horrible language that runneth through the land almost in every common +mouth, sounding to my highest charge and most heaviest slander," he +reminded the King that his father had died in the siege of Harfleur, and +his eldest brother at Agincourt; that two other brothers were killed at +the battle of Jargeau, where he himself had been taken prisoner and had to +pay L20,000 ransom; that while his fourth brother was hostage for him he +died in the enemy's hands; and that he had borne arms for the King's +father and himself "thirty-four winters," and had "abided in the war in +France seventeen years without ever seeing this land." The King's favour +secured that he should be banished instead of losing his head, for a State +trial was never anything better than a judicial murder. The following is +the letter written by an eye-witness to Sir John Paston, describing what +then happened: "In the sight of all his men he was drawn out of the great +ship into the boat, and there was an axe and a stock. And one of the +lewdest men of the ship bade him lay down his head and he should be fairly +ferd (dealt) with, and die on a sword. And he took a rusty sword and smote +off his head with half-a-dozen strokes, and took away his gown of russet +and his doublet of velvet mailed, and laid his body on the sands of Dover; +and some say his head was set on a pole by it, and his men sit on the land +by great circumstance and pray." The writer says, "I have so washed this +bill with sorrowful tears that uneths ye shall not read it." The Countess +survived his fall and lived to be great and powerful once more. Her son +became the brother-in-law of sovereigns, and her grandchildren were +princes and princesses. + + + + +EEL-TRAPS + + +Fish and flour go together as bye-products of nearly all our large rivers. +The combination comes about thus: Wherever there is a water-mill, a mill +cut is made to take the water to it. The larger the river, the bigger and +deeper the mill cut and dam, unless the mill is built across an arm of the +stream itself. This mill-dam, as every trout-fisher knows, holds the +biggest fish, and where there are no trout, or few trout, it will be full +of big fish, while in the pool below there are perhaps as many more. Of +all the food fishes of our rivers the eel is really far the most +important. He flourishes everywhere, in the smallest pools and brooks as +well as in the largest rivers, and grows up to a weight of 9 lb. or 10 +lb., and sometimes, though rarely, more. His price indicates his worth, +and never falls below 10d. per lb. Consequently he is valuable as well as +plentiful, and the millers know this well. On nearly all rivers the +millers have eel-traps, some of the ancient sort being "bucks," made of +withes, and worked by expensive, old-fashioned machinery like the mill +gear. Another and most paying dodge of the machine-made order is worked in +the mill itself, and makes an annexe to the mill-wheel. + +I once spent an agreeable hour watching the making of barley meal and the +catching of eels, literally side by side. It was sufficiently good fun to +make me put my gun away for the afternoon, and give up a couple of hours' +walk, with the chance of a duck, to watch the mill and eel-traps working. + +They were both in a perfect old-world bye-end of the Thames Valley, in the +meads at the back of the forgotten but perfect abbey of the third order at +Dorchester, under the tall east window of which the River Thame was +running bank full, fringed with giant poplars, from which the rooks were +flying to look at their last year's nests in the abbey trees. + +The mill was, as might be supposed, the Abbey Mill; but on driving up the +lane I was surprised to see how good and large was the miller's house, a +fine dwelling of red and grey brick; and what a length of frontage the old +mill showed, built of wood, as most of them are, but with two sets of +stones, and space for two wheels. Only one was at work, and that was +grinding barley-meal--meal from nasty, foreign barley full of dirt; but +the miller had English barley-meal too, soft as velvet and sweet as a +new-baked loaf. Stalactites of finest meal dust hung from every nail, peg, +cobweb, and rope end on the walls, fine meal strewed the floor, coarse +meal poured from the polished shoots, to which the sacks hung by bright +steel hooks, and on both floors ancient grindstones stood like monuments +of past work and energy, while below and beside all this dust and floury +dryness roared the flooded waters of the dam and the beating floats of the +wheel. "Have you any eels?" I asked. "Come and see," said the miller. + +He stopped his wheel, unbolted the door, and we looked up the mill dam, +two hundred yards long, straight as a line, embanked by double rows of +ancient yews, the banks made and the trees planted by the monks five +hundred years ago. Then we stepped into the wheel-house, where the water, +all yellow and foaming, was pouring into two compartments set with iron +gratings below, on which it rose and foamed. Seizing a long pole with +prongs like walrus teeth, the miller felt below the water on the bars. +"Here's one, anyway," he said, and by a dexterous haul scooped up a +monster eel on to the floor. In a box which he hauled from the dam he had +more, some of 5-lb. weight, which had come down with the flood--an easy +and profitable fishery, for the eels can lie in the trap till he hauls +them out, and sell well summer and winter. It pays as well as a poultry +yard. Once he took a 9-lb. fish; 2-1/2 lb. to 4 lb. are common. + +The eel-trap on the old Thames mill stream is imitated in other places +where there is no mill. Thus at Mottisfont Abbey on the Test an old mill +stream is used to work an hydraulic ram, and also to supply eels for the +house; the water is diverted into the eel-trap, and the fish taken at any +time. Another dodge for taking eels, which is not in the nature of what is +called a "fixed engine," is the movable eel-trap or "grig wheel." It is +like a crayfish basket, and is in fact the same thing, only rather larger. +They can be obtained from that old river hand, Mr. Bambridge, at Eton, +weighted, stoppered, and ready for use, for 7s. 6d. each, and unweighted +for 5s. They are neat wicker-work tunnels, with the usual contrivance at +the mouth to make the entrance of the eels agreeable and their exit +impossible. The "sporting" side of these traps is that a good deal of +judgment is needed to set them in the right places in a river. Many people +think that eels like carrion and favour mud. Mr. Bambridge says his +experience is different, and his "advice to those about to fish" with this +kind of eel-trap is suggestive of new ideas about eels. He says that "for +bait nothing can beat about a dozen and a-half of small or medium live +gudgeon, failing these large minnows, small dace, roach, loach, &c., +though in some streams about a dozen good bright large lob worms, threaded +on a copper wire and suspended inside, are very effective, and should +always be given a trial. Offal I have tried but found useless, eels being +a cleaner feeding fish than many are aware of; and feeding principally in +gravelly, weedy parts, the basket should be well tucked up under a long +flowing weed, as it is to these places they go for food, such as the +ground fish, loach, miller's thumb, crayfish, shrimps, mussels, &c. When I +worked a fishery near here, I made it a rule after setting the basket to +well scratch the soil in front of the entrance with the boathook I used +for lowering them, and firmly believe their curiosity was excited by the +disturbed gravel. Choose water from four feet to six feet deep, and see +basket lays flat. Every morning when picked up, lay them on the bank, pick +out all weed and rubbish, and brush them over with a bass broom, keeping +them out of water till setting again at dusk." + +Eel-bucks, of which few perfect sets now remain, are the fixed engines so +often seen on the Thames, and are a costly and rather striking +contrivance, adding greatly to the picturesqueness of parts of the river. +They are very ancient, and date from days when the "eel-run" was one of +the annual events of river life. The eels went down in millions to the +sea, and the elvers came up in such tens of millions that they made a +black margin to the river on either side by the bank, where they swam +because the current was there weakest. The large eels were taken, and are +still taken, on their downward journey in autumn. It is then that the +Thames fills, and at the first big rush of water the eels begin to descend +to reach the mud and sands at the Thames mouth, where they spawn. They +always travel by night, and it is then that the heavy eel-bucks are +lowered. Often hundredweights are taken in a night, all of good size, one +of the largest of which there is any record being one of 15 lb., taken in +the Kennet near Newbury. In the "grig-wheels" they are taken as small as 3 +oz. or 4 oz.; but in the bucks they rarely weigh less than 1 lb. The +darkest nights are the most favourable. Moonlight stops them, and they do +not like still weather. The upward migration of eels goes on from February +till May on the Thames, but the regular "eel-fare" of the young grigs do +not assume any great size till May, when as many as 1,800, about three +inches long, were seen to pass a given point in one minute. So say the +records. But who could have counted them so fast? + +A few recent developments of the eel trade elsewhere show how valuable +this may be. Quite lately the Danes discovered that the Lim-fiord and some +other shallow Broads on the West Danish Coast were a huge preserve of +eels. They began trawling there steadily, and have established a large and +lucrative trade in them. On the Bann, in Ireland, eel catching is still +done in a large way, and the fish shipped to London. But the most ancient +and yet most modern of eel fisheries is on the Adriatic, at Comacchio, +where lagoons 140 miles in circumference are stocked with eels, and eel +breeding and exporting are carried out on a large scale. Even as early as +the sixteenth century the Popes used to derive an income of L12,000 from +this source. + + + + +SHEEP, PLAIN AND COLOURED + + +In the Thames Valley there are two very distinguished breeds of sheep--the +Cotswolds at the head of the watershed, and the Oxford Downs, near +Wallingford. Wallingford lamb is supposed to be the best in the market. +There are also the Berkshire Downs sheep, but these are, I think, more +obviously cross-bred, or else of the Hampshire breed. The Cotswold sheep +are probably a very old breed. They are evidently the original of the +woolly "baa-lamb" of the nursery, with long, fleecy wool. The Oxford Downs +are a short-woolled sheep. One of the flocks of this breed has been +improved by selection, mainly in regard to fecundity, to such an extent +that I believe twins are the normal proportion among the lambs. The +shepherds, as elsewhere on the large down farms, form a race apart. They +are not always on the best of terms with the ordinary farm labourers, I +notice. "The shepherd be a working against I," is a complaint I sometimes +hear. The real reason is that the shepherd thinks, above all things, of +his flock, and of finding them _food_. The feud between the keeper of +sheep and the raiser of crops dates from the days of Cain and Abel. + +I heard lately from a gentleman who very frequently occupies the +honourable position of judge or steward at the leading agricultural shows, +that it is proposed that in future no sheep sent to shows are to be +allowed to have their coats rouged, and the judges are in future to make +their decisions uninfluenced by the beauties of cosmetics. This decision +comes as a great blow to the skilled hands in the business of the +"improver," who, by long experience and a nice knowledge of the weaknesses +of judges, had brought the art of "making up" pedigree sheep of any +particular breed to something very nearly approaching the ideal of +perfection. Their wool was clipped so artistically as to resemble a bed of +moss, and this being elegantly tinted with rouge or saffron, the sheep +assumed the hue of the pink or primrose, according to taste and fancy. The +reason for the demand which now requires that the champions of the flock +shall be shown "plain" and not coloured is not too technical to appeal to +the general public. Those who know the acute anxiety with which the +exhibitors of prize animals, from fancy mice to shorthorns, watch them +"coming on" as the hour for the show approaches, will treat tenderly, even +if they cannot condone, the little weaknesses into which the uses of rouge +and saffron led them. When a Southdown which ought to have a contour +smooth and rounded as a pear still showed aggravating little pits and +hollows where there ought to be none, nothing was easier than to postpone +clipping those undesirable hollows till the moment before the show, or if +there were bumps where there should be no bumps, to shave the wool down +close over them. Left to Nature, the newly-clipped wool would show a +different tint from the rest of the fleece; but the rouge or saffron then +applied made all things even, to the eye, and the judges to find out +whether the animals were "level" or not had to feel them all over. Feeling +every six inches of some two hundred sheep's backs is very tiring work; so +the judges have struck against rouge, and there is an end of it. + +One night, some years ago, an extraordinary thing happened on both lines +of downs by the Thames, near Reading, and also along the Chilterns. Most +of the flocks over a very large area took a panic and burst from their +folds, and next morning thousands of sheep were wandering all over the +hills. I feel certain that there must have been an earthquake shock that +night. Nothing else could have accounted for such a wide and general +stampede. The last authenticated earthquake shock in the South Midlands +took place hereabouts in 1775, and was noted at Lord Macclesfield's Castle +of Shirbourne, where the water in the moat was seen to rise against the +wall of one of the towers.[1] + +Are our domestic sheep, except for their highly artificial development of +wool, really very different from their wild ancestors, the active and +flat-coated animals which still feed on the stony mountain-tops? The ways +of sheep, not only in this country but abroad, show that a part at least +of their wild nature is still strong in them; and if type photographs of +all the representative domestic animals of our time, had been possible a +few centuries ago, it may be that even in this country the shape of the +animal would be found to have been far nearer to the sheep of St. Kilda +and of the wild breeds than it is to-day. + +In one of the old Cloth Halls of Norfolk are two fine reliefs in plaster, +one showing the _Argo_, bringing the golden fleece, the other a flock +of sheep of the day, with a saint in Bishop's mitre and robes preaching to +them. The shepherd, in a smock, is spinning wool with a distaff; and the +sheep feeding around him, though carefully modelled, are quite unlike any +of the modern breeds. Many of the domestic sheep of hot countries are more +slender and less woolly than the wild sheep of the mountains. The +black-and-white Somali sheep, for instance, are as smooth as a pointer +dog. + +But it is in temperament and habits that the close connection between the +wild and tame breeds is most clearly shown. The _excessive_ +domestication of the flocks of Southern England has killed all interest in +them even among those who live in the country, and are keen and +sympathetic observers of the ways of every other creature in the fields. +The beauty of the lambs attracts attention, and the prettiness of the +scene when they and their mothers are placed in some sheltered orchard +among the wild daffodils and primroses, or in an early meadow by the +brook, makes people wonder why they are so stupid when grown up. But the +fact is that when not penned up by hurdles and moved from square to square +over a whole farm, so that each inch of food may be devoured, each member +of the flock can think for itself, and would, in less artificial +surroundings, make for itself a creditable name for independence and +intelligence. All sheep have retained this distinguishing habit of their +ancestors, that they are by nature migratory, and share with nearly all +migrant animals a capacity for thought and organisation, and a knowledge +of localities. Wild sheep are migratory because they live by preference on +the rocky and stony parts of hills just below the snow-line. This is why +the tame sheep do so well on the moors of Scotland and mountains of +Switzerland. But as the snow-line descends each winter far below their +summer feeding haunts, wild sheep either migrate to the lower slopes of +the mountains, or, like the deer of the Rockies, move off altogether to +great distances. Every winter, for instance, the lower valleys of +Yellowstone Park are filled with deer and antelope from the distant +mountains. So the tame flocks of Greece, Thrace, Spain, and even Scotland +are migratory. In Scotland their transport is modernised, and they travel +regularly by steamer from the islands to winter in the Lowlands, and by +train from the Highlands. Two years ago a flock of migratory sheep from +Ayrshire came for early spring feeding to Hyde Park, and were there shorn, +with their Highland collies looking on. In the "old countries" and the +non-progressive East of Europe the migration of the flocks is on a vaster +and far more romantic scale. In Spain there are some ten millions of +migratory sheep, which every year travel as much as two hundred miles from +the plains to the "delectable mountains," where the shepherds feed them +till the snows descend. These sheep are known as _transhumanies_ and +their march, resting places, and behaviour are regulated by ancient and +special laws and tribunals dating from the fourteenth century. At certain +times no one is allowed to travel on the same route as the sheep, which +have a right to graze on all open and common land on the way, and for +which a road ninety yards wide must be left on all enclosed and private +property. The shepherds lead the flocks, the sheep follow, and the flock +is accompanied by mules carrying provisions, and large dogs which act as +guards against the wolves. The Merino sheep travel four hundred miles to +the mountains, and the total time spent on the migration there and back is +fourteen weeks. In Thrace the migration of the flocks is to the northern +ranges of Mount Rhodope. The sheep are said to be no less alert than the +Pomak shepherds, obeying a signal to assemble at any moment given by the +shepherd's horn. The dogs are ferocious in the extreme, as the enemies of +sheep in these parts are more commonly men than wild beasts, and the +gentle shepherd, who has, since the Russo-Turkish War, exchanged his long +gun for a Winchester rifle, shoots at sight and asks no questions. + +The more nearly domestic sheep can approach the life of the primitive +stock, the more intelligent their way of life becomes. The cleverest sheep +live on the hills, and the stupidest on the plains. In Wales, for +instance, if a new tenant takes over the flock of an outgoing tenant, the +latter is by law allowed a higher price if the flock is one which knows +the boundaries and paths on the hills. On the plains of Argentina, as Mr. +Hudson tells us, the lambs are born so stupid that they will run after a +puff-ball rolling before the wind, mistaking it for their mother. + +[1] This was a tremor of the great earthquake at Lisbon. + + + + +SOME RESULTS OF WILD-BIRD PROTECTION + + +Among the happiest results of the modern feeling about birds is the +conversion of the whole of the Thames above the tideway into a "protected +area." This was not done by an order of the Secretary of State, who, by +existing law, would have had to make orders for each bit of the river in +different counties, and often, where it divides counties, would have been +obliged to deal separately with each bank. The Thames Conservancy used +their powers, and summarily put a stop to shooting on the river throughout +their whole jurisdiction. The effect of this was not seen all at once; but +little by little the waterfowl began to return, the kingfishers to +increase, and all the birds along the banks grew tamer. Then the County +Councils of Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, and Berkshire forbade the +killing of owls and kingfishers, and this practically made the river and +its banks a sanctuary. + +The water-hen are so numerous that at Nuneham Lock they run into the +cottages, and at other locks the men complain they eat all their winter +cabbages. As many as forty at a time have been counted on the meadows. Mr. +Harcourt has also established a wild-duck colony on and about the island +at Nuneham. The island has a pond in the centre, with sedges and ancient +willows and tall trees round. There the really wild ducks join the +home-bred ones in winter. Lower down, the scene on late summer days is +almost like a poultry-yard, with waterfowl and wild pigeons substituted +for ducks and chickens. Young water-hens of all sizes pipe and flutter in +the reeds, and feed on the bank within a few feet of those rowing or +fishing, and their only enemies are the cats, which, attracted by their +numbers, leave the cottages for the river and stalk them, while the old +water-hens in vain try to get their too tame young safe on to the water +again. + +Though kingfishers have increased fast they are less in evidence, being +naturally shy after years of persecution. In summer they keep mainly at +the back of the willows, away from the river, so long as the latter is +crowded with boats. + +It was not till November, 1899, that I saw the kingfishers at play, as I +had long hoped to do, in such numbers as to make a real feature on the +river. It was a brilliant, warm, sunny morning, such as sometimes comes in +early winter, and I went down before breakfast to Clifton Bridge. There +the shrill cry of the kingfishers was heard on all sides, and I counted +seven, chasing each other over the water, darting in swift flight round +and round the pool, and perching on the cam-shedding in a row to rest. +Presently two flew up and hovered together, like kestrels, over the +stream. One suddenly plunged, came up with a fish, and flying to the +other, which was still hovering, put the fish into its beak. After this +pretty gift and acceptance both flew to the willows, where, let us hope, +they shared their breakfast. + +In a row down the river extending over ten miles I saw more than twenty +kingfishers, most of them flying out, as is their custom, on the side of +the willows and osiers averse from the river, but some being quite content +to remain on their perches from which they fish, while the boat slipped +down in midstream. As they sit absolutely motionless, and the reddish +breast, and not the brilliant back, is turned to the water, it needs quick +eyes to see these watchers by the stream. + +The total prohibition of shooting on the water or banks is also producing +the usual effect on the other birds and beasts. They are rapidly becoming +tame, and the oarsman has the singular pleasure of floating down among all +kinds of birds which do not regard him as an enemy. Young swallows sit +fearlessly on the dead willow boughs to be fed by their parents; the +reed-buntings and sedge-warblers scarcely move when the oar dips near the +sedge on which they sit; wood-pigeons sit on the margin and drink where +the pebble-banks or cattle-ways touch the water; and the water-rats will +scarcely stop their business of peeling rushes to eat the pith, even if a +boatload of children passes by. + +[Illustration: NIGHTJAR AND YOUNG ONE. _From a photograph by R.B. Lodge_.] + +[Illustration: REED BUNTING. _From a photograph by R.B. Lodge_.] + +The return of the birds, and especially of wild fowl, to the London river +is the result partly of the same causes which have restored the fish to +its waters; partly, also, of measures affecting a wider area, but carried +out with far less physical difficulty. Their presence is evidence that the +tidal Thames now yields them a stock of food so abundant as to tempt birds +like the heron, the water-hen, and the kingfisher back to their old +haunts. It shows, secondly, that the by-laws for the protection of birds +passed by the counties of London, Surrey, and Middlesex, and by the Thames +Conservancy (which was the pioneer in this direction by forbidding +shooting on the river), are so far effective that the stock is rapidly +increasing; and, lastly, that the birds are preserved and left in peace to +a great extent on the London river itself. The following are the most +marked instances of this return of river fowl which have come under the +writer's notice; but in every case there have been preliminary advances on +the part of the birds, which show that what is now recorded is only one +step further in the general tendency to resume their old habits, or even +to go beyond their former limits of place and time in resorting to the +river. The herons from Richmond Park have extended their usual nightly +fishing ground, which formerly ended at Kew Bridge, four miles further +down the river, almost to Hammersmith Bridge, and in place of coming late +at night, under cover of darkness, have made a practice of flying down at +dusk, and pitching on the edge of Chiswick Eyot.[1] Their regular +appearance led to various inquiries as to the nature of the "big birds +like geese" which flew down the river and made a noise in the evening, +questions which were answered, in one case, by the appearance of one of +the birds as it swung round in the air opposite a terrace of houses, and +dropped in the stream to fish, not twenty yards from the road. As the +heron is naturally among the shyest of all waterside birds, and seeks +solitude above all things, these visits show that the quantity of fish in +the lower river must be great, and also that the London herons, now never +shot at, are losing their inbred dislike of houses and humanity. Their +footprints have been found on the mud opposite a creek in Hammersmith, +round which is one of the most crowded quarters of the poorer folk of West +London. The birds had been fishing within ten yards of the houses, which +at this point are largely inhabited by organ-grinders and vendors of +ice-creams, callings which do not promote quiet and solitude in the +immediate neighbourhood. In the evening and early morning a few wild ducks +accompany the herons as low as the reach above Hammersmith Bridge, and +single ducks have been seen even at midday flying overhead. At sunrise one +Midsummer Day I saw a sheldrake (probably an escaped bird) flying down the +river, looking very splendid in its black, white, and red plumage, in the +bright light of the morning. It haunted the reach for some days, and was +not shot. Among other visitors to this part of the river and its island +during spring were a curlew, which fed for some time on the eyot during +the early morning, and a pair of pheasants, one of which, an old-fashioned +English cock bird, was subsequently captured unhurt. A flock of sandpipers +remained there for some weeks, and during the summer numbers of +sedge-warblers have nested on and around the eyot; the cuckoo has been a +regular visitor to the osier-bed in the early morning, probably with a +view to laying its eggs in the sedge-warblers' nests. As a set-off to +these early visits of the cuckoo, a nightjar has hunted round the islet +for moths, both at dusk and during the night, when its note may often be +heard. This is a fairly long list of interesting birds revisiting a +portion of the river which the London boundary crosses. At a distance of +less than half a mile, on some ornamental water near the river, an even +more unexpected increase of the bird population has been noted. A pair of +kingfishers nested and reared their brood in an old gravel-pit, while +several nests of young dabchicks hatched by the pool.[2] There also during +the spring a pair of tufted ducks appeared, and remained for some days +before going on their journey to their breeding haunts. One lamentable +event in the bird life of the Thames deserves mention. A pair of swans +ventured to nest within a few hundred feet of the London boundary. The +hen, a very shy young bird, laid three eggs on Chiswick Eyot, and the +pair, being supplied with material, diligently built up their nest day by +day until it was above the tide level. They sat for five weeks, the cock +bird keeping anxious guard day and night, while the hen would probably +have died of starvation unless fed by kindly neighbours, for the river +affords very little food for a swan, and this required far longer time to +find than the bird was willing to spare from her nest. This was then +robbed in the night, and the cock bird maltreated in defending it. The +return of fish and fowl to the London Thames shows by the best of tests +that the efforts of the Thames Conservancy to preserve the amenities of +the river, of the Sewage Committee of the County Council to maintain its +purity, or rather to render it less impure at its mouth, and of the +adjacent County Authorities to protect bird life, are all yielding good +results, and justify the courage with which such an apparently hopeless +task was undertaken. To the Conservancy I would offer one or two +suggestions, which County Councillors might also consider. The river is +the only large _natural_ feature still left in the area of London and +Greater London. Now that it contains water in place of sewage, there is a +guarantee that its main element as a natural amenity in a great city will +be maintained, and as it becomes purer, so will the facilities which it +offers for boating, fishing, and bathing increase. But it should not be +_embanked_ beyond the present limit at Putney. Stone walls are not a +thing of beauty, and a natural river-bank is. At present, from Putney to +Richmond the greater part of the Thames flows between natural boundaries. +If these can be maintained, the growth of willows, sedge, hemlock, reeds, +water ranunculus, and many other fine and luxuriant plants affords insect +food for the fish and shelter for the birds, besides giving to the river +its natural floral border. If this is replaced by stone banks the birds +and the fish will move elsewhere. + +[1] Mr. J.E. Vincent tells me that in 1902 the herons were heard as far +down the river as Chelsea. + +[2] In the beautiful grounds of Chiswick House, where the present +occupier, Dr. T. Tuke, carefully preserves all wild birds. + + + + +OSIERS AND WATER-CRESS + + +Osiers, the shoots of which are cut yearly for making baskets, crates, +lobster-pots, and eel-traps are a form of crop of which not nearly as much +is made in the Thames Valley as their profitable return warrants. Properly +managed they nearly always pay well, and, in addition, they are very +ornamental, and for the whole of the summer, autumn, and winter are one of +the very best forms of covert for game. They are commonly seen near +rivers, especially in parts where the ground is flooded in winter. But +osiers may be grown anywhere on good ground, and are a rapid and paying +crop, giving very little trouble, though they need some attention even on +the banks of tidal rivers. It is estimated that in the whole of Great +Britain there are only between 7,000 and 8,000 acres of osier beds, but +these average three tons of rods per acre, and the value of the crop when +harvested is often at least L15 per acre gross return. As fruit +cultivation is immensely increasing in England, there is a corresponding +increase in the demand for baskets to put the fruit in. This is the main +reason why osiers, unlike most farm crops, keep up their price. Immense +quantities are now imported from Belgium, France, and Germany because our +own crop is not nearly sufficient.[1] They do not require a wet soil or to +be near water: all that the willow roots need is that the land shall be +good and not too dry or sandy. Stagnant, boggy ground does not suit them +at all, though they will grow well in light loam. Many species of osier +are of most brilliant colouring in winter and early spring. In some the +rods are golden yellow; in others the bark is almost scarlet with a bright +polish, and the osier bed forms a brilliant object from December to +February, just before the rods are cut. The kind of willow grown varies +from the slender, tough withes used in making small baskets and eel-traps, +to the large, fast-growing rods suited for making crates for heavy goods. +The planter must find out for which kind there is the readiest market in +the neighbourhood, and then get his land ready. It needs thorough clearing +and trenching to the depth of from twenty to thirty inches. The young +osiers should then be put in. These should be taken from a nursery in +which they have been "schooled" for one year, as in that case they will +produce a crop fit to cut one year earlier than if the cuttings have been +put at once in the new osier-bed. The cuttings when transferred to the bed +should be put in twelve inches apart in the rows, and these rows made at +two feet distance from each other. They will need hoeing to keep the +ground clear, which will cost Ll to L2 per acre for the first two years, +and this should be done before the middle of June. When the osiers are +well started they grow so densely that they kill out the weeds themselves. +The rate of growth even on ordinary field-land is astonishing; they will +add eighteen inches in a week. February and March are the months for +planting, and March also sees the osier harvest when the time comes to cut +them. In the fens the harvesting of the rods begins earlier, but this +depends usually on the season, the object being to cut them before the sap +begins to rise. Osiers particularly invite the attention of those who are +desirous of planting coverts for game. They are a paying crop, and a quick +crop, giving cover sooner and of better quality than almost any other form +of underwood, and are also very ornamental. It is true that they are cut +yearly, but this is not till the shooting season is over. Meantime there +is no covert which pheasants like so much as osier-beds, especially if +they are near water. + +On Chiswick Eyot, which is entirely planted with osiers, there are +standing at the time of writing six stacks of bundles set upright. Each +stack contains about fifty bundles of the finest rods, nine feet high. +Thus the eyot yields at least three hundred bundles. This osier-bed is cut +quite early in the year, usually in January, and by February all the fresh +rods are planted. Before being peeled the osiers are stood upright in +water for a month, and some begin to bud again. This is to make the sap +run up, I presume, by which means the bark comes off more readily. I +believe that the Chiswick osiers, being of the largest size, are used for +making crates, and that they are cut early because there is no need to +peel them. + +Water-cress growing is an increasing business in the Thames Valley, where +the head of every little brook or river in the chalk is used for this +purpose. This is good both for business in general and for the fish, for +water-cress causes the accumulation of a vast quantity of fish food in +various forms. + +The artificial culture of water-cress is comparatively modern, and a +remarkably pretty side-industry of the country. + +Formerly, the cress gatherer was usually a gipsy, or "vagrom man," who +wandered up to the springs and by the head waters of brooks at dawn, and +took his cresses as the mushroom-gatherer takes mushrooms--by dint of +early rising and trespass. + +[Illustration: PEELING OSIERS. _From a photograph by Taunt & Co_.] + +The places where water-cress grows naturally are usually singularly +attractive. The plant grows best where springs actually bubble from the +ground, either where the waters break out on the lower sides of the chalk +downs, or in some limestone-begotten stream where springs rise, sometimes +for a distance of one or two miles, bubbling and swelling in the very bed +of the brook. There, among dead reeds and flags, the pale green cresses +appear very early in the spring, for the water is always warmer which +rises from the bosom of the earth. Trout and wild duck haunt the same +spots, and one often sees, stuck on a board in the stream, a notice +warning off the poor water-cress gatherer, who was supposed to poach the +fish. + +The happy-go-lucky cress gathering is now a thing of the past, and there +are few rural industries more skilfully and profitably conducted. I knew a +farmer who, having lost all his capital on a large farm on the downs, took +as a last resource to growing the humble "creases" by the springs below. +He has now made money once more, and been able to take and cultivate +another farm nearly as large as that he worked before, while the area of +his water-cress beds still grows. + +Wherever a chalk stream, however small, breaks out of the hills, it is +usual to let it to a water-cress grower. He widens the channels, and year +by year every square foot of the upper waters is planted with cress. Each +year, too, new and larger beds are added below, and the cresses creep down +the stream. When they encroach on good spawning ground this is very bad +for trout; but the beds are pretty enough, forming successive flats, on +different levels, of vivid green. + +The scene on the Water-cress Farm shows the complete metamorphosis +undergone by what was once a swift running brook when once the new culture +is taken in hand. When left to Nature, the little chalk stream might truly +have said, in the words of the poem-- + + "I murmur under moon and stars + In brambly wildernesses, + I linger by my shingly bars, + I loiter round my cresses." + +Now all the brambles and shingle are gone, and the stream is condemned to +"loiter round its cresses," and to do nothing else. The water must not be +more than six inches deep, and it must not flow too fast. To secure these +conditions little dams, some made of earth and some of boards, are built +from side to side of the brook. The water thus appears to descend in a +series of steps, each communicating with the next by earthen pipes, +through which the water spouts. When a fresh bed of cresses is to be +planted, which is done usually towards the end of summer, a sluice is +opened, and only an inch or so of water left. On this cuttings from the +cress are strewn, which soon take root, and make a bed fit for gathering +by next spring. + +From February to April the cresses are at their best. Their flavour is +good, their leaves crisp, and they come at a time when no outdoor salad +can be grown. As the beds are set close to the fresh springs, they are +seldom frozen. Hence, in very hard weather all the birds flock to the +cress-beds, where they find running water and a certain quantity of food. +If the beds do freeze, the cress is destroyed, and the loss is very +serious. + +Gathering cresses is a very pleasant job in summer, but in early spring +one of the most cheerless occupations conceivable short of gathering +Iceland moss. The men wear waterproof boots, reaching up the thighs, and +thick stockings inside these. But the water is icy cold. The cress plants +are then not tall, as they are later, but short and bushy. They need +careful picking, too, in order not to injure the second crop. Then the +cold and dripping cresses have to be trimmed, tied into bundles, and +packed. When "dressed" they are laid in strong, flat hampers, called +"flats," the lids of which are squeezed down tight on to them. The edges +are then cut neatly with a sharp knife, and the baskets placed in running +water, until the carts are ready to drive them to the station. Not London +only but the great towns of the North consume the cress grown in the South +of England. A great part of that grown in the springs which break out +under the Berkshire Downs goes to Manchester. + +One basket holds about two hundred large bunches. From each of these a +dozen of the small bunches retailed at a penny each can be made; and every +square rod of the cress-bed yields two baskets at a cutting. + +In one of the East London suburbs, near to the reservoirs of a water +company, it has been found worth while to create an artificial spring, by +making an arrangement with the waterworks for a constant supply. This +flows from a stand-pipe and irrigates the cress-beds, which produce good +cresses, though not of such fine flavour as those grown in natural spring +water and upon a chalk soil. + +[1] Fishermen in the Isle of Wight send all the way to the Midlands to get +the little scarlet withes required for making lobster-pots. + + + + +FOG AND DEW PONDS + + +The cycle of dry seasons seems to be indefinitely prolonged. During the +period, now lasting since 1893, in which we have had practically no wet +summers, and many very hot ones, a very curious phenomenon has been +remarked upon the high and dry chalk downs. The dew ponds, so called +because they are believed to be fed by dew and vapours, and not by rain, +have kept their water, while the deeper ponds in the valleys have often +failed. The shepherds on the downs are careful observers of these ponds, +because if they run dry they have to take their sheep to a distance or +draw water for them from very deep wells. They maintain that there are on +the downs some dew ponds which have never been known to run dry. Others +which do run dry do so because the bottom is injured by driving sheep into +them and so perforating the bed when the water is shallow, and not from +the failure of the invisible means of supply. There seem to be two sources +whence these ponds draw water, the dew and the fogs. Summer fogs are very +common at night on the high downs, though people who go to bed and get up +at normal hours do not know of them. These fogs are so wet that a man +riding up on to the hills at 4 a.m. may find his clothes wringing wet, and +every tree dripping water, just as during the first week of last November +in London many trees distilled pools of water from the fog, as if it had +been pouring with rain. Such was the case on July 4th, 1901. The fogs will +draw up the hollows towards the ponds, and hang densely round them. Fog +and dew may or may not come together; but generally there is a heavy dew +deposit on the grass when a fog lies on the hills. After such fogs, though +rain may not have fallen for a month, and there is no water channel or +spring near the dew pond, the water in it rises prodigiously. Every +shepherd knows this, but the actual measurements of this contribution of +the vapour-laden air have not often been taken. Yet the subject is an +interesting one, and of real importance to all dwellers on high hills, +especially those which, like the South Downs, are near the sea, and +attract great masses of fog and vapour-laden cloud, but contain few +springs on the high rolls of the hills. + +The following are some notes of the rise in a dew pond caused by winter +fogs on the Berkshire Downs. They were recorded by the Rev. J.G. Cornish +at Lockinge, in Berkshire, and taken at his suggestion by a shepherd[1] in +a simple and ingenious way. Whenever he thought that a heavy dew or fog +was to be expected (and the shepherds are rarely wrong as weather +prophets) he notched a stick, and drove it into the pond overnight, so +that the notch was level with the surface. Next morning he pulled it up, +marked how high the water had risen above the notch, and nicked it again +for measurement. On January 18th, after a night of fog, the water rose +1-1/2 in.; on the next day, after another fog, 2 in.; and on January 24th, +1 in. Five nights of winter fog gave a total rise of 8 ins.--a vast weight +of water even in a pond of moderate area. Five days of heavy spring dew in +April and May, with no fog, gave a total rise in the same pond of 3-1/2 +ins., the dews, though one was very heavy, giving less water than the +fogs, one of which even in May caused the water to rise 1-1/2 ins.[2] The +shepherds say that it is always well to have one or two trees hanging over +the pond, for that these distil the water from the fog. This is certainly +the case. The drops may be heard raining on to the surface in heavy mists. +During the first October mists of 1891 the pavement under certain trees +was as wet as if it had been raining, while elsewhere the dust lay like +powder. The water was still dripping from these trees at 7 a.m. Under the +plane-trees the fallen leaves were as wet from distilled moisture as if +they had been dipped in water; yet the ground beyond the spread of the +tree was dry. The writer tried a simple experiment in this distilling +power of trees. At sundown, two vessels were placed, one under a small +cherry-tree in full leaf, the other on some stone flags. Heavy dew was +falling and condensing on all vegetation, and on some other objects, with +the curious capriciousness which the dewfall seems to show. The leaves of +some trees were already wet. In the morning the vessel under the tree, and +that in the open, both held a considerable quantity of water, that on the +stone caught from dew and condensation, that under the tree mainly from +what had dripped from the leaves, which clearly intercepted the direct +fall of dew. But the vessel under the tree held just twice as much water +as that in the open, the surplus being almost entirely derived from drops +precipitated from the leaves. Mr. Sanderson, the manager of the +elephant-catching establishment of the Indian Government, noted that in +heavy dews in the jungle the water condensed by the leaves could be heard +falling like a heavy shower of rain. + +Gilbert White, who noticed everything, and lived near a chalk hill, makes +some shrewd conjectures, both about the dew ponds and the part which trees +play in distilling water from fog, though he does not form the practical +conclusion, which we think is a safe one, that the most fog-distilling +trees should be discovered and planted to help to supply the water in +these air-tapping reservoirs. "To a thinking mind," he writes, "few +phenomena are more strange than the state of little ponds on the summits +of the chalk hills, many of which are never dry in the most trying +droughts of summer. On _chalk_ hills, I say, because in many rocky +and gravelly soils springs usually break out pretty high on the sides of +elevated grounds and mountains; but no persons acquainted with chalky +districts will allow that they ever saw springs in such a soil but in +valleys and bottoms, since the waters of so pervious a stratum as chalk +all lie on one dead level, as well-diggers have assured me again and +again. Now we have many such little round ponds in this district, and one +in particular on our sheep-down, three hundred feet above my house, and +containing perhaps not more than two or three hundred hogsheads of water; +yet it is never known to fail, though it affords drink for three or four +hundred sheep, and for at least twenty head of large cattle beside. This +pond, it is true, is overhung with two moderate beeches, that doubtless at +times afford it much supply. But then we have others as small, which, +without the aid of trees, and in spite of evaporation from sun and wind +and perpetual consumption by cattle, yet constantly contain a moderate +share of water, without overflowing in the winter, as they would do if +supplied by springs. By my Journal of May, 1775, it appears that 'the +small and even the considerable ponds in the vales are now dried up, but +the small ponds on the very tops of the hills are but little affected.' +Can this difference be accounted for by evaporation alone, which is +certainly more prevalent in the bottoms? Or, rather, have not these +elevated pools _some unnoticed recruits, which in the night time +counterbalance the waste of the day?_" These unnoticed recruits, though +it is now certain that they come in the form of those swimming vapours +from which little moisture seems to fall, are enlisted by means still not +certainly known. The common explanation was that the cool surface of the +water condensed the dew, just as the surface of a glass of iced water +condenses moisture. The ponds are always made artificially in the first +instance, and puddled with clay and chalk. + +In the notes to a recent edition of "White's Selborne," edited by +Professor L.C. Miall, F.R.S., and Mr. W. Warde Fowler, a considerable +amount of information on dew ponds is appended to the passage quoted +above, but the source of supply still remains obscure. The best dew ponds +seem to be on the Sussex Downs, where far more fog and cooling cloud +accumulates than on the more inland chalk ranges, because of the nearness +of the sea. Near Inkpen Beacon, in Hampshire, there is a dew pond at a +height of nine hundred feet, which is never dry, though it waters a large +flock of sheep.[3] Dew ponds are often found where there are no other +sources of supply, such as the wash coming from a road. Probably if the +site for one had to be selected, it should be where the mists gather most +thickly and the heaviest dews are shed, local knowledge only possessed by +a few shepherds. I have driven up _through_ rain on to the top of the +downs, and found there that no rain was falling, but mists lying in the +hollows like smoke. Mr. Clement Reid, F.R.S., has added to the "Selborne" +notes his own experiences of the best sites for dew ponds. They should, he +thinks, be sheltered on the south-west by an overhanging tree. In those he +is acquainted with the tree is often only a stunted, ivy-covered thorn or +oak, or a bush of holly, or else the southern bank is high enough to give +shadow. "When one of these ponds is examined in the middle of a hot +summer's day," he adds, "it would appear that the few inches of water in +it could only last a week. But in early morning, or towards evening, or +whenever a sea-mist drifts in, there is a continuous drip from the smooth +leaves of the overhanging tree. There appears also to be a considerable +amount of condensation on the surface of the water itself, though the +roads may be quite dry and dusty. In fact, whenever there is dew on the +grass the pond is receiving moisture." + +Though this is evidently the case, no one has explained how it comes about +that the pond surface receives so very much more moisture than the grass. +The heaviest dew or fog would not deposit an inch, or even two inches, of +water over an area of grass equal to that of the pond. None of the current +theories of dew deposits quite explain this very interesting question. Two +lines of inquiry seem to be suggested, which might be pursued side by +side. These are the quantities distilled or condensed on the ponds, and +the means by which it is done; and secondly, the kind of tree which, in +Gilbert White's phrase, forms the best "alembic" for distilling water from +fog at all times of the year. It seems certain that the tree is an +important piece of machinery in aid of such ponds, though many remain well +supplied without one. + +[1] Thomas Elliot, who for some twenty years was shepherd and general +manager for one of my father's tenants at Childrey. + +[2] Full details of the cost and method of making dew ponds, as well as +other information about them, are contained in the prize essay of the late +Rev. J. Clutterbuck, Rector of Long Wittenham, in the Journal of the Royal +Agricultural Society. Vol. I., Sec.S. Part 2. + +[3] In the Isle of Wight, on Brightstone Downs, about 400 feet above the +sea, is a dew pond with a _concrete_ bottom, which has never run dry +for thirty years. + + + + +POISONOUS PLANTS + + +A friend informs me that he has found a quantity of woad growing on the +Chilterns above the Thame, enough to stain blue a whole tribe of ancient +Britons, and also that on a wall by the roadside between Reading and +Pangbourne he discovered several plants of the deadly nightshade, or +"dwale." This word is said to be derived from Old French _deuil_, +mourning; but its present form looks very English. The only cases of plant +poisoning now common among grown-up people are those caused by mistaking +fungi for mushrooms, or by making rash experiments in cooking the former, +of which Gerard quaintly says: "Beware of licking honey among the thorns, +lest the sweetness of the one do not countervail the sharpness and +pricking of the other." But with such a list of toxic plants as our flora +can show there is always danger from certain species whose properties are +quite unknown to ordinary mortals. Are they equally unknown to the +herbalists and that mysterious trade-union of country-women and collectors +of herbs by the roadside who deal with them? Probably the trade in poisons +not used for serious purposes, but for what used in some parts of England +to be called "giving a dose," a punishment for unfaithful, unkind, or +drunken husbands, still exists as it did some forty years ago. The +collectors of medicinal plants cut from the roadside and rubbish heaps, +plants whose "operations" for good are quite well known, and have been +handed down by tradition for centuries, cannot be absolutely ignorant of +the other side of the picture, the toxic properties which other plants, or +sometimes even the same plants, contain. Foxglove, for instance, from +which _digitalis_ used as a medicine is extracted, is a good example +of these kill-or-cure plants. Every portion of the plant is poisonous, +leaves, flowers, stalks, and berries. It affects the heart, and though +useful in cases in which the pulsations are abnormal, its symptoms when +taken by persons in ordinary health are those of heart failure. Thus +foxglove is not only a dangerous but a "subtle" poison. + +Among other plants which may cause serious mischief, but are seldom +suspected, are such harmless-looking flowers as the meadowsweet, +herb-paris, the common fool's-parsley, found growing in quantities in the +gardens of unlet houses and neglected ground which has been in +cultivation, mezereon, columbine, and laburnum. Meadowsweet has the +following set against its name: "A few years since two young men went from +London to one of the Southern counties on a holiday excursion, on the last +day of which they gathered two very large sheafs of meadowsweet to bring +home with them. These they placed in their bedroom at the village inn +where they had to put up. In the course of the night they were taken +violently ill, and the doctor who was called in stated that they were +suffering from the poisonous prussic-acid fumes of the meadowsweet +flowers, which he said almost overpowered him when he came into the room. +The flowers were at once removed, and the young men, treated with suitable +restoratives, were by next morning sufficiently recovered to undertake the +journey home." [1] Without knowing what the young men had had for supper, +it seems perhaps rather hasty to blame the meadowsweet. But the other +flowers mentioned above have a bad record. To take them in order. +Herb-paris, which grows in woods and shady places, with four even-sized +leaves in a star at the top of the stem, all growing out opposite each +other, bears a large, green solitary flower, and a bluish-black berry +later. All parts of the plant are poisonous, the berries especially. +Fool's-parsley, an unpleasantly smelling, very common plant, which leaves +its odour on the hand if the seeds are squeezed or drawn through it, is +said to cause numbers of deaths by being mistaken for common parsley and +cooked. In the case of poisoning by this plant, it is recommended that +milk should be given, the body sponged with vinegar, and mustard poultices +put on the sufferer's legs. It is reckoned that one plant produced six +thousand and eighty seeds--an unpleasant degree of fecundity for a +poisonous weed. Columbine, which is a wild plant with blue or white +flowers, as well as a domesticated one, has a toxic principle like that of +the monkshood, more especially in the seeds; and the pretty red berries of +the mezereon are responsible for the deaths or illness of children nearly +every autumn. They are like cherries, and easily picked from the low +bushes on which they grow. A dozen are said to be enough to cause death, +though this must probably depend on the state of the eater's health. The +laburnum, with its golden rain, is potentially a kind of upas tree. The +writer has only known of two deaths of children caused by eating the beans +in the green pods, but it is said to be a frequent cause of death every +year on the Continent, where, possibly, children are less naturally +careful about poisonous plants than those in England, to whom risks of +this kind are usually and properly made part of the "black list" of the +nursery-book of "Don'ts." The seeds will even poison poultry, if they pick +them up after they have dropped from the pod. Laburnum is of comparatively +recent introduction into Britain, or it would probably earlier have been +accorded a place among the severely poisonous plants, dreaded by all. + +Of these the deadly nightshade and hemlock are the best known in story, +while the yew is most dangerous because far more common. In one case the +Rector of a Berkshire village was made very ill by eating honey which had +been partly gathered from yew flowers. Green hellebore and monkshood are +also classed in the list of the ranker poisons. Deadly nightshade is +rather a rare plant, yet it may be seen often enough on the sides of woods +where there are old walls. It is poisonous throughout. The flowers are +large, single, purple bells, and the berries black and shiny like a black +cherry. It is said of this dangerous plant that the roots are computed to +be five times more poisonous than the berries, that human beings have been +found more susceptible to it than animals, and carnivorous animals more so +than others. Children suffer more in proportion to the quantity of poison +taken than do adults. But cases of nightshade poisoning are very rare, +though two were reported some three years ago. Possibly the berries often +fail to ripen, and so are less attractive in appearance. The poisonous +hemlocks are two, one of which, the common hemlock, is said to have been +the plant from which the Athenians prepared their poison for executing +citizens condemned to death; and the other, the water-hemlock, or cowbane, +is particularly deadly when eaten by cattle, to which it is fatal in a +very few hours. Another plant, used for preparing poison in India, which +produces a drug used by some tribes of Thugs for procuring the death of +their victims, datura or stramonium, has now found a place amongst our +wild flowers. It has an English name, thorn-apple, and is said to have +been naturalised by the gipsies, who used the seeds as a medicine and +narcotic, and carried them about with them in their wanderings. Like +henbane, it is often seen on rubbish-heaps and in old brickfields. The +leaf is very handsome, and the flower white and trumpet-shaped. Both this +plant and the henbane retain their poisonous properties even when dried in +hay, and stalled cows have been known to be poisoned by fodder containing +a mixture of the latter plant. + +Cattle have a delicate sense of smell which warns them of the danger of +most poisonous English herbs, though apparently this warning odour is +absent from the plants which kill so many horses when the grass grows on +the South African veld, and also from our English yew. Yew was anciently +employed as a poison in Europe, much as is the curari to-day in Central +America. Dr. W.T. Fernie, the author of "Herbal Simples Approved for +Modern Use," says that its juice is a rapidly fatal poison, that it was +used for poisoning arrows, and that the symptoms correspond in a very +remarkable way with those which follow the bites of venomous snakes. It is +believed that in India there is a poison which produces the same effect. +An Indian Rajah once desired that a notice should be put in a well-known +paper that he did not intend to raise his rents on his accession to the +estates. The proprietor of the paper asked him his reasons for wishing for +such an advertisement. The Rajah said that his grandfather had raised the +rents, and had died of snake-bite; that his father had done the same, and +had also died of snake-bite; and that he concluded that there was some +connection of cause and effect. The notice was inserted, and this Rajah +did not die of snake-bite, or rather of the poison which simulates it. + +[1] "Farm and Home" Year Book for 1902. + + + + +ANCIENT THAMES MILLS + + +Almost the greatest loss to country scenery is the decay of the ancient +windmills and water-mills. The first has robbed the hilltops of a most +picturesque feature, while in the valleys and little glens the roaring, +creaking, dripping wheel sounds no longer, except in favoured spots where +it still pays to grind the corn in the old way. The old town and city +mills often survived longer than the country ones, and those on the Thames +longer than those on smaller rivers. The corn and barley which was taken +to market in the town was easily transferred to the town mill, and thence +by water to the place of consumption. Every Wykehamist remembers the +ancient and picturesque mills of Winchester, with the mill-stream bridged +by the main street. At Oxford some of the most ancient mills remain to +this day, while others have only recently been destroyed, or have +undergone a curious conversion into dwelling-houses, beneath which the +mill-stream still rushes. One of these houses stands near Folly Bridge; +another old mill has just undergone the same process, that close to +Holywell Church. Some of these mills are the most ancient surviving +institutions in Oxford, far older than the colleges--older even than any +of the churches except perhaps one. Some of these--the Castle Mill, for +instance--have ground corn for centuries since the abbeys, for whose use +they were founded, utterly disappeared. Others were standing long before +abbeys or colleges were founded, and were part of their endowments. They +are the oldest link between town life and country life left in Oxford, or +indeed in England. For a thousand years the corn grown on the hills beyond +the Thames meadows has been drawn to their doors. Saxon churls dragged +wheat there on sledges, Danes rowed up the river to Oseney and stole the +flour when they sacked the abbey, Norman bishops stole the mills +themselves. That iniquitous Roger of Salisbury was "in" this, as we might +guess. Roger, who knew that attention to detail is the soul of business, +commandeered this particular mill with others in these parts, and, when +forced to let it go, with a fine sense of humour made it over to the +Godstone nunnery as a pious donor. + +The Knights Templars had another mill at Cowley, and the king himself one +on the Cherwell, which was given to the Hospital of St. John, who +"swapped" it with Merton. Later on these mills helped King Charles's army +vastly, for all the flour needed for the Oxford garrison was ground inside +or close to the walls. + +At present the Thames is mainly visited as a source of rest and +refreshment to tens of thousands of men "in cities pent," and of pleasure +rather than profit. In a secondary degree it is useful as a commercial +highway, the barge traffic being really useful to the people on its banks, +where coal, stone for road-mending, wood, flour, and other heavy and +necessary goods are delivered on the staithes almost at their doors. But +when the old mills were first founded, and for eight centuries onwards, it +was as a source of power, a substitute for steam, that the river was +valued. The times will probably alter, and the Thames currents turn mill +wheels again to generate electric light for the towns and villages on its +banks. The chance of this coming about is enough to make any one who owns +a mill right on the water keep it, even though not useful at present. +First the old roads with auto-cars, then the old mills with hydraulic +lighting and low-power dynamos will come to the front again. Whereof take +the old story of the Oxford river as full and sufficient witness, and +Antony Wood for storyteller. "Oxford," he says, "owed its prosperity to +its rivers," of which there were apparently as many branches and streams +then as now. + +The rivers were "beneficial to the inhabitants, as anon shall be showed," +though the Cherwell was "more like a tide" than a common river sometimes, +and once nearly overflowed all the physic garden. That garden stands there +still. So does the Cherwell still behave "more like a tide than a river," +and the scene at the torpid races a few years ago is evidence that the +rivers have not diminished in volume. What, then, was the "great +commodity" given by them to the city? First and least, a water which was +good for dyeing cloth and for tanning leather; secondly, and by far the +greatest benefit, it turned the wheels of at least a dozen important +mills. As mills were always a monopoly, as much opposition was raised to +the making of a new one as would now be evoked by the proposal to +construct a new railway. + +It was meddling with vested interests of a powerful kind, but there were +so many rivers at Oxford that each turned one or two mills without +injuring any one's water rights. + +Of all these mills, the greatest advantage to the city came from the +Castle Mill. Notwithstanding its name, this was _not_ the property of +the Castle of Oxford, though it stood within arrow-shot of its towers, and +was thus protected from pillage in time of war. It stands under the +remaining tower, the water tower, of the castle still, and on exactly the +same site, and on the branch of the Thames which from the most ancient +days has been the waterway by which barges and merchandise came from the +country to the city, bringing goods from Abingdon or corn and fuel from +the upper river. And it is still called by its old name of the Weir +Stream. "There is one river called Weyre, where hath bin an Hythe, at +which place boatmen unload their vessels, which also maketh that antient +mill under the castle seldom or never to faile from going, to the great +convenience of the inhabitants." So says Antony Wood, adding that it stood +before the Norman conquest. After that it was forfeited to the Norman +kings, and then held in half shares by the burgesses of the town and the +abbots of Oseney, that once wealthy and now vanished abbey, which stood +close by where the railway station now is. They shared the fishery also, +and apparently this partnership prevented friction between the town and +the monks, as each could undersell the other, and prices for flour and +fish were kept down at a reasonable figure. + +Henry VIII. gave the abbey's share to the new bishopric of Oxford, but the +funds of the bishopric were embezzled by some means, and the town +ultimately bought the mill for L566. + +St. George's Tower, the only remaining fragment of the castle, is built of +stones and mortar, so compact that though the walls have stood since +Robert d'Oily reared it, late in the reign of the Conqueror, the stones +and mortar had to be cut out as if from a mass of rock when a water-pipe +was recently taken through the walls. It is now the water tower which +holds the supply for Oxford prison. + +Old Holywell Mill was on a branch of the Cherwell, and stood just behind +Magdalen Walks, whence a charming view was had of its wheel and lasher. It +belonged to the Abbey of Oseney, who gave it to Merton College in exchange +for value. Now it is a handsome dwelling-house, below which the mill +stream rushes. + +[Illustration: BOTLEY MILL. _From a photograph by Taunt & Co_.] + +[Illustration: EEL BUCKS. _From a photograph by Taunt & Co_.] + +Merton College seems to have had a fancy for owning mills, for it also +acquired by exchange the King's Mill. Only the house and lasher are left +to show where this old mill stood. It had a narrow but very strong mill +stream, which in winter used to come down in a sheet of solid water like +green jade, a beautiful object among the walks and willows of Mesopotamia. +It was an outpost of the King's forces when Oxford was held for the +Royalists. + +Botley Mill, though on the westernmost of the many streams into which the +Thames divides at Oxford, was outside the walls. It dates from before the +Conquest. This belonged to the Abbey of Abingdon, in the chronicles of +which are some records of an injury done to the "aqueduct, which is +vulgarly called the lake." This name is still the local term for all side +streams and artificial cuts from the Upper Thames. The men of a now +vanished village of Seckworth broke the banks of the "lake" when Odo, +Bishop of Bayeux, was being besieged in Rochester Castle. The lord of the +manor was subsequently sued for this by the abbot of Abingdon, and had to +pay ten shillings damages. Doubtless the men of Seckworth had to +contribute to pay for their indulgence in this mischief, but it looks as +if the abbot's miller had been cheating them. + + + + +THE BIRDS THAT STAY + + +In the Vision of the Lots and Lives, when the souls chose their careers on +a fresh register before taking another chance in the world above, Ulysses +chose that of a stay-at-home proprietor, with a resolve, born of +experience, never again to roam. If Plato had made a Myth of the Birds, he +might have alleged some such reason to explain how it is that while most +of them are incessant wanderers, ever flitting uncertain between momentary +points of rest, so few remain fixed and constant, as if they had sworn at +some distant date never more to make trial of the wine-dark sea. In the +still, November woods, when the vapours curl like smoke among the dripping +boughs, leaving a diamond on each sprouting bud where next year's leaf is +hid; by the moorland river, on bright December mornings, when the grayling +are lying on the shallows below the ripple where the rock breaks the +surface; by the frozen shore where the land-springs lie fast, drawn into +icicles or smeared in slippery slabs on the cliff faces, and hoar frost +powders the black sea-wrack; on the lawns of gardens, where the winter +roses linger and open dew-drenched and rain-washed in the watery +sunbeams--there we see, hear, and welcome the birds that stay. Then and +there we note their fewness, their lameness, and feel that they are really +fellow-countrymen, native to the soil. The list of these home-loving birds +is short; and those commonly seen are only a few of the total. In a winter +stroll by the upper Thames, the absence of the birds which flocked along +the banks in summer and spring, when the May was in blossom and the willow +covered with cotton fleck, is among the first seasonal changes noticed. +The chiff-chaffs, turtledoves, sedge-warblers, whitethroats, coots, +sandpipers, and all the little river birds are gone. So are the greater +number of the blackbirds, thrushes and missel-thrushes. All the fisherman +sees, his daily companions by the deserted river, are the wren creeping in +the flood-drift, the tits working over the alder bushes to see if any +seeds are left in the cones, and the kingfishers. The grayling fisherman +on the Northern streams has the water ousels for his constant and charming +companions, true to the mountain river as in the days of Merlin and +Vivien, busy as big black-and-white bees as they flit up-stream and +down-stream, flying boldly into the waterfalls, dropping silently from +mossy stones into the clear brown eddies, singing when the sunbeams shine +and warm the crag-tops, and even floating and singing on the water, like +aquatic robins. The ousels must have been the sacred birds of Tana, the +Water Goddess, the ever attached votaries of her dripping and rustic +shrines. + +By the winter shore, untrodden by any but the fisher going down at the ebb +to seek king-crab for bait, or by his children, gathering driftwood on the +stones, one little bird stays ever faithful to the same short range of +shore. This is the rock-pipit--the "sea-lark" of Browning's verse. But +that is a summer song. It is not only when the cliff-- + + "Sets his bones, + To bask i' the sun," + +but in the short winter days, that the sea-lark keeps constant to the +fringe of ocean. It is the most narrowly local and stay-at-home of all +birds, never leaving the very fringe and margin, not of sea, but of land, +haunting only the last edge and precipice of the coast, nesting on those +upright walls of granite or chalk, and creeping, flying, and twittering +among the crumbling stones, the water-worn boulders, and the tufts of +sea-pink and samphire. When the winter storms slam the roaring billows +against the cliff faces and the spray flies up a hundred feet from the +exploding mass, the little sea-larks only mount to higher levels of the +cliff, never coming inland or forsaking its salt-spattered resting-place. +Compared with these home-loving birds, all the gulls are wanderers, even +though they do not desert our shores and come fifty miles up the Thames. +Of the rock-fowl, the puffins fly straight away to the Mediterranean, and +the guillemots and razorbills go out to sea and leave their nesting crags. +Only the cormorants stay at home, flying in to roost on the same lofty +crag every autumn and winter night, from the fishing grounds which the +sea-crows have frequented for longer years even than the "many-wintered +crow" of inland rookeries has his fat and smiling fields. + +The discovery that rooks, with their reputation for staunch attachment to +locality, are regular and irrepressible migrants, crossing from Denmark +and Holland to England, and from England to Ireland, has been followed by +other curious revelations about the mobility of what were believed to be +stationary birds. Our own beloved garden robin, whom we feed till he +becomes a sturdy beggar, though he pays us with a song, stays with us, as +we know, because he applies regularly for his rations. But he sends all +his children away to seek their fortunes elsewhere, and on our coasts +flights of migrant robins, whom either their parents, or the bad weather, +have sent from Norway over the foam, arrive all through the autumn. Even +the jenny-wrens migrate to some extent. + +Because we see birds of certain kinds near our farms, gardens, and hedges +it does not follow that these are those which were there in summer and +spring. Such common finches as the greenfinches and chaffinches migrate in +immense flocks, and over vast distances, considering their short wings and +small size. In the gardens and shrubberies round the houses the parent +robins stay. So do some of the blackbirds, the thrushes (except in very +hard weather), the hedge-sparrow, the nuthatch (more in evidence in winter +than at any other time, and a firm believer in eleemosynary nuts), all the +tits, except the long-tailed tit, a little gipsy bird wandering in family +hordes, and the crested and marsh tits (dwellers in the pine forest and +sedge-beds), and the wood pigeon. Occasionally that shy bird, the +hawfinch, is seen on a wet, quiet day picking up white-beam kernels and +seeds. Except this, every one of the garden birds comes to be fed, and is +well known and appreciated. It is in the woods and the hedges of the +rain-soaked meadows that the general absence of bird life in winter is +most marked, and the presence of the few which stay most appreciated. +Those who, on sport intent, go round the hedges in November and December, +or wait in rides while the woods are driven, or lie up quietly in the big +covers for a shot at wood pigeons in the evening, are almost startled by +the tameness and indifference of the birds, eagerly feeding so as to make +the most of the short, dark days. When the hedges are beaten for rabbits +the bullfinches appear in families, their beautiful grey backs and +exquisite rosy breasts looking their very best against the dark-brown, +purply twigs. Another home-staying bird of the hedgerows, or rather of the +hedgerow timber, is the tree-creeper. It has no local habitation, being a +bird which migrates in a drifting way from tree to tree, and so bound by +no ties to mother-earth. But it is in the woods that the stay-at-home +birds are most in evidence in winter. There they find abundant food, and +there they make their home. The woodpeckers, the magpie, and the jay, the +brown owl, the sparrow-hawk, the kestrel, the pheasant, the long-tailed +tit, and all the rest of the tribe; and in the clearings where the teazle +grows, the goldfinches feed. The barn owl and brown owl both stay with us. +So does the long-eared owl. But the short-eared owl is a regular migrant, +coming over in flights like woodcock. No one has satisfactorily answered +the question why there are sedentary species and migratory species so +closely allied in habits and food that the quest for a living must be +ruled as outside the motive for migration. + +If the long-eared owl can remain and find a living all the year round in +the copses on the downs, why should not the short-eared owl make a +practice of what is its occasional custom, and nest in the fens and +marshes? If the kingfisher can find a living and abundant fish in our +rivers and brooks, why does the dabchick migrate? The migration is only a +partial one, for many remain on the Thames all the year round, especially +near the eyots by Tilehurst; but it vanishes from most of the Northern +pools and returns almost on the same date. Perhaps a conclusion might be +hazarded from the behaviour of wild migratory birds which have become +semi-domesticated. In Canada, the largest and best known of the wild geese +is the black-necked Canadian goose. It is a regular migrant. The Indians +believe it brings little birds on its back when it comes. At Holkham, +where a large flock of these is acclimatised, but lives under perfectly +wild conditions, the Canadian geese never attempt to migrate, though they +often fly out on to the sands at ebb-tide. They show less disposition to +leave the estate than the herons in the park. Yet during the winter they +feed every day with flocks of wild geese in the marshes. These geese fly +every spring away to the Lapland mountains or the tundras, and could show +the Canada geese the way northwards if they wished to follow. The +conclusion is that the Canada geese have no desire for change; and the +reason that other birds do not migrate is probably the same. + + + + +ANCIENT HEDGES + + +In the upper Thames valley, both in May and autumn, one of the prettiest +sights is the great hedges which divide the meadows. In spring, those +above Oxford look as though covered with snow, and in early October they +are loaded with hips and haws, just turned red, with blackberries, +elderberries (though the starlings have eaten most of these), with crab +apples, with hazel nuts, scarlet wild guelder-rose berries, dog-wood +berries, and sloes. Except the fields themselves, our hedges are almost +the oldest feature with which Englishmen adorned rural England. They have +gone on making them until the last parish "enclosures," some of which were +made as late as thirty years ago, and when made they have always been +regarded as property of a valuable kind. When Christ's Hospital was +founded in Ipswich in Tudor days, partly as a reformatory for bad +characters, "hedge-breakers" were more particularly specified as eligible +for temporary domicile and discipline. "Hedges even pleached" were always +a symbol of prosperity, care, and order. "Her fruit trees all unpruned, +her hedges ruined," a token that something was amiss in our country +economy. + +One untidy habit, which the writer remembers as very common, has been +discontinued in this connection. Twenty years ago the linen drying on the +hedge, which Shakespeare evidently regarded as a "common object of the +country," was constantly seen. It was always laid on well-trimmed hedges, +or otherwise it would have been torn. Now it is always hung on lines, +possibly because the hedges are not so well trimmed and kept. Bad times in +farming have greatly helped the beauty of hedges. They are mostly +overgrown, hung with masses of dog-rose, trailed over by clematis, grown +up at bottom with flowers, ferns, and fox-gloves, festooned with +belladonna, padded with bracken. The Surrey hedges are mostly on banks, a +sign that the soil is light, and that a bank is needed because the hedge +will not thicken into a barrier. But these, like most others, are set with +the charming hedgerow timber that makes half England look like a forest at +a distance of a mile or so. It is difficult to reconstruct our landscape +as it was before the hedges were made. But any one curious as to the +comparative antiquity of the fields can perhaps detect the nucleus or +centre where enclosure started. Those having the ditch on the outer side +are always the earlier, the ditch being the defence against the cattle +that strayed on the unenclosed common or grazings outside. + +The finest garden hedges in England are at Hall Barn, in Buckinghamshire. +They must be thirty feet high, are immensely thick, and are clipped so as +to present the smooth, velvety appearance peculiar to the finest yew and +box hedges. The colour and texture of these walls of ancient vegetation, +contrasting with the vivid green lawns at their feet, are astonishingly +beautiful. One of the peculiar charms of such hedges is that where yew of +a different kind or age, or a bush of box, forms part of the mass, it +shows like an inlay of a different material, and the same effect is given +merely by the trick that some yews have of growing their leaves or shoots +at a different angle from that favoured by others. These surfaces give the +variety of tint which is shown in such fabrics as "shot" or "watered" +silk. Here there is a splash of blue from the box, or of invisible dull +green, or of golden sheen, from different classes of yew. Box hedges of +great size are less common than those of yew, and less durable, for the +box is easily rent from the stem when old. But these two, the yew and the +box, are the "precious" hedges, the silver and gold, of the garden-maker. +Next, representing the copper and brass, are the hedges of beech and +holly. Both are commonly planted and carefully tended as borders and +shelters to the less important parts of gardens; as screens also to block +out the humdrum but necessary portions of the curtilage, such as the +forcing-pits for early plants, minor offices, timber yards, and the like; +and to shelter vegetable gardens (for which the Dutch use screens of dried +reeds). Holly makes the best and most impenetrable of all hedges when +clipped, but it is not beautiful for that reason. Clipped holly grows no +berries; it accumulates dust and dirt, and has a dull, lifeless look. +Beech, on the other hand, should be in greater esteem than it is. If +clipped when the sap is rising it puts on leaves which last all the +winter. From top to bottom the wall of russet shines warm and bright. Its +leaves are harmless in decay, for they contain an antiseptic oil, and no +leaves of spring are more tenderly green or in more ceaseless motion at +the lightest breeze. Privet makes the last and least esteemed of these +"one-tree" hedges. Yet it is the most tractable of all hedge material, and +was almost invariably used to form the intricate "mazes," once a favourite +toy of the layers-out of stately gardens. + +Keeping these hedges in good repair and properly clipped and trimmed is +one of the minor difficulties of the country. In large gardens there are +always one or two professional gardeners who understand the topiary art. +But it often happens that a quite modest garden possesses a splendid hedge +of yew or box, the pride of the place, which needs attention once or twice +every year. These hedges have frequently been clipped by the same man, +some old resident in the village, for thirty or forty years. Clipping that +hedge is part of his regular extra earnings to which he looks forward, and +a source of credit and renown to him in his circle. He knows every weak +place, what parts need humouring, what stems are crowding others between +the furry screen of leaves, and where the wind got in and did mischief in +the last January gale. When in the course of Nature the old hedge-trimmer +dies, there is no one to take his place. The men do not learn these +outside accomplishments as they once did, and the art is likely to be +lost, just as ornamental thatching and the making of the more decorative +kinds of oak paling are in danger of disappearing. + +Mending, or still worse remaking, field-hedges is a difficult, expensive, +and withal a very highly skilled form of labour. The workers have for +generations been very humble men, who have scarcely been honoured for +their excellent handiwork as they deserved. They appear in art only in +John Leech's pictures of hunting in Leicestershire, in his endless jokes +on "mending the gaps" towards the close of the hunting season. In February +and March the scenes shown in Leech's pictures are reproduced on most of +the Thames valley farms in Berkshire and Oxfordshire. The men wear in +front an apron of sacking, torn and plucked by thorns. The hands are +gloved in leather mits with no fingers; in them the hedger holds his +light, sharp billhook, shaped much like the knife of the forest tribes of +Southern India. When a whole fence has to be relaid the art of "hedge +carpentry" is exhibited in its perfection. Few people not brought up to +the business, which is only one minor branch of the many-sided handiness +of a good field labourer, the kind of man whom every one now wants and +whom few can find, would have the courage to attempt it. A ditch full of +brambles, often with water at the bottom, has to be cleared. Then the man +descends into the ditch, and strips the bank of brambles and briars. That +is only the preliminary. When he has piled all the brambles in heaps at +regular intervals along the brow of the ditch, he walks thoughtfully from +end to end of the fence, and considers the main problem, or lets the idea +sink into his mind, for he never talks, and probably never frames for +himself any form of words or conscious plan. In front, with the bases of +the stems bare where the bank is trimmed and slashed, stands the overgrown +hedge which he is to cut, bend over, relay, and transform, to make another +ten or twelve years of growth till it reaches the unmanageable size of +that which stands before him. Most of it is great bushes of blackthorn, +hard as oak, with thorns like two-inch nails, and sharper. These bushes, +grow up in thick rods and stocks, spiny and intractable, from the bank to +a height of perhaps twelve feet. The rest of the fence-stuff is +whitethorn, nearly as ill to deal with as the blackthorn, and perhaps a +few clumps of ash and wild rose. Slashing, hewing, tearing down, and +bending in, he works steadily down the hedge day by day. All the time he +is using his judgment at every stroke. Some he hews out at the base and +flings behind him on the field. Much he cuts off at what will be the level +of the hedge. But all the most vigorous stems of blackthorn and whitethorn +he half cuts through and then bends over, twisting the heads to the next +stocks or uprights, or, where there are no stocks, driving in stout stakes +cut from the discarded blackthorns. When finished the newly mended hedge +consists of uprights, mostly rooted in their native bank, and fascine-like +bundles--the heads of these uprights, which are bent and bound +horizontally to the other uprights or stakes. This is the universal "stake +and bond" hedge of the shires, impenetrable to cattle, unbreakable, and +imperishable, because the half-cut bonds, the stakes, and the small stuff +all shoot again, and in a few years make the famous "bullfinch" with stake +and bond below, and a tall mass of interlacing thorns and small stuff +above. + +During the last era of prosperous farming there was a mania for destroying +hedges and cutting down the timber. If ever prosperity returns it will +smile on a better-informed class of occupier and owner. It is now seen +that the hedges were of the greatest value to shelter cattle, sheep, and +horses, and benefited to some extent even the sown crops, especially at +the blossoming time. As cattle are now the farmer's main reliance, it will +be long before he grubs up or destroys the welcome shelter given by the +hedges from sun, rain, and storm. + + + + +THE ENGLISH MOCKING BIRD + + +One winter an unusual number of peewits visited the flats near Wittenham +and Burcote, and remained there for several months. One or two starlings +which haunted the house in which we stayed, and slept in their old holes +in the thatch, picked up all the various peewits' calls and notes, and +used to amuse themselves by repeating these in the apple-trees on sunny +mornings. The note was so exact a reproduction that I often looked up to +see where the plover was before I made out that it was only the starling's +mimicry. + +A correspondent of the _Newcastle Journal_, writing from Yeare, near +Wooler, in Northumberland, recently described the performances of a wild +starling which has settled near his house. It is such an excellent mimic +of other birds' notes that no one can help noticing its performances. A +record has been kept of the variety entertainments provided by the bird. +Besides its own calls, whistles, and song, it reproduces the song of the +blackbird and thrush absolutely correctly, and mimics with equal nicety +the calls of the curlew, the corncrake, and the jackdaw. + +It is appropriate that this eulogy of the starling should appear in a +Newcastle paper, for Bewick when residing there always regretted the +absence of these birds from the town, and hoped that they might in time +become numerous, as in the South and West. Starlings are such intelligent, +interesting, and really remarkable birds that if they were rare they would +be among the most prized of pets. Their open-air vocal performances are +quite as remarkable as their latest admirer says. They are the British +mocking-birds, able, when and if they choose, to reproduce almost any form +of song. They do this partly, no doubt, because their throats are +adaptable, but more from temperament and a kind of objective mind not very +common in birds. Like parrots, starlings are given to spending a good deal +of every fine morning in contemplating other people, including other +birds, and then in thinking them over, or talking them over to themselves. +Any one who is sitting or working quietly near a room where a parrot is in +its cage alone can fairly follow the train of thought in the parrot's +mind. It is evidently recalling episodes or things which form part of its +daily mental experiences. It begins by barking like the dog, then +remembers the dog's mistress, and tells it to be quiet, as she does. Then +it hears the housemaid, and imitates a window-sash being let down, or some +phrase it has picked up in the servants' quarters. If it has been lately +struck with some new animal noise or unusual sound, it will be heard +practising that. Starlings do exactly the same thing. When the sun begins +to be hot on any fine day, summer or winter, the cock bird goes up usually +alone, to a sunny branch, gable, or chimney, and there indulges in a +pleasant reverie, talking aloud all the time. Its own modes of utterance +are three. One is a melodious whistle, rather low and soft; another is a +curious chattering, into which it introduces as many "clicks" as a Zulu +talking his native language; and the third is a short snatch of song, +either its own, or one which has become a national anthem or morning hymn +common to all starlings, though it may originally have been a "selection" +from other birds' notes. Then, or amongst the rest of the ordinary notes, +the starling inserts or practises its accomplishments. Not all starlings +do this, and only a few attain great eminence in that line. Obviously it +is only personal feeling that induces them to do it, and they get no +encouragement from other starlings, though when kept in cages, as they +very seldom are now, and rewarded and taught, they might develop the most +striking talents. It should be added that, like all good bird-mimics, they +are ventriloquists. They can reproduce perfectly the sound of another +bird's note, not as that bird utters it, but as it is heard, faint and +low, softened by distance. They can also sing over bars of bird-songs in a +low tone perfectly correctly, and repeat them in a high one. + +To give a rather striking example. Last spring the writer was in the +Valley of the Eden, opposite Eden-hall. The vale is a wide one, and on the +north-east side are high fells, Cross Fell among others. On these the +curlews breed, and occasionally fly right over the valley at a great +height to the hills above Edenhall, uttering their long, musical call. +When heard, this call is generally uttered several hundred feet above the +valley. A curlew was heard flying above, and repeating its cry, but was +not discernible. Again the call was heard, but no curlew seen, though such +a large bird must have been visible. In the line of sound was a starling +sitting on a chimney-pot. Again the curlew called, the long-drawn notes +sounding from exactly the same place in the sky. It was the starling, +reproducing with perfect accuracy the call, as it was used to hear it from +the high-flying curlews crossing the valley. Apparently the tradition that +they were good talkers has died out in rural England. It was always one of +the firm beliefs of East Anglia that if a starling's tongue were slit with +a thin sixpence it would learn to talk at once, but that otherwise it +would only mimic other birds. The operation, like most other traditional +brutalities, was absolutely unnecessary. Talking starlings were common +enough, and must have been for many years previous to the time when they +were no longer valued as cage-birds. Has not Sterne in his "Sentimental +Journey" immortalised the poor bird whose one and leading sentiment, had +he been able to find words for it, was "I can't get out! I can't get +out!"? + + * * * * * + +From early spring until after midsummer the starlings have young broods in +more varied places and positions than probably any other birds in England. +They like the homes of men, and build with equal pleasure in thatched +roofs, under tiles, in the eaves and under the leads of churches (though a +recent edict by the Bench of Bishops has forbidden them the towers by +causing wire netting to be placed over the louvre boards), and also in +places the most remote from mankind. In the most solitary groves on +Beaulieu Heath, under the ledges of stark Cornish precipices, and in ruins +on islets in mountain lochs in Scotland, they tend their hungry nestlings +with the same assiduous care. The good done by the starlings throughout +the spring, summer, and autumn is incalculable. The young are fed entirely +on insect food, and as the birds always seek this as close to home as +possible, they act as police to our gardens and meadows. They do a little +mischief when nesting and in the fruit season, partly because they have +ideas. It was alleged recently that they picked off the cherry blossoms +and carried them off to decorate their nests with. Later they are among +the most inveterate robbers of cherry orchards and peckers of figs, which +they always attack on the ripest side. But they have never developed a +taste for devouring corn, like the rice-birds and starlings of the United +States. They have a good deal in common with those bright, clever, and +famous mimics, the Indian mynahs, which they much resemble physically. +This was the bird which Bontius considered "went one better" than Ovid's +famous parrot:-- + + "Psittacus, Eois quamvis tibi missus ab oris + Jussa loquar; vincit me sturnus garrulus Indis." + +The mynahs have also the starling's habit of building in houses, and +especially in temples. There is a finish about the mynah's and the +starling's mimicry which certainly beats that of the parrots. + +In their attendance on sheep and cattle the starlings have another +creditable affinity. They are very like the famous rhinoceros-birds of +Africa, to which also they are related. The rhinoceros-birds always keep +in small flocks, every member of which sits on the back of the animal, +whether antelope, buffalo, or rhinoceros, on which it is catching insects. +The starlings do not keep so closely to the animal's body, though they +frequently alight on the back of a sheep or cow and run all over it. But +when seeking insect food among cattle the little groups of starlings +generally keep in a pack and attend to a single animal. Mr. J.G. Millais, +watching deer in a park with his glasses, saw a starling remove a fly from +the corner of a deer's eye. When they have run round it, and over it, and +caught all the flies they can there, they rise with a little unanimous +exclamation, and fly on to the next beast. Their winter movements are also +interesting. By day they associate with other birds, mainly with rooks. +Gilbert White thought they did this because the rooks had extra nerves in +their beaks, and were able to act as guides to the smaller birds searching +for invisible food. Probably it is only due to the sociable instinct. +Towards night they nearly always repair in innumerable flocks to some +favourite roosting-place, either a reed-bed or a wood of evergreens, where +they assemble in thousands. One of these communal sleeping-places is the +duck island in St. James's Park. In hard weather they feed on the saltings +and round the shore, especially where rotten seaweed abounds, with great +quantities of insect life in it. At such times they roost in the crevices +of the great sea cliffs. Under Culver Cliff, for instance, they may be +seen flying along the shore and coming in to bed in the frost fog with the +cormorants and other fishers of the deep. + + + + +FLOWERS OF THE GRASS FIELDS + + +Just before hay-time, the crowning glory of the Thames-side flats is given +by the flowers growing in the grass. Their setting, among the uncounted +millions of green grass stems, appeals not only by the contrast of colour, +but by the sense of coolness and content which these sheltered and softly +bedded blossoms suggest. The meadows which they adorn are best-loved of +all the fields of England; but they would never be as dear to Englishmen +as they are were it not for the flowers which deck them. The blossoms and +plants found in the tall grasses differ from those on lawns and grazing +pastures. They are taller, more delicate, and of a more graceful growth. +The daisy, so dear to pastoral poets, is not a flower of the hayfield. The +myriads of springing stems choke the daisy flowers, which love to lie low, +on their flat and shallow-rooted stars of leaves. The daisy is a lawn +plant that loves low turf, and only in early spring on the pasture-fields +does it whiten the unmown grasses. The turf glades of the New Forest, +grazed short by cattle for eight hundred years, are very properly called +"lawns"; and on these the daisies grow in thousands, showing that they are +true lawns, and not grassfields mown yearly by the scythe. What makes a +flower of the grasses it is difficult to say. Bulbs flourish among them, +and clovers, trefoils, and vetch. White ox-eye daisies love the grass, and +many orchids, and in shady places white cow-parsley, and blue wild +geraniums, and all the buttercups. Others, like the yellow snapdragon and +the scarlet poppy, will have none of it, but love a dry and dusty fallow +or a cornfield that has run to waste, shimmering with heat and drought. Up +the valley of the Pang, you may see acres of poppies on a fallow as +scarlet as a field-marshal's coat, and not one in the meadows by the +stream. Even before the sheltering grass stems shoot upward and around +them, drawing all the flower-life skywards as trees draw other trees +upright towards the light, there are plants which are found only growing +in the meadows, springing from the turf carpet, and happy in no other +setting. Chief of these are the wild daffodils or Lent-lilies, the +ornaments of old orchards and of the green meadows of Devon and the Isle +of Wight. Why they, like the snowdrops, and in other parts of Europe the +narcissi, should choose the turf in which to flower, instead of the woods, +where grass does not grow, is one of the secrets of the flower-world. So, +too, the wild hyacinths grow not in the meadows, though the fritillaries, +the chequered red or pale "snake flowers," are grass-lovers, and grow only +in the alluvial meadows by the streams and brooks of the valleys. Early +though the fritillaries are, they are a real "grass flower," flourishing +best where there is some early succulent growth around them, for they like +the shelter so given. This they enjoy even early in the year, because +their favourite home is in meadows over which flood-waters run in winter, +and there the grass grows fast. With the cowslip comes the early common +orchis, with its red-purple flower, and later the masses of buttercups, +and the ox-eye daisies. Both these flowers are increasing in our meadows, +the former to the detriment of the grass itself, and to the loss of the +butter-makers, for the cows will not eat the buttercups' bitter stems. +Like the ox-eye daisy, the buttercup is a typical meadow flower, tall, so +that it tops the grasses and catches the sun in its petals, thin-foliaged, +for no real grass-growing flower has broad or remarkable leaves, and with +a habit of deep, underground growth far below the upper surface of the +matted grass roots. You cannot easily pull up a buttercup root, or that of +any flower of the meadows. The stems break first, for they draw their +sustenance from a deep stratum of earth. Most of the meadow flowers and +blossoms in the mowing grass belong to the beautiful, rather than to the +useful, order of plants. They are fitted to weave a garland from rather +than to distil into simples and potions. As Gerard says of the butterfly +orchis, "there is no great use of these in physicke, but they are chiefly +regarded for the pleasant and beautiful flowers wherewith Nature hath +seemed to play and disport herselfe." Herein they differ from the roadside +plants and the blossoms of waste-lands and woods, for these, especially +the former, swell the list of the medicinal plants, the garden not of +Flora, but of Aesculapius. It is these which have been gathered for +centuries by the wise men and wise women of the villages from the +Apennines to Exmoor, while, if we may infer from the story of agriculture, +the flowers of the grassfields are in a sense modern and artificial. They +owe their numbers to the discovery of the art of haymaking. Before men +learnt to cut, dry, and stack hay, which, after fermenting partly in the +stacks under pressure, becomes a manufactured food, it may be concluded +that there were no such flower-spangled fields, in this country at least, +as now form such a striking feature of rural England. Cattle and sheep +wandered all over the common pastures, and ate the grass down, or trampled +it under foot. Consequently, it never grew long, or formed the protecting +bed in which the flowers now lie, and many of the meadow plants could +seldom have flowered at all. The hungry cattle would graze down all the +soft, juicy young buds and leaves, wandering at will over the valleys, +under charge only of the herdsman. When haymaking became general the +cattle were confined in spring and early summer, and the fields of "mowing +grass" appeared, and nourished year by year the plants peculiar to this +form of cultivation. The proof that this is so may be seen in the New +Forest. There the private fields, carefully protected during the spring, +from the tread or bite of cattle, and mown yearly in the summer, have all +the wealth of flowers peculiar to our hay-meadows. Outside, in the forest +itself, these flowers hardly exist, except by some pool-side, or on the +meadow-like border of a bog. They are only natural in the second sense, +because our mowing grass is a natural product of enclosed ground, when +cattle are excluded. Some flowers just invade the meadows, venturing out a +few yards from the hedges or woods, but never spreading broadcast over the +sun-warmed central acres. Such are the blue bird's-eye, which just colours +the mowing grass in shady spots and patches near the fence, and +occasionally the bee-orchis and the butterfly-orchis. The latter does not +grow tall in the meadows as it does in the woods, but affects a humbler +growth. Blue wild geraniums also flourish in patches in the meadows, and +sometimes cranesbill and campion. But campions do not seed well among the +thick grasses and seldom hold their own, as they do where a copse has been +cut down, or on a hedgeside. And, though it is not a flower, there is the +"quaking grass" beloved of children, though useless as cattle food, and a +sign of bad pasturage, but the only grass which cottage people gather to +keep, as a memento of the hayfields. + +[Illustration: ORCHIS. _From photographs by E. Seeley_.] + +Flowering plants form a large part of the actual herbage from which the +hay is made. The bottom of a good crop of mowing grass springs from a +tangle of clover and leguminous plants, all owning blossoms, and many of +them of brilliant hues and exquisite perfume. Chief among these is the red +meadow-clover, the pride of the hayfields. Few plants can match its +perfume, or the cool freshness of its leaves. With this is mixed the +little hop-clover, and the sucklings, and other tiny gold-dust blossoms. +Meadow vetchling, and the tall meadow crowfoot, with rich yellow blooms +and dainty leaves, are set off by the pinks of the clover and the crimson +of stray sainfoin clusters. All these blossoms with the various flowers of +the grasses, tend to ripen and come to perfection together, the heats of +June bringing the whole multitude on together as in a natural forcing-pit. +It is then that the mowing grass is said to be "ripe," when all the +blossoms are shedding their pollen, and giving hay-fever to those who +enter the fields. It must be cut then, wet or fine, or the quality and +aroma of the hay passes away beyond recovery. Perhaps it is an accident +that most of our meadow flowers are white or yellow. The two most striking +exceptions are from foreign soil, the purple-blue lucerne and the crimson +sainfoin. But yellow is not the universally predominant hue of the flowers +of grasses, for in Switzerland and the Italian Alps the hayfields are as +blue with campanulas as they are here yellow with buttercups. The turf on +our chalk downs shows flowers more nearly approaching in tint the flora of +the Alps. The hair-bells with their pale blue, and the dark-purple +campanulas, give the complement of blue absent in the lower meadows, while +the tiny milkwort is as deep an ultramarine as the Alpine gentians +themselves. But the turf of the chalk downs, never rising to any height, +and without the forcing power of the valley grasses, yields no such wealth +of colour or perfume as the meadow flowers lavish on our senses in the +early weeks of June. + + + + +RIVERSIDE GARDENING + + + "And a river went out of Eden to water the garden." + + +A Recent addition to the country house is the "water garden," in which a +running brook is the centre and _motif_ of the subsidiary ornaments +of flowers, ferns, trees, shrubs, and mosses. Nature is in league with art +in the brook garden, for nowhere is wild vegetation so luxuriant, and the +two forces of warmth and moisture so generally combined, as by the banks +of running streams. The brook is its own landscape gardener, and curves +and slopes its own banks and terraces, sheltered from rough winds and +prone to the sun. + +Many houses near the Thames, especially those under the chalk hills which +fringe much of the valley, have near them some rill or brook running to +the main river. On the sides of the chalk hills, though not on their +summits, these streams cut narrow gullies and glens. Wherever, in fact, +there is hilly, broken ground, the little rills form these broken ravines +and gullies, often only a few yards in width from side to side. Usually +these brooklet valleys are choked with brambles or fern, and filled with +rank undergrowth. Often the stream is overhung and invisible, or dammed +and left in soak, breeding frogs, gnats, and flies. The trees are always +tall and beautifully grown, whatever their age, for the moisture and +warmth force vertical growth; the smaller bushes--hawthorn, briar, and +wild guelder-rose--also assume graceful forms unhidden, for they always +bow their heads towards the sun-reflecting stream. Part of the charm of +the transformation of these brookside jungles into the brookside garden +lies in the gradual and experimental method of their conversion. Every one +knows that running water is the most delightful thing to play with +provided in this world; and the management of the water is the first +amusement in forming the brook garden. When the banks have been cleared of +brambles to such a distance up the sides of the hollow as the ground +suggests, and all poor or ill-grown trees have been cut away to let in the +only two "fertilisers" needed--air and sun--the dimensions of the first +pool or "reach" in the brook garden are decided upon. This must depend +partly on the size and flow of the stream. If it is a chalk spring, from +six feet to six yards wide, its flow will probably be constant throughout +the year, for it is fed from the reservoirs in the heart of the hills. +Then it needs little care except to clear its course, and the planting of +its banks with flowers and stocking of its waters with lilies, arums, +irises, and trout is begun at once. But most streams are full in winter +and low in summer. On these the brook gardener must take a lesson from the +beavers, and make a succession of delightful little dams, cascades, and +pools, to keep his water at the right level throughout the year. Where +there is a considerable brook these dams may be carried away in winter and +ruin the garden. Stone or concrete outfalls are costly, and often give +way, undermined by the floods. But there is a form of overflow which gives +an added sparkle even to the waterfall, and costs little. Each little dam +is roofed with thin split oak, overlapping like the laths of a Venetian +blind when closed. This forms the bottom of the "shoot," and carries the +water clear of the dam into the stream below. As the water runs over the +overlapping laths it forms a ripple above each ridge, and from the +everlasting throb of these pleats of running water the sunlight flashes as +if from a moving river of diamonds. Beside these cascades, and only two +inches higher than their level, are cut "flood-overflows" paved with turf, +to let off the swollen waters in autumn rains. With the cutting out of +undergrowth and the admission of light the rank vegetation of the banks +changes to sweet grass, clovers, woodruffe, and daisies, and the flowers +natural to the soil can be planted or will often spring up by themselves. +In spring the banks should be set thick with violets, primroses, and the +lovely bronze, crimson, and purple polyanthuses. Periwinkle, daffodils, +crocuses, and scarlet or yellow tulips will all flourish and blossom +before the grass grows too high or hides their flowers. For later in the +year taller plants, which can rise, as all summer wood-plants do, above +the level of the grasses, must be set on the banks. Clumps of everlasting +peas, masses of phloxes, hollyhocks, and, far later in the year, scarlet +tritomas (red-hot pokers) look splendid among the deep greens of the +summer grass and beneath the canopy of trees. For it must be remembered +that the brookside garden is in nearly every case a shaded garden, beneath +the tall trees natural to such places. All beautiful flowering shrubs and +trees, such as the guelder-rose, the pink may, the hardy azaleas, and +certain of the more beautiful rhododendrons will aid the background of the +brook garden, and flourish naturally in its sheltered hollow. There is one +"new" rhododendron, which the writer saw recently in such a situation, but +of which he does not recollect the name, which has masses of wax-like, +pale sulphur flowers, which are mirrored in a miniature pool set almost at +its foot. This half-wild flower garden pertains mainly to the banks of the +brook gully, and not to the banks of the brook itself. It is in the +latter, by the waterside, that the special charm of these gardens should +be found. It is the nature of such places to have a strip of level ground +opposite to each of the curves of the stream. All the narcissi, or +chalice-flowers, naturally love the banks of brooks-- + + "Those springs + On chaliced flowers that lies." + +These will grow in great tufts and ever-increasing masses, multiplying +their bulbs till they touch the water's edge. Not only the old +pheasant's-eye narcissus, but all the modern and splendid varieties in +gold, cream, white, and orange, grow best by the brookside. By these, but +on the lower ground almost level with the water, big forget-me-nots, +butterburs, and wild snake's-head lilies should be set, and all the +crimson and white varieties of garden daisy. Lily-of-the-valley, despite +its name, likes more sun than our brook garden admits except in certain +places; but certain of the lilies which flourish in the garden beds grow +with an added and more languid grace on the green bank of our +flower-bordered brook, and the American swamp-lily finds its natural +place. Then special pools will be formed for the growth of those plants, +foreign and English, which love to have their roots in water-soaked mud or +the beds of running streams, while leaves and flowers rise far above into +the light. Other pools should become "beds" for the water-flowers that +float upon the surface. In the slang of the rock garden the plants living +and flourishing on upright rocks are called "verticals." If we must have a +slang for the flora of the brook garden we will term them "horizontals"-- +the plants that lie flat on the water surface, and only use their stems as +cables to anchor them to the bottom of the stream. Of these we may plant, +in addition to the white water-lily and the yellow, the crimson scented +water-lily and the wild water-villarsia. White water-crowfoot, +water-soldier, and arrowheads will form the fringe of the pool. But the +crowning floral honour of the brook garden is in the irises set in and +beside its waters, chief among which are the glorious irises of Japan-- +purple, blue, rose-colour, and crimson--the pink English flowering rush, +big white mocassin flowers, New Zealand flax, and pink buckbean, and bog +arum. The great white arum of the greenhouse is quite hardy out of doors +if it is planted eighteen inches below water, and blossoms in the brook. + +[Illustration: WATER VIOLET AND WILD IRIS. _From photographs by E. +Seeley_.] + +The brook garden is like a colony. It is always extending its range, +following the course of the stream. Each year adds a little more to the +completeness of the lower pools, and each year some yards of the upper +waters and their banks are brought into partial harmony with the lower +reaches. In one perfect example of this kind of garden, under the +Berkshire downs, the succession of trout-pools, water gardening, half-wild +banks, and turf-walk stretches for nearly a mile among the fields in a +narrow glen, unseen from either side, except for its narrow riband of +tree-tops among the fields; but within its narrow limits it is glorious +with flowers, cascades, pools full of trout, set with water-plants in +blossom, and the haunt of innumerable birds. Even the wild ducks ascend to +the topmost pools, and are constantly in flight down the narrow winding +vistas of grass, water, and trees, which they, like the kingfishers and +water-hens, seem to think are set out for their especial pleasure. + + + + +COTTAGES AND CAMPING OUT + + +This is supposed to be a "business" country, but one wonders why new wants +which accompany any change of daily habit are so slowly realised. Take, +for instance, the annual migration to the Thames Valley, which has assumed +proportions never reached before. Beyond the enlargement of the riverside +inns, little has been done to meet this new taste of English families for +rustic life in place of the seaside; and though the thousands of visitors +to the "happy valley" of our largest river do contrive to enjoy a maximum +of fresh air and outdoor life, this is often accompanied by a needless +sacrifice of comfort. If any improvements in the conditions of life by the +river can be suggested and put into practice, these will certainly benefit +other districts. The profits accruing to intelligent provision for such a +demand should also be considerable. But the first condition is that the +wants and wishes of those who take their pleasure in this way should be +properly understood. + +The boating part of the river life is quite well organised; indeed, it +would be difficult to improve upon it. Its convenience and elasticity is +remarkable. The way in which the leading boatbuilders provide craft of all +descriptions, which may be left by their hirers at any point on the river, +to be brought back to Oxford or Reading by train, is beyond all praise. It +is a triumph of good sense and management. But boating is only part of the +amusement of the holiday, just as bathing is at the seaside. The real +object with which an ever-growing number of visitors have adopted the +river life is in order to spend the utmost length of time out of doors and +in beautiful scenery. To this end they need accommodation of a special +kind. The large hotel, with its inducements to spend much time over meals +and indoors, is wholly out of place for such a purpose. What is needed is +a cottage which can be rented either wholly or in part, or actual camp +life under tents. The latter is now not confined to boating-men travelling +up or down the river. It is enjoyed partly as an annexe to up-river +houseboats; more often as "camping out" for its own sake, the tents being +pitched near the river, but in complete detachment from any other +habitation, fixed or floating. In these tents whole families of the +well-to-do classes now elect to live, sometimes for weeks; rising early, +bathing in the river, sometimes cooking their own food, or more often +employing a servant or local man-of-all-work to do this, taking their +meals in the open, and using the tents only to sleep in, or as a shelter +from rain. Even little children now share the delights of this _al +fresco_ life, which realises their wildest dreams of adventure, and is +by general consent as wholesome as it is entrancing. Whether their elders +derive as much pleasure as they might from the same environment is +doubtful. The business is not properly organised, and only half understood +by the greater number of those who are nevertheless so well pleased by the +experiment that they are anxious to repeat it. Sporadic camping out +involves too much fetching and carrying. Tradesmen do not "call" at +isolated tents in a riverside meadow, and all commodities have to be +fetched by the campers. On the other hand, sociable camping out, when +several groups set up their tents in proximity, needs proper arrangement. +Philosophers may see in it the evolution of the social life from its +primitive elements, with the growth of division of labour and reciprocal +good offices. English families would usually prefer the sporadic tent, if +it were not for the hard work involved. But if camping out is to be a real +success, such understandings and arrangements must be made. Where this is +not done the result is a failure, obvious to the passer-by. Separate and +unsightly fires for cooking, and untidiness, because there are no "hours" +for performing the light but necessary domestic work, are common objects +of individualism on the camping ground. Yachts, which are +self-maintaining, never have clothes hanging in the rigging after 8 a.m. +when in harbour, and the self-respecting camp must not fall behind this +example. + +The camp in the country should have its communal kitchen in a wooden +movable house, in which meals can be cooked, and from which it should be +possible to purchase food as required. Here is an opening for commercial +enterprise. The tourist agencies might rent camping grounds and supply +tents on hire, with kitchens and all proper necessaries for living under +canvas. They do this with great success for travellers in the East, and at +a moderate cost. In England tents, if not so luxurious as those provided +from Egypt for life in Palestine, are very cheap, and need no transport +animals. But such a firm could easily make them removable by arranging for +them to be called for and taken up river a few stages, as the boats are. +The hire could be fixed at so much per tent, and a camp servant could also +be provided. Commissionaires and ex-soldiers with good characters could be +found employment in the early autumn, when they now find it difficult to +earn a wage. They thoroughly understand not only the management of tents, +but the duties of a camp. Rain-proof tents with movable board floors would +be provided from London in uncertain weather on the receipt of a wire, for +life under canvas is quite pleasant even if the hours are not all serene, +if the interior is kept dry. + +Though a new departure in this country camping out is part of the ordinary +and well-understood amusements of the eastern cities of the United States. +The whole State of Maine is practically a State reserve for this, the most +popular form of holiday-making in America. Its forests, rivers, and lakes +are one vast playground and public sporting domain, which is enjoyed +almost entirely by means of camping out and boating. The rivers teem with +State-reared trout, of which as many are allowed to be caught as can +possibly be consumed by the party. The woods are free to shoot in, with a +limit for deer and caribou; State-provided guides are employed at a fixed +wage. At regular intervals along the rivers are the camping grounds, each +under the control of a camp agent, who arranges for the comfort and +convenience of the travelling host of tent-dwellers. Each "base" is +properly organised and supplied, and visitors can purchase necessaries, in +addition to the fish and birds which fall to rod and gun. Ladies and +children are among those who enjoy the pastime most keenly, amusing +themselves by the river and among the woods while the husbands hunt or +fish. + +The "residential cottage" is perhaps the safer basis for the complete +outdoor life, though it tends to reduce the number of hours spent in the +open. Habit is too strong when once we are under a roof. It is evidence of +the habitable nature of many of our much-abused cottages that in the +Thames-side villages a great proportion are now occupied for several +months in the year by people who, though willing to pay for simple +accommodation, will not tolerate dirt, squalor, or want of sanitation. To +their surprise they have found hundreds of cottages, homely, but not +uncomfortable, kept with scrupulous neatness, and furnished by no means +badly. Nearly all have ample kitchen accommodation, fair beds, and an +equipment of glass, china, and crockery, which shows how cheap and good +are the necessaries of life in England. The well-to-do agricultural +labourer and his wife, whose children are out in the world, the village +artisans, small tradesfolk, and "retired" couples are the owners or +occupiers, and now let their rooms at from L1 to L1 10s. per week, from +June till the middle of September. The results are good in every way. +Visitors are pleased at what seems a cheap holiday, and the letters of the +rooms save money for the winter, and realise in a pleasant way that their +later years have fallen on good times. It is also an encouragement to +landowners to build good and picturesque cottages. For the first time they +see their way to charging a fair rent on their outlay. The town comes to +help the country, and the country sees in the movement a hopeful future. + + + + +NETTING STAGS IN RICHMOND PARK + + +About the opening of the year I went to see the big stags netted in +Richmond Park for transfer to Windsor. Last season this unique and ancient +hunting had to be put off till February. There was too much "bone" in the +ground to make riding safe. When the frost gave, the stags were more than +usually cunning, and were helped by more than their usual share of luck. +One fine stag charged the toils at best pace, and, happening to hit a +rotten net, burst through, and went off shaking his antlers as proudly as +if he had upset a rival in a charge. Another took to the lake, and after +playing Robinson Crusoe on the island for some time, swam across to the +wood, took a standing leap out of the shallow water on the brink over the +paling, and laid up in Penn Wood. + +It was on a lovely mellow January morning, after just a touch of frost, +with haze and mist veiling the distant woods, a winter sun struggling to +make itself seen, and all the birds, from the mallards on the lakes to the +jackdaws in the old oaks, beginning to talk, but with their minds not +quite made up as to whether they should take a morning flight or stop +where they were, when the business of setting up the toils began. + +This, which is probably managed in exactly the same way as when Queen Dido +arranged to give a day's sport to good Aeneas, is carried out according to +the ancient and unvarying tradition of this royal and ancient park. Nor +were we allowed to forget that in this case, too, the stags were being +taken by the servants of a queen. Everything was ready for the transport +of the stags to Windsor, and in the foreground was a good strong wooden +cart, painted red and blue, and inscribed in the largest capitals with the +words, "Her Majesty's cart." + +The art and practice of taking the stags in the toils is carried out in +this wise. A body of mounted men, under the orders of the superintendent +of the park, ride out to find the herds of red deer. They then ride in and +"cut" out the finest stags, and, spreading out in a broad line, chase them +at the utmost speed of horse towards that quarter of the park where the +nets are spread. Some two hundred yards in front of the nets two +deerhounds are held, and slipped as the stag gallops past--not to injure +or distress him, but to hurry him up and distract his attention from the +long lines of nets in front. + +The stags were known to be full of running, and resourceful; consequently +the number of riders who had been asked to help was rather larger than +usual. Even so they had to make a wide sweep of the Southern Park before +they found their deer, and had a racing burst of more than a mile and a +half before they brought them round. Meantime, while they are away on +their quest, let us inspect the ancient contrivance of the toils. They are +heavy nets of rope, thick as a finger, and with meshes not more than ten +inches square--very strong, and to our eyes almost too solid and visible. +Partly to render them less conspicuous, the line--at least one hundred +yards long--is set in a long, narrow depression or shallow drain, running +from a wood on the Richmond side of Penn Pond down to a small pool. Just +in the centre of this line is a most ancient pollard oak, the crown of +which will hold eight men easily, ready to spring down to earth and seize +the deer as the nets fall on him. In this most appropriate watch-tower the +keeper in command at the toils, and several of his helpers, ensconced +themselves. The Richmond stags, though so constantly in the sight of the +crowds of visitors to the park, are among the boldest and gamest of all +park stags. One, who was more especially the object of the day's chase, +jumped a paling 6 ft. 3 in. high the day before, merely for amusement. +Those sometimes transferred to the paddocks at Ascot for hunting with the +Royal Buckhounds were noted for their courage and straight running. +Perhaps the most famous was old Volunteer, whose latest exploit was to +give a run of nearly thirty miles, at the end of which he was not taken. +Having had his day out, and not being taken up in the cart as usual, he +made his way home by night, jumped into his paddock, and was found there +next morning! + +Holloaing, long and loud, was now heard from the east. Keen was the +keeper's glance as he looked, not to the sound, but along his line of +nets, the top at least eight feet from the ground, lightly hitched on +thick saplings, while an ample fold of some four feet more lay upon the +ground. Before and behind, the dead and tangled bracken broke the line; +the props were of natural wood, and the tawny nets themselves made no +break in the general colour of the hillside. Then the shouting came louder +down the wind. Where were they? Not coming "up the straight" certainly, +for no stags were visible and the hounds were not slipped. Suddenly from +above us three big red stags came galloping obliquely down the hill, not +as they are represented in pictures with muzzles up and horns back, but at +high speed for all that; and though they carried their horns erect, their +sides were heaving and the smoke coming out of their nostrils. They saw +the nets, but determined to push through them. One charged them gallantly +head first, and as the thick meshes fell tumultuously over his head and +back, the second jumped the falling toils twenty yards to his left, taking +them most gracefully, as if he were doing a circus trick. Down from the +tree sprang the keeper and his men, and seized the helpless stag, while +the second, which had jumped and won, stood panting and looking over his +shoulder to see what curious game this was. The third broke back and +disappeared. + +Perhaps the most strange thing was the calm self-possession of the netted +stag. The astonishing catching power of a net held him enmeshed at all +points. His muzzle was held by one mesh, his horns by three or four; all +four feet were caught also. In addition, about eight men kindly caught +hold of his horns, legs, and back, to prevent him hurting himself. This he +was far too clever to do. He just lay quiet, calmly regarding the fun with +his upper eye, and wondering when the deuce they were going to take him +"out of that." In a very few minutes his feet were buckled together by +soft straps, and a saw trimmed off his antler tops, for which we felt +sorry, but there was not room for them in the "compartment" he was to +travel in. It is only when a stag lies close before you on the ground that +you realise that he is not a "slab-sided," flat-ribbed animal, but a +bulky, well-rounded beast. It took six men to lift him on to the bed of +fern in "Her Majesty's cart," and when there he quickly twisted round, and +lay couched, bound but not subdued, calmly regarding the scene over the +side of his cart. A nice lot of chopped mangold root had been put in his +box, and we hope he enjoyed his lunch in the train on his way to Windsor. + +[Illustration: A NETTED STAG. _From a drawing by Lancelot Speed_.] + +The next drive was far more rapid, and its results more exciting. The +stags were again brought round from above Penn Pond, then through the oak +grove below White Lodge, and came galloping up the long side of the slope, +straight for the nets. Then the brace of deerhounds, which, like the +keeper, seemed to know the game thoroughly, were slipped, and most +beautiful they looked, one laying out, lithe and low, just parallel with +the haunch of one stag, the other driving the brace below. The single stag +charged the nets and was enveloped as before, but the other brace broke +back and escaped. + +Four in all were taken during the day, without accident or mishap. One of +the keepers did have an accident of a rather curious kind, when assisting +to catch stags at Buckhurst Park in Kent. He was galloping as hard as he +could, driving a stag, when his horse cannoned up against another deer +which was lying crouched in the fern, as deer sometimes do. The horse went +a complete somersault, and its rider was badly bruised and hurt, though no +bones were broken. + + + + +RICHMOND OLD DEER PARK + + +If Henry VII.'s palace at Richmond still stood by the riverside, we should +have a second Hampton Court at half the distance from London. It was +almost the first of the fine Tudor palaces in this country, built very +stately, with a prodigious number of towers, turrets, cupolas, and gilded +vanes, on a site as fine as that of Wolsey's competing pile higher up the +river. But though the palace has gone, the park is left. It is the +precinct now called the Old Deer Park, in which not one in ten thousand of +those who visit and enjoy the park on the hill which we call Richmond Park +has ever set foot, except in the corner furthest from the river to see a +horse-show or a cricket-match. Old it certainly is. The park on the hill, +venerable as it looks now, is only a thing of yesterday in comparison with +it. Charles I. made the latter, and the Penn Ponds were dug by the +Princess Amelia. The Old Deer Park was a Royal demesne when the Saxon +Kings had their palace at Sheen, before it was given its new name of +Richmond by the first Tudor, after the Castle in Yorkshire from which he +took his title when a subject. In the middle of this ancient and forgotten +park, forgotten because it is neither reserved for the pleasure of the +Sovereign nor thrown open for the enjoyment of his subjects, it was lately +proposed to build a scientific laboratory, to supplement the work of the +observatory, which is mainly employed in magnetic observations and in +testing thermometers and chronometers. The proposal is an instance of the +mischief which may be done by precedent, and of the way in which Royal +favour may be misused quite unconsciously by persons who forget that the +circumstances which lent grace and propriety to a concession at one time +may be so altered later that to presume on it is an error of judgment. +George III. instructed Chambers, the architect, who had been doing work +for him at Kew, to erect an observatory in the Old Park. It was a +thoughtful act, at a time when there were no public funds for the +encouragement of science, and when the study of astronomy was still +regarded partly as something peculiarly under Royal patronage because its +practical use was to keep and make records to ensure the safe navigation +of his Majesty's ships. + +The application to erect new buildings was refused, for a place like the +Old Deer Park, if kept open and wild, and not built upon, has a present +and future value to the health and happiness of millions of people beyond +any calculation or power of words. + +It does not need much imagination to make this forecast. But as few people +have ever made what, in the old words of forest law, was called a +"perambulation" of the park, some description of its present condition and +appearance may help to form an opinion. It is the largest and finest +riverside park in England. It covers nearly four hundred acres, but this +great area, as large as Hyde Park, is shaped and placed so as to gain the +maximum of beauty and convenience from its surroundings. On the London +side it has for neighbour the whole depth of Kew Gardens, from the road at +the back to the river at the front--two hundred and eighty acres of garden +and wood. But whoever first acquired the land for the park, whether Norman +or Saxon, very rightly thought that the feature to be desired was to make +the most of the river-front, where the Thames, pushing into Middlesex, +cuts "a huge half-moon, a monstrous cantle, out." Whether by accident or +design, the park is like a half-open fan, narrowest at the back, which is +the ugly or plain side, near the road, and with its widest part unbosoming +on the Thames. From back to front it is some half-mile deep; but the +Thames front extends for a mile along one of the most beautiful river +scenes in England. + +On the Kew Gardens border it lies against what was, until a few years ago, +the wild and private part of Kew. To this it served as an open park, where +all the birds drew out to sun themselves and feed. So they do still. Along +the margin are scattered old beech trees, and a wilderness of long grass +and flowers, where wood-pigeons, thrushes, pheasants, crows, jays, and all +the smaller birds of the gardens may be seen sunning themselves. The +narrow end or "stick" of the "fan," near the road, is leased to a cricket +club, and cut off from the greater area by a belt of young plantation. In +this a brood of partridges hatches nearly every year, though what becomes +of the birds later is only conjectured. Beyond this cross-belt the whole +area of the park stretches out, ever widening, and with an imperceptible +fall, to the Thames. It is studded here and there with very large and very +ancient trees, and is one of the largest and least broken areas of ancient +pasture, whether for deer or cattle, in England. Until lately the old +observatory was the only building upon it, and the turf was unbroken. But +recent years have added two disfigurements. One is a large red building +with skylights, connected with the games and athletic sports, which have +found a more or less permanent home in the upper part of the park, where +the annual horse-shows are held, uses for which that part of the ground is +well suited. The other is a permanent and very deplorable blemish, made +purposely, in the interests of the popular game of the hour. The greater +part of this fine park has been leased to a private golf club. Golf, as +every one knows, originally flourished on sand dunes, which are about as +completely the natural opposite of an old flat park of ancient pasture as +can be found in this country. The golf club have been allowed to do what +they can to remedy this defect of Nature by converting the Old Park into a +sand dune, and this they have done by digging holes and throwing up +dozens, or scores, of bunkers. But the margins of the park are quite +unspoilt, and the river-front is the wildest and the freest piece of +Nature left near London. It is completely bounded by an ancient moat, +beyond which lies the towing-path, and beyond that the river and the +ancient and picturesque front of Isleworth. The path between the moat and +the river is set with ancient trees, mostly horse-chestnuts and beech, in +continuous line. Under their branches and between their stems the visitor +in the park sees a series of pictures, framed by trees and branches, of +the Queen Anne houses and rose-gardens of Isleworth, the old church with +its tower and huge sun-dial, the ferry and the old inn of the "London +Apprentice," the poplars and willows of the Isleworth eyots, the granaries +and mills where the little Hounslow stream falls in, and further +Twickenham way the gardens of the fine villas there, while towards London +the pavilions and park of Syon House begin. At the present moment the +margin of the Old Deer Park and its moat give a mile of beauty and +refreshment. No one has troubled to mow the grass or cut the weeds, or +clear the moat, or meddle with the hedge beyond it. So the moat, which is +filled from the river when necessary, and is not stagnant, is full of +water-flowers, and quite clear, and fringed with a deep bed of reeds and +sedges. In it are shoals of dace, and minnow, and gudgeon, and +sticklebacks, and plenty of small pike basking in the sun. The largest and +bluest forget-me-nots, and water-mints, and big water-docks and burdocks +flourish in the water, and the hedge beyond is full of sweet elder in +flower, and covered with wild hops. Huge elms, partly decaying, and a dark +grove of tall beeches line the park near the moat, and besides water and +flowers there is shade and the motion of leaves. If the proposal to build +on such a site leads to a better knowledge of what this ancient park +really is, and its value to the amenities of the capital, it will have +done good, not harm. The late Queen recently presented the cottage in the +reserved part of Kew Gardens and its precincts for the use of the public. +It would seem that a similar sacrifice has been made by Royalty in the +case of the Old Deer Park, but that the public are excluded by the Office +of Woods and Forests, which has charge of it, and the park neglected and +disfigured. If it were put on the same footing as Richmond Park upon the +hill, and communication were open between the park and Kew Gardens at +proper hours, an unequalled domain, still the property of the Crown, but +enjoyed within reasonable limitations by every subject, would be open from +Kew Green practically to Kingston. The line from the boundary of the Old +Deer Park is taken on by Richmond Green, and the towing-path to the +Terrace Gardens, formerly the property of the Duke of Buccleuch, and now +of the Richmond Corporation, thence by the terrace and the open slope +under it to Richmond Park, through Sudbrook Park to Ham Common, a series +of varied scenery unrivalled even in the valley of the Thames. + + + + +FISH IN THE LONDON RIVER + + +The capture of a 4-lb. grilse in the Thames estuary in December, 1901, +raised some hopes that we might in course of time see salmon at London +Bridge. Mr. R. Marston, a great authority, in an article on "The Thames a +Salmon River," in the _Nineteenth Century_, has given many reasons +why he fears that this will not be realised. The question is not so much +whether the salmon can come up, as whether the smolts, or young salmon, +could get down through the polluted water. But the experiments made are +interesting and deserve every encouragement, and it may be hoped that +money will be forthcoming to make more. + +As regards other fish than salmon, their return has been going on steadily +since 1890; and their advance has covered a distance of some twenty +miles--from Gravesend to Teddington. The first evidence was the +reappearance of whitebait, small crabs, and jelly-fish at Gravesend in +1892. In 1893 the whitebait fishermen and shrimp-boats were busy ten miles +higher than they had been seen at work for many years. The condenser tubes +of torpedo-boats running their trials down the river were found to be +choked with "bait," and buckets of the fish were shown at the offices of +the London County Council in Spring Gardens. It was claimed that this +evidence of the increased purity of the water was mainly due to the +efforts of the Main Drainage Committee of the London County Council. There +is abundant evidence that this claim was correct, for instead of allowing +the whole of the London sewage to fall into the Thames at Barking and +Crossness, the County Council used a process to separate all the solid +matter, and carried it out to sea. The results of the first year's efforts +were that over two million tons were shipped beyond the Nore, ten thousand +tons of floating refuse were cleared away, and the liquid effluent was +largely purified. It was predicted at the time that if this process was +continued on the same scale it would not be long before the commoner +estuary fishes appeared above London Bridge, even if the migratory salmon +and sea-trout still held aloof. Unfortunately there has been some +deviation from the methods of dealing with the sewage, a change from which +we believe that some of the officials concerned with the early +improvements very strongly dissented, that has to some extent retarded the +advance of the fish. But in 1895 a sudden "spurt" took place in their +return. Whitebait became so plentiful that during the whole of the winter +and spring the results were obvious, not only to naturalists, but on the +London market. Whitebait shoals swarmed in the Lower Thames and the +Medway, and became a cheap luxury even in February and March. They were +even so suicidally reckless as to appear off Greenwich. Supplies of fresh +fish came into the market twice daily, and were sold retail at sixpence +per quart. The Thames flounders once more reappeared off their old haunt +at the head of the Bishop of London's fishery near Chiswick Eyot. Only one +good catch was made, and none have been taken since; but this had not been +done for twelve years, and there is a prospect of their increase, for, in +the words of old Robert Binnell, Water Bailiff of the City of London in +1757, we may "venture to affirm that there is no river in all Europe that +is a better nourisher of its fish, and a more speedy breeder, particularly +of the flounder, than is the Thames." Eels were also taken in considerable +numbers between Hammersmith and Kew; but the main supply of London eels +came from Holland even in the days of London salmon. In a very old print +of the City, with traitors' heads by the dozen on London Bridge, "Eale +Schippes," exactly like the Dutch boats lying at this moment off +Billingsgate, are shown anchored in the river. Besides the estuary fish +which naturally come _up_ river, dace and roach began to come +_down_ into the tideway, and during the whole summer the lively +little bleak swarmed round Chiswick Eyot. Later in the year the roach and +dace were seen off Westminster, and several were caught below London +Bridge, and in 1900 roach were seen and caught at Woolwich, but were soon +poisoned and died. In August the delicate smelts suddenly reappeared at +Putney, where they had not been seen in any number for many years. Later, +in September, another migration of smelts passed right up the river. Many +were caught at Isleworth and Kew, and finally they penetrated to the limit +of the tideway at Teddington, and good baskets were made at Teddington +Lock. + +[Illustration: BREAM AND ROACH. _From a photograph by E. Seeley_.] + +This additional evidence of the satisfaction of the fish with the County +Council does not quite satisfy us that the London river is yet clean +enough to give passage to the migratory salmon. It is encouraging to the +County Council, who deserve all the credit they can get; but there is +little doubt that the best evidence that the river is fit for the salmon +would be the spontaneous appearance of the salmon themselves. + +Since the middle of June, 1890, large shoals of dace, bleak, roach, and +small fry have appeared in all the reaches, from Putney upwards. A few +years ago hardly any fish were to be seen below Kew during the summer, and +these were sickly and diseased. Last year they were in fine condition, and +dace eagerly took the fly even on the lower reaches. Every flood-tide +hundreds of "rises" of dace, bleak, and roach were seen as the tide began +to flow, or rather as the sea-water below pushed the land-water before it +up the river. At high water little creeks, draw-docks, and boat-landings +were crowded with healthy, hungry fish, and old riverside anglers, whose +rods had been put away for years, caught them by dozens with the fly. +Sixty dozen dace were taken, mainly with the fly, in a single creek, which +for some years has produced little in the way of living creatures but +waterside rats. I counted twenty-two "rises" in a minute in a length of +twenty yards inside the eyot at Chiswick. During one high tide in July a +sight commonly seen in a summer flood on the Isis or Cherwell was +witnessed not sixty yards from the boundary stone of the county of London. +The tide rose so far as to fringe several lawns by the river with a yard +or two of shallow water, and the fish at once left the river and crowded +into this shallow overflow, their backs occasionally showing above it, to +escape the muddy clouds in the tidal water. There were hundreds of fish in +the shoals, of all kinds and sizes, from dace nine inches long, with a few +roach, to sticklebacks. These fish are probably the descendants of spawn +laid in the _tidal_ parts of the river, on the gravel-beds and weeds. +Doubtless the quantity of fresh water from the spring rains contributed +something to the result, but the spawn must have hatched far more +successfully than usual. + +[Illustration: A GRAMPUS AT CHISWICK. _From a drawing by Lancelot Speed_.] + +Rivermen on the tidal Thames always distinguish between eels and "fish." +The former are also increasing greatly. The sole survivor of the "Peter +boats" left on the river is saved from disappearing like the rest of the +race by eel-fishing. Formerly these boats, whose owners lived and slept on +board them for six months in the year, were quite successful in catching +eels and flounders. In the Chiswick parish registers a number of those +married or buried are entered as being "fishermen," which clearly means +that that was their business in life. The number of professed eel +catchers' boats gradually dwindled to one, and the owner of this catches a +fair quantity of most excellent eels, those taken off Mortlake, opposite +the finish of the University boat-race, being especially fine in flavour. +Another eel-like fish, formerly taken in great numbers, and of the finest +quality, but now almost forgotten, is also returning. This is the lampern. +Lamperns, unlike eels, come into the rivers to spawn, and go back to the +sea later or to the brackish waters. Men employed in scooping gravel out +of the river at Hammersmith, lately noticed numbers of lamperns coming up +on to the gravel-beds at low-water, and moving the gravel into little +hollows, previously to dropping their spawn. Twelve years ago the great +body of the migrating lamperns were all poisoned by the river, and lay in +tens of thousands in the mud at Blackwall Point. As they have now +succeeded in getting up to spawn, the shoals may be seen next year in +something like their old numbers. The flounders have not yet reappeared to +stay. Porpoises come up above London nearly every year. The first I saw +were two above Hammersmith Bridge early on that momentous May morning in +1886, when Mr. Gladstone's first Home Rule Bill was thrown out. I had been +up with a friend to hear the result of the division, and had seen the wild +joy which followed its announcement in the lobby, and then walked home at +dawn, and so met the early porpoises. A few years later a fine grampus was +found one night lying half dead by the bows of one of the torpedo-boat +destroyers at Chiswick. Its "lines" struck the expert minds there as so +good that it was carefully measured, and the results were found to +correspond almost exactly with a mathematical curve--I think called a +curve of sines. The hollow over the blow-hole was filled up with mud and +measured over, and here there was a little discrepancy. The mud was +removed, and the measurement taken over the surface of the hollow, and the +figures found to be what were expected. + + + + +CHISWICK EYOT + + +It has been said that Thames eyots always seem to have been put in place +by a landscape gardener. Chiswick Eyot is no exception to the rule. It +covers nearly four acres of ground, and lies like a long ship, parallel +with the ancient terrace of Chiswick Mall, from which it is separated by a +deep, narrow stream, haunted by river-birds, and once a famous fishery. + +A salmon, perhaps the last, was caught between the eyot and Putney in +1812, though the rent of the fishery used to be paid in salmon, when it +was worked by the good Cavalier merchant, Sir Nicholas Crispe. The +close-time for the fishery was observed regularly at the beginning of the +century, the fishing commencing on January 1st, and ending on September +4th. There are those who believe that with the increased purification of +the Thames, the next generation may perhaps throw a salmon-fly from +Chiswick Eyot. In the early summer of 1895 a fine porpoise appeared above +the island. At half-past eight it followed the ebb down the river, having +"proved" the stream for forty miles from its mouth, and being apparently +well pleased with its condition. At Putney it lingered, as might be +expected of a Thames porpoise, opposite a public-house. Two sportsmen went +out in a boat to shoot it; instead, they hit some spectators on the bank. +Flowers abound on the eyot. The irises have all been taken, but what was +the lowest clump, opposite Syon House, has lost its pride of place, for +now there are some by the Grove Park Estate below Kew Bridge. The centre +of the eyot is yellow with patches of marsh-marigold in the hot spring +days. Besides the marsh-marigolds there are masses of yellow camomile, +comfrey, ragged robin, and tall yellow ranunculus, growing on the muddy +banks and on the sides of the little creeks among the willows, and a vast +number of composite flowers of which I do not know the names. Common reeds +are also increasing there, with big water-docks, and on the edge of the +cam-shedding of the lawn which fronts my house some of the tallest giant +hemlocks which I have ever seen, have suddenly appeared. I notice that in +Papworth's views of London, published in 1816, arrowhead is seen growing +at the foot of the Duke of Buckingham's water-gate, which is now embedded +at the back of the embankment gardens at Charing Cross. There is still +plenty of it opposite Hammersmith Mall, half a mile below Chiswick Eyot. +The reach opposite and including the eyot is the sole piece of the natural +London river which remains interesting, and largely unspoilt. I trust that +if urban improvers ever want to embank the "Mall" or the eyot, public +opinion will see its way to keeping this unique bit of the London river as +it is. Already there have been proposals for a tram-line running all the +length of the Mall, either at the front or behind it. The island belongs +to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. There is a certain sense of the +country about the eyot, because it is rated as agricultural land, though +its lower end is inside the London boundary. The agriculture pursued on it +is the growing of osiers. These, frequently inundated by high tides, and +left dry when the ebb begins, are some of the finest on the Thames. At the +present moment (January 5, 1902) they are being cut and stacked in +bundles. In the spring the grass grows almost as fast between the stumps +as do the willow shoots. This is cut by men who make it part of the year's +business to sell to the owners of the small dealers' carts and to costers. +Formerly, when cows were kept in London, it was cut for their use. During +the year of the Great Exhibition milk was very scarce, and this grass, +which was excellent for the stable-fed cows, fetched great prices. In the +summer the willows, full of leaf, and exactly appropriate to the flat +lacustrine outline of the eyot and the reach, are full of birds, though +the reed-warbler does not always return. He was absent last year. He is +locally supposed to begin his song with the words "Chiswick Eyot! Chiswick +Eyot!" which indeed he does pretty exactly. Early on summer mornings I +always see cuckoos hunting for a place to drop an egg. In the summer of +1900 a young cuckoo was hatched from a sedge-warbler's nest, and spent the +rest of the summer in the gardens opposite this and the next houses. All +day long it wheezed and grumbled, and the little birds fed it. In the +evenings it used to practise flying, and at last flew off for good. + + + + +CHISWICK FISHERMEN + + +"Please, sir, a man wants to know if he can see you, and he has brought a +very large fish," was the message given me one very hot evening at the end +of July, at the hour which the poet describes as being "about the flitting +of the bats," plenty of which were just visible hawking over the willows +on the eyot. Thinking that it was an odd time for a visit from a +fishmonger, I was just wondering what could be the reason for such a +request when I remembered a talk I had had at the ferry a week or two +before on the subject of the continued increase of fish in the London +Thames. It turned out to be as I expected; my visitor was one of the last +local fishermen, and brought with him a splendid silver eel, weighing +nearly 4 lb., taken in his nets that evening just opposite Chiswick Eyot. +It was the largest eel taken so low down for some years, and when held up +at arm's length, was a good imitation of one of Madame Paula's pythons in +the advertisement. He was anxious that I should come out for an evening's +netting and see for myself how clear the water now is, and how good the +fish. The previous summer, about the same date, I had asked him to see +what he could catch in an evening as specimens; he had returned with over +ninety fish, dace, roach, eels, barbel, and smelts, many of which were +exhibited alive the next day before a good many people interested in the +purification of the Thames. As a further proof I forwarded the big eel to +the previous chairman of the London County Council, under whose sceptre +the marked improvement in the river began first to be felt, and begged his +acceptance of it as a tribute from the river. Then I arranged to be at the +old ferry next day at 6.30 p.m. + +It was the end of a blazing hot London day when I went down the hard to +the water's edge, among the small, pink-legged boys, paddling, and the +usual group of contemplative workmen, who smoke their pipes by the landing +place. The river was half empty, and emptying itself still more as the ebb +ran down. The haze of heat and twilight blurred shapes and colours, but +the fine old houses of the historic "Mall," the tower of the church, and +the tall elms and taller chimneys of the breweries, which divide with +torpedo boats the credit of being the staple industries of Chiswick, stood +out all black against the evening sky; the clashing of the rivetters had +ceased in the shipyard, but the river was cheerfully noisy; many eights +were practising between the island and the Surrey bank, coaches were +shouting at them, a tug was taking a couple of deal-loaded barges to a +woodwharf with much puffing and whistling, and bathers, sheltered by the +eyot willows, were keeping up loud and breathless conversations. "Not +exactly the kind of surroundings the fishermen seeks," you will say; but, +apparently, London fish get used to noise. Our boat was what I, speaking +unprofessionally, should call a small sea-boat, but I believe she was +built years ago at Strand-on-the-Green, the pretty old village with +maltings and poplar trees that fringes the river below Kew Bridge. She was +painted black and red, and furnished with a shelf, rimmed with an +inch-high moulding inboard and drained by holes, to catch the drip from +the net as it was hauled in. We were at work in two minutes. The net was +fastened at one end to two buoys; these dropped down with the ebb, and +formed a fixed, yet floating, point--if that is not a bull--from which the +boat was rowed in a circle while one of the brothers who own the boat +payed out the net. Thus we kept rowing in circles, alternately dropping +and hauling in the net, as we slipped down what was once the Bishop of +London's Fishery towards Fulham. There are still no flounders on the +famous Bishop's Muds, but other fish were in evidence at once. Though the +heat had made them go to the bottom, we had one or two at every haul. The +two fishermen were fine specimens of strong, well-built Englishmen. The +pace at which they hauled in the net, or rowed the boat round, was great; +the rower could complete the circle--a wide one--in a minute, and the net +was hauled in in less time, if the hauler chose to. Dace were our main +catch--bright silvery fish, about three to the pound, for they do not run +large in the tideway; but they were in perfect condition, and quite as +good to eat, when cooked, as fresh herring. For some reason the Jews of +London prefer these fresh-water fish; they eat them, not as the old +Catholics did, on fasts, but for feasts. They will fetch 2d. each at the +times of the Jews' holidays, so our fisherman told me, and find a ready +sale at all times, though at low prices. Formerly the singularly bright +scales were saved to make mother-of-pearl, or rather, to coat objects +which were wished to resemble mother-of-pearl. After each haul the fish +were dropped into a well in the middle of the boat. A few roach were +taken, and an eel; but the most interesting part of the catch was the +smelts. These sea-fish now ascend the Thames as they did before the river +was polluted. We took about a dozen, some of very large size; they smelt +exactly like freshly-sliced cucumber. I stayed for an hour, till the +twilight was turning to dark, and the tugs' lights began to show. We had +by then caught seventy fish, or rather more than one per minute; a hundred +is a fair catch on a summer evening. In winter very large hauls are made; +then the fish congregate in holes and corners. In summer they are all over +the river. When the net happens to enclose one of these shelter holes, +hundreds may be taken. Consequently the two fishermen work regularly all +through the winter. Sometimes their net is like iron wire, frozen into +stiff squares. In a recent hard winter the ice floated up and down the +London Thames in lumps and floes; yet they managed to fish, and made a +record catch of two thousand in one tide. I believe that if the +Conservancy and the County Council go on as they are doing, we shall see +the flounder back in the river above bridges, and that possibly sea-trout +may adventure there too; though unless the latter can get up to spawn, +there can be no regular run of sea-trout. But they probably also act like +grey mullet, and run up the estuaries merely for a cruise.[1] + +[Illustration: SMELTS. _From a photograph by E. Seeley_.] + +The last of the "Peter-boat" men mentioned in a previous chapter, has +other claims to notice than that of being the only survivor of an ancient +outdoor industry. He has given evidence before more than one committee of +the House of Commons on the state of the river and the condition of its +waters, and is the oldest salesman in that curious survival of antiquity, +the free eel market held at Blackfriars Stairs on Sunday mornings; and, in +addition, he has added to his original industry another branch of +"fishing" of a different kind, of which he is acknowledged to be the +greatest living exponent. He is an expert at grappling and "creeping" for +objects lying on the bed of the river, work for which his life-long +acquaintance with the contours of the bottom and the tides and currents +makes him particularly well fitted. Consequently he is now regularly +employed by many firms and shipping companies to fish up anything dropped +overboard, whether gear or cargo, which is heavy enough to sink. The +oddest thing about this double business is that all the summer, while he +lies and sleeps in his "Peter-boat" at Chiswick, he is in receipt of +telegrams whenever an accident of this kind chances to happen, summoning +him down river, to the Docks or the Pool, and these telegrams are +delivered to him (I think by the ferryman) on his "Peter-boat." But the +regular time for this other Thames "fishery" is in winter. Then the eels +"bed," _i.e._, bury themselves in the mud, and the eel man goes +either "gravelling," that is, scooping up gravel from the bottom to deepen +any part of the channel desired by the Conservancy, or doing these odd +salvage jobs. Getting up sunken barges is one side of the business. These +are raised by fastening two empty barges to them at low tide, when the +flood raises all three together, owing to the increased buoyancy. But of +"fishing" proper he has had plenty. He hooked and raised the steamship +_Osprey's_ propeller, which weighed six tons. This was done by +getting first small chains and then large ones round it, and fastening +them to a lighter. Half-ton anchors, casks of zinc, pigs of lead, copper +tubes, ironwork, ship-building apparatus, and the like, are common "game" +in this fishery. Other commodities are casks of pitch, cases of pickles, +boxes of champagne, casks of sardines in tins, bales of wool, and even +cases of machinery. + +This form of Thames fishery increases rather than diminishes. Years ago he +picked up under London Bridge a case of watches valued at L1,500. He was +only paid for the "job," as the loss was known and it was not a chance +find. Another and more sportsmanlike incident was an "angling +competition," among himself and others in that line, for some cases of +rings which a Jew, who became suddenly insane, threw into the river off a +steamer. He caught one case, and another man grappled the other. Sometimes +in fishing for one thing he catches another which has been in the water +for months, as, for instance, a whole sack of tobacco, turned rotten. I do +not know who "that young woman who kept company with a fishmonger" was, +though he assumes that I do. But he certainly rescued her, and a gentleman +who jumped off London Bridge, and several upset excursionists on various +parts of the river. Also, as will be guessed, he has caught or picked up a +good many corpses. I hear, though not from him, that on the Surrey side +five shillings is paid for a body rescued, and on the Middlesex side only +half-a-crown; so Surrey gets the credit of the greater number of the +Thames dead. His life-saving services have been very considerable, though +he does not make much account of them. He was instrumental in saving two +women and six men on one occasion, and on another "three men and a +soldier." The distinction is an odd one, but it holds good in the riverine +mind. + +[1] At the close of the season 1901-1902 in March, one of the men tells me +that it has been the best year he has known. He caught sixteen eels one +night with the net only. Very fine bream have also appeared as low as +Hammersmith. + + + + +BIRDS ON THAMES RESERVOIRS + + +Now that every large town and many small ones are adding new reservoirs, +often of great size, to hold their water supply, these artificial lakes +play an important and increasing part in the wild life, not only of the +country, but of cities, and even of London itself. Immense reservoirs have +been made near Staines, and others are being added close to the London +river. These quiet sheets of water, carefully protected from intrusion for +fear of any pollution of the water, form artificial sanctuaries which not +only fill with fish, which the water companies encourage, to eat the weeds +and insects bred in the weeds, but attract wild-fowl of very many kinds in +ever-increasing numbers. In Hertfordshire the artificial lakes near Tring +made to supply the Grand Junction Canal are carefully preserved, and have +a large and resident population of wild-fowl (we believe a bittern bred +there recently, and the great crested grebe is common), and some of the +new London reservoirs are rapidly attracting a stock of wild-fowl. Thus +civilisation is in some measure restoring the balance of wild life, and +offers to the most persecuted of our birds a quiet and secure retreat. I +was able at the close of February, 1902, to witness a striking example of +the results of wild-bird protection in increasing some species of +wild-fowl which for half a century had steadily dwindled and disappeared, +and were practically unknown anywhere in the neighbourhood of London. The +scene was on the very large new reservoirs which lie between the grounds +of the Ranelagh Club and the Thames, on what was some seven years ago a +tract of market gardens and meadows. The construction of these lakes was +so ably planned and carried out that in two years from the turning of the +first sod four wide pools, covering in all one hundred acres of ground, +were ready to be filled, and at the end of 1898 the ground was +metamorphosed into the largest area of water in the London district, with +the exception of the Serpentine. + +It is so rare for changes of this magnitude to take place in any other way +than by covering what was open ground with bricks and mortar, that the +advent of a kind of reservoir flora and fauna so close to the greatest +city of the world was looked for with some curiosity. All the waste ground +not covered by the water or filtering-beds produced quantities of +brilliant flowers, as waste ground enclosed and left to itself generally +does. The banks and broad walks between the lakes were sown with good +grass, which was regularly made into hay. The reservoirs themselves soon +filled with fish, which came down the mains from Hampton, where the water +is taken in from the river. What these reservoir fish found to live upon +at first is not clear. No weeds are allowed to grow either in the water or +on the banks, which are concreted. But the bottom becomes covered with the +suspended matter deposited from the unfiltered water, and probably a +considerable number of the minute _entomostraca_ beloved of all fish +breed in this. The Barnes reservoirs do contain a growth of weed, which is +carefully removed every year. Whatever their sustenance may be, these +reservoirs are very full of fish, both the old ones at Barnes and the new +lakes near Ranelagh. The supply of fish, and the open and strictly private +extent of water, then attracted a number of wild duck or water birds of +some kind, which the writer was invited to see and identify, as it did not +seem probable that they could be the ordinary wild duck, which are +vegetable feeders, and would need an artificial supply of grain, which is +provided on the Serpentine, but is not given to any of these reservoir +ducks. They have appeared entirely uninvited. The scene over the lakes was +as sub-arctic and lacustrine as on any Finland pool, for the frost-fog +hung over river and reservoirs, only just disclosing the long, flat lines +of embankment, water, and ice; the barges floating down with the tide were +powdered with frost and snow-flakes, and the only colour was the long, red +smear across the ice of the western reservoir, beyond which the winter sun +was setting into a bank of snow clouds. It was four o'clock, and nothing +apparently was moving, either on the ice or the water, not even a gull. In +the centre of the north-eastern reservoir was what was apparently an acre +of heaped-up snow. On approaching nearer this acre of snow changed into a +solid mass of gulls, all preparing to go to sleep. If there was one there +were seven hundred, all packed together for warmth on the ice. It is on or +about these reservoirs that the London gulls now sleep. Sometimes they are +there in thousands; but the sealing of so much of the water with ice had +sent a great proportion of them down the river to the more open water of +the Essex marshes. Beyond the gulls, which rose and circled high above in +the fog with infinite clamour, were a number of black objects, which soon +resolved themselves into the forms of duck and other fowl. Rather more +than seventy were counted, swimming on the water near the bank or sitting +on the ice. These were the self-invited wild duck, so tame that with very +little trouble they were approached near enough for their colour and form +to be distinctly visible. The result of a look through the glasses was +something of a surprise. They were not mallard, teal, or widgeon; but +three-quarters of the number were tufted ducks, a diving-duck species, +which haunts both estuaries and fresh water, but preferably the latter. It +is a very handsome little black-and-white duck, seen in great numbers on +certain large lakes in Nottinghamshire, and has greatly increased of late +years in the county of Norfolk. But so far it has not appeared in any +numbers either on the Surrey ponds or in Middlesex, and its assembling on +this London reservoir is a remarkable proof of the tendency of wild-fowl +to increase in this country. + +The cock birds were in brilliant winter plumage, with large crests, white +breasts, and white "clocks" on their wings. Some were sleeping, some +diving, and others swimming quietly. When approached, the whole flock rose +at once, and flew with arrow-like speed round the lakes and twice or +thrice back over the heads of their visitors, of whom they were not at all +shy, being used to the sight of the man who keeps the reservoirs' banks in +order. They swept now overhead, now just above the ice, like a flock of +sea-magpies or ice-duck playing before some North Atlantic gale. As +several birds had not risen, we ventured still nearer, and saw that most +of these were coots, some ten or eleven, which did not fly, but ran out on +to the ice. Two large birds remaining, which had dived, then rose to the +surface, and to our surprise and pleasure proved to be great crested +grebes. These birds, which a few years ago were so scarce even in Norfolk +that Mr. Stevenson despaired of the survival of the species as a native +bird, have bred for three seasons in Richmond Park. But their presence so +close to London shows that we need not despair of seeing wild-crested +grebes appear on the Serpentine. These birds are so wedded to the water +that they rarely fly. But this pair rose and flew, not away from, but +towards us, passing within fifteen yards. With their long necks stretched +out, feet level with the tail, and plumage apparently painted in broad, +longitudinal stripes, they presented a very singular appearance. + +The East of London owns a crowded wild-fowl sanctuary at Wanstead Park, +which quite a different class of ducks frequent. It is now the property of +the public, and very carefully administered by trustees. The lake there is +very narrow and winding, which causes it to freeze easily. On the other +hand, it is full of long, densely wooded islands, some almost enclosing +pools of water. These islands shelter the birds, and when the lake is +covered with ice the islands are crowded with wild duck and widgeon. +Wanstead is a curious example of the faith of wild-fowl in a sanctuary, +for the lake is so narrow that you could toss a stone among the fowl from +the bank. Suburban houses are close by on all sides but the meadows by the +little river Roding. Yet the fowl come to the lake as confidently as they +do to great sanctuaries like Holkham. As there is a large heronry and +rookery on the trees on the islands, the variety of life there is very +great. The writer saw in weather like that in the second week of February, +1902, about a hundred and fifty wild duck, thirty or forty widgeon, a few +teal, a pochard, and a great number of water-hens. Mallard, teal, +dabchicks, and moorhens breed there regularly, and in hard weather a +number of rarer birds drop in. Snipe are often seen by one of the +shallower ponds, and occasionally such divers as goosanders appear and +give an exhibition of fish-catching. These, like the tufted ducks and +grebes, are entirely self-supporting. The wild duck are pensioners, being +fed artificially, though they are wild birds, or descended from birds +which were wild, just as are the London wood-pigeons. + + + + +THE CARRION CROW + + +Those familiar with the valley of the Thames and with the wild population +both of the riverside and of the adjacent hills, will set down the carrion +crow as the typical resident bird of the whole district. On the London +Thames as high as Teddington it keeps mainly to the line of the river +itself, on the banks of which and on the market gardens and meadows it +finds abundant food, while the elms of large suburban residences give it +both shelter and a safe nesting place. The bird is also commonly mistaken +for a rook, and so shares the privileges of those popular birds. Higher up +the river it swarms all along the Oxfordshire and Berkshire banks where +not killed down by keepers, and a perfect army of them has for years +invaded and been settled in the elm-bordered meadows of the Vale of White +Horse. Thence it has spread on to the downs, where since the gradual +abandonment of cultivation on the highest ground, and the removal of the +scattered population of carters and keepers from a very large area, it now +has matters all its own way. But it always haunted these heights, as the +name "Crow Down," recurring more than once on the Ordnance maps, shows. +The "Crow Down" with which the writer is less acquainted is on the very +high, wild land north of Lambourn. There they have grown so confident that +a nest was found in a thorn bush not ten feet high, at a place called Worm +Hill, a good old Saxon name denoting that snakes abound there. There is no +doubt that the crows kill and eat the young snakes, one having been seen +carrying a snake in its beak recently. + +The habits of the carrion crow are so independent and peculiar, and its +resourcefulness so great, that it is not to be wondered at that it holds +its own well within and around London, while the rook is gradually being +edged out. It is generally regarded as a criminal bird, which it is to +some extent in the spring. From that point of view the following facts may +be cited against the crow. He is keenly on the look-out for all kinds of +eggs about the time that his own nest is building. Consequently he is a +real enemy to pheasants, wild ducks, plovers, moorhens, and other birds +which lay in open places before there is cover. Nothing is more +exasperating than these exploits to people who know where birds are +nesting on their property, and wish to see them hatch safely. A wild +duck's nest in a large copse was found by some persons picking primroses. +In that copse was a crow's nest. The crows found out that the +primrose-pickers had discovered something interesting, and a few hours +later the "Quirk! quirk!" of the crows announced that they were enjoying +life to an unusual degree. It was found that they had removed all seven +eggs from the duck's nest. In an adjacent reclaimed harbour they took the +eggs of ducks, plovers, redshanks, and even larks. In the Vale of White +Horse they seem to take most of the early wild pheasant's eggs, besides +stealing hen's eggs from round the farms. They are particularly fond of +hunting down the sides of streams and canals in the early morning, where +they find three dainties to which they are particularly partial,-- +moorhen's eggs, frogs, and fresh-water mussels. They swallow the frogs +_in situ_, and carry the moorhen's eggs and mussels off to some +adjacent post to eat them comfortably. The shells of both eggs and mussels +litter the ground under these dinner-tables. In Holland they are so +mischievous that little "duck-houses" are made by the side of all the +ornamental canals in private grounds for the ducks to nest in, a +convenience of which they, being sensible birds, avail themselves. These +duck-houses, or laying bowers, are still regularly made by the half-moon +canal at Hampton Court, a survival probably of the days of William of +Orange's Dutch gardeners. + +[Illustration: THE LOBSTER SMACK INN, CANVEY ISLAND. _From a photograph by +R. B. Lodge_.] + +[Illustration: THE STEPPING STONES AT BENFLEET. _From a photograph by R. +B. Lodge_.] + +During the day they are very quiet birds, keeping much to the trees; but +towards evening in March and April, their disagreeable croaking caw may be +heard from all quarters where they are numerous. Just at dusk they become +less wary than in the day. The writer for many years used to organise a +few evening "drives" of the crows to try to thin them down before their +ravenous families were hatched. Several guns used to hide in different +parts of the valley near nests, and on to this "blockhouse line" the crows +were driven. A few were generally shot before they discovered the plot. +Solicitude for the nest seldom leads them into danger, but one pair met +their fate in this way. The first bird came flying to the nest, in which +there were eggs, as soon as a shot was heard in the distance. It was +killed, and hardly had the spark of the flash disappeared when the other +bird dropped down out of the gloom straight on to the eggs, and met the +same fate. Forty young chickens were taken by a pair of crows from a farm +in one spring. It was objected by some young ladies who were "interested" +in the farm that the crows were "such sneaks." They used to come at +luncheon-time up a line of trees extending from the wood to the farm. They +were not in the least afraid of any one with a cart, apparently knowing +that the horse could not be left, but would go straight for the chicken +yard. A pair of sparrow-hawks near would seize a chicken now and then, but +in a bold way as if they had a right to them. A few crows contrive to nest +in Kensington Gardens. In the early mornings they always hunt the west +banks of the Long Water, and are credited with taking a good many ducks' +eggs, as well as ducklings. + +Crows make one of the best nests constructed by the larger English birds. +Usually it is placed, not out on the small branches, where rooks prefer to +build them, but on the fork made by a large bough starting from the main +trunk. This aids in concealment, and is a protection against shot, though +probably the birds do not reckon on this contingency. The bottom of the +nest is made of large, dead sticks. Upon and between these smaller twigs, +often torn off green from willow-and elm-trees, or stolen from faggots of +recent cutting, are laid and woven. Then a fine deep basin is made, woven +of roots, grass, and some wiry stalk like esparto, the secret of where to +find which seems a special possession of crows, and on this often a lining +of bits of sheep's wool and cow's hair. There are sometimes as many as six +eggs, and rarely less than four. They are quite beautiful objects, of a +bright blue-green marked variously, but in a very decorative way, with +blotches and smears of olive and blackish-brown. Two or three clutches of +these eggs, with some of the splendid purple-red kestrels' eggs, and +sparrow-hawks of bluish white, blotched with rich chestnut, make a very +handsome show after a day's bird-nesting on the hills. The first eggs are +laid very early, sometimes by the second week in April. A nest recently +analysed consisted mainly of green ash taken from faggots and cuttings in +the wood. One piece was a yard long, and as thick at the base as the +little finger. The nest was _felted_ with cow's hair, and quite +impenetrable to shot. These nests last for years, and often have a series +of tenants, kestrels, squirrels, brown owls, or hobbies. If the first nest +is destroyed, the crow makes another. In his conjugal relations the +carrion crow is a model bird. He pairs for life, and is inseparable from +his mate. If one croaks, the other answers instantly, but usually they +keep within sight of one another all day. In the evening the pair, seldom +more than a few yards apart, may be seen hunting diligently in the meadows +for slugs, which, so long as the weather is not too dry, form the regular +supper of the birds. + +A remarkable instance of the crow's courage in defence of its mate +occurred some years ago on Salisbury Plain when a party were out +rook-hawking. A falcon was flown at one of a pair of crows on favourable, +open ground. The two birds mounted in the usual spiral until the falcon +stooped, bound to the crow, and the pair came to the ground together. Just +as the horseman rode in to take up the hawk the other crow descended +straight upon the falcon, knocked her off its prostrate mate, and the two +flew off together to cover before the falcon had realised whence the onset +came. This crow not only showed great courage in facing both the falcon +and the sportsman, but timed its interference with the greatest judgment +and precision. + +Probably a tame crow would make an amusing pet. Its intelligence must be +very considerable, though the shape of its head does not so clearly +indicate brain as does that of a raven. Among the crows which haunt the +banks of the London river there are some highly educated pairs. One has +maintained itself on the reach opposite Ham House for thirteen years, if +the evidence used to identify them is reliable. These birds were noticed +at that distance of time ago to have learnt to pick up food floating on +the water. To see a big black crow hovering like a gull, and picking up +bread from the bosom of the Thames, is so unusual that it always excites +remark, and the writer was informed only last summer that these Ham House +crows were seen doing this constantly. Not many years ago a crow nested in +a plane-tree in St. Paul's Churchyard, and a pair also reside on the +island in Battersea Park. But the great headquarters of London crows are +the grounds of Ranelagh, and the reservoirs and market gardens of Barnes +and Chiswick. They flock to the manure heaps in the latter, where the +gulls now join them, and several pairs spend all day nearly all the year +round on the reservoir banks at Barnes, and on Chiswick Eyot. The Eyot +crows seems to find a good living there, and never leave it till their +young, which are annually hatched in a tree at some distance on the +Middlesex side, can fly. But the crows haunting the great Barnes +reservoirs, where the tufted ducks now assemble in winter, are a bad lot. +Last winter they were seen to single out and attack any gull separated +from the flock which usually came there to roost. A sick or wounded gull +was soon caught, killed, and eaten, the small black-headed gulls being no +match for the crows. It was characteristic of their cunning that by the +river itself they did not molest the gulls. + +[Illustration: HAULING THE NETS FOR WHITEBAIT. _From photographs by R. +B. Lodge_.] + + + + +LONDON'S BURIED ELEPHANTS + + +The amount of river gravel left in the part of the Thames Valley on which +West London is built is extraordinary. It is all round, and mostly red, +and as there are no rocks like the stone which makes up most of this +gravel anywhere in the modern valley, it is puzzling to know where it came +from. I went to see the digging of the foundations of the new South +Kensington Museum, and the great excavation, which was like the ditch of a +fortress, and the stuff thrown out, which was like the rampart, was all +dug in, or made of, river gravel. In this the men had found, lying +higgledy-piggledy, with no two bones "belonging," quantities of bones of +the beasts which used to graze on what I suppose was the Kensington +"veldt," or perhaps flats by the riverside, during the time when the +river's drift and brick earth was being deposited. The Clerk of the Works +was much interested in these discoveries, and had caused them to be +carefully collected. These were bones of the great stags then common, of +the elephant, and of the primaeval horse, creatures which lived here +before the Channel was cut between England and France, though not, +perhaps, before man had appeared in what is now the Thames Valley, for +flint implements are often found with the bones. Dr. Woodward, to whom +some of the remains were taken, said that they reminded him of the great +discovery of similar remains in the brick earth at Ilford, in Essex, +thirty-seven years ago, when he personally saw, dug from the brickfields +of that almost suburban parish, the head and tusks of one of the largest +mammoth elephants in the world. These river-gravel and brick-earth buried +bones are rather earlier than those found in the peat and marl. The latter +belonged to creatures which, though they no longer exist in England, are +still found in temperate Europe--beavers, bears, bison, and wolves. But +the Thames gravel and the London clay are in places full of the bones of +another, and earlier, though by no means primaeval, generation of mammals, +some of which are extinct, while others are found at great distances from +this country, in remote parts of the earth. Judging from the places where +they are found and from the position of the bones, large animals must have +swarmed all over what is now London, just as they do on the Athi plains +and near the rivers and forests through which the Uganda Railway runs. + +There was the same astonishing mixture of species, a mixture which puzzles +inquirers rather more than it need. Hippopotamus bones are found in great +numbers, and with the hippopotamus remains those of creatures like the +reindeer and the musk ox, now found only on the Arctic fringe and frozen +rim of the North, which lived on the same area and with them the Arctic +fox. Judging from the great range of climate which most northern animals +can endure, there is no reason to think this juxtaposition of a creature +only found in warm rivers and of what are now Arctic animals is very +strange. The London "hippo" was just the same, to judge from his bones, as +that of the Nile or Congo. But the reindeer of North America, under the +name of the woodland cariboo, comes down far south, and in the Arctic +summer that of Europe endures a very high temperature. The Arctic fox does +the same. If there were Arctic animals in Kensington and Westminster, that +is no evidence that they lived in an Arctic climate. Looking over the list +of bones, skulls, teeth, and tusks found, it is interesting to try to +reconstruct mentally the fauna of greater London just previous to the +coming of man. There were, to begin with, some African animals, either the +same as are found on the Central African plains, and were found on the +veldt of South Africa, or of the same families. The present condition of +the country between Mount Kilimanjaro and the Victoria Nyanza shows quite +as great a mixture of species. There, for instance, are all the big +antelopes, rhinoceroses, zebras, lions, elephants, hyaenas, and wild dogs, +and though there are glaciers on Kilimanjaro and the great mountains near +the central valleys, the river running out of the Great Rift Valley is +full of crocodiles and hippopotami. There is heather and, higher up, also +ice and snow on the mountains, from whose tops the waters come that feed +these crocodile-haunted streams. So on the London "veldt" there were +lions, wild horses (perhaps striped like zebras), three kinds of +rhinoceroses--two of which were just like the common black rhinoceros of +Africa, though one had a woolly coat--elephants, hyaenas, hippopotami, and +that most typical African animal the Cape wild dog! All these, except the +elephants and hippos, can stand some degree of cold; and there is not the +slightest reason why the two last may not have flourished in some deep +river valley, very many degrees hotter than the hills above. To take an +instance still remaining nearer to Europe than the Great Rift Valley. The +Jordan Valley is very deep and very hot. Many species of birds are there +found which are resident in India, and not anywhere nearer. It is a kind +of hot slice of India embedded in the Palestine hills. The very large deer +and immense bison and wild oxen probably fed on the same low veldt as the +African animals. The bison were the same as those found in Lithuania, but +far larger. Numbers of the skulls, of quite gigantic size, have been found +in the brick earth. In the British Museum there is a tooth of the mammoth +found in 1731, at a depth of 28 feet below the surface, in digging a sewer +in Pall Mall. This Pall Mall mammoth might well figure in Mr. E. T. Reed's +prehistoric series in _Punch_. Another tooth was found in Gray's Inn +Lane. The mammoth was evidently not confined to the present region of +clubland. + +Besides these European and African groups of animals, a third class ranged +the London plains, probably at a greater height and in a still colder +temperature than the large grass-eating mammals mentioned. These +creatures, whose bones are found plentifully in the drift, are now living +in a country even more specialised than the African veldt. They are the +creatures of the Tartar steppes and the cold plains of Central Asia. Their +names are the suslik (a Central Asian prairie dog), the pika, a little +steppe hare, and an extremely odd antelope, now found in Thibet. This is a +singularly ugly beast with a high Roman nose, and wool almost as thick as +that of a sheep when the winter coat is on. It must have been quite common +in those parts, for I have had the cores of two of their horns brought to +me during the last few years. + +These dry bones are not made so astonishingly interesting by their setting +in the gravel as are some far more ancient remains in England. The gravel +is a mere rubbish-bed, like a sea-beach, in which all things have lost +their connection. I was recently shown a set of fossils far more ancient, +possibly not less than 2,000,000 years old, which were all found and may +be seen exactly as they lay and lived when they were on the bottom of a +prehistoric river which flowed through Hampshire, across what is now the +Channel, over South France, and then fell into the Mediterranean. This +river crosses the Channel at Hordwell cliffs on the Solent. There is the +whole section, of a great stream two miles wide, with the gravel at its +edges, the sediment and sand a little lower down the sides, and the mud at +the bottom. On each lie its appropriate shells. Some are like those in the +Thames to-day, but many more like those of a river in Borneo. They are so +thick that out of a single ounce of the mud 150 little shells were +obtained. In this, too, were found the tooth of a crocodile and the bones +of a spiny pike, and in other masses of clay the very reeds and bits of +the trees that grew there. These sedges of the primitive ages were quite +charming. Even some of their colour was preserved, and all their delicate +fluting and fibre, in the fine clay. One of the branches of a tree, now +turned to lignite, had possessed a thick pith. This pith had decayed, and +water had trickled down the hollow like a pipe. The water was full of iron +pyrites, and had first lined the tube with iron crystals and then filled +up the whole hollow with a frosted network of the same. There is a +striking contrast between the presence and realism of these once living +things still preserving the outer forms of life and the vast and +inconceivable distances of "geological time." + + + + +SWANS, BLACK AND WHITE + + +A few pairs of black swans have been placed upon the river. Some of these +rear broods of young ones, and appear to be quite acclimatised. The black +swan was known to the traders of our own East India Company nearly a +century before Captain Cook and Sir Joseph Banks discovered Botany Bay. +The first notice of it appears in a letter, written about the year 1698, +by a Mr. Watson to Dr. M. Lister, in which he says, "Here is returned a +ship which by our East India Company was sent to the South Land, called +Hollandia Nova," and adds that black swans, parrots, and many sea-cows +were found there. In 1726, two were brought alive to Batavia, which were +caught on the West Coast of Australia, near Hartop Bay, but no good +account of their habits was ever written till Gould put together the facts +he had seen and learnt on the spot. + +The habits in their native land of birds which we only see acclimatised +and domesticated, sometimes give a clue to what can be done to domesticate +other breeds. This swan is only found in Australia, and only locally +there, in the south and west. There it takes the place occupied by the +Brent goose in our northern latitude, both as a water bird and as a source +of food to the natives. "Wherever there are rivers, estuaries of the sea, +lagoons, and pools of water of any extent the bird is generally +distributed," says Gould. "Sometimes it occurs in such numbers that flocks +of many hundreds can be seen together, particularly on those arms of the +sea which, after passing the beachline of the coast, expand into great +sheets of shallow water, on which the birds are seldom disturbed either by +the force of boisterous winds or the intrusion of the natives. In the +white man, however, the black swan finds an enemy so deadly, that in many +parts where it was formerly quite numerous it has been almost, if not +entirely, extirpated. + +"This has been particularly the case on some of the larger rivers of +Tasmania, but on the salt lagoons and inlets of D'Entrecasteaux's channel, +the little-frequented bays of the southern and western shores of that +island and the entrance to Melbourne Harbour at Port Phillip, it is still +numerous." This was written in 1865, when to voyagers to the new continent +the black swans of Melbourne Harbour were sometimes a first and striking +reminder that they had reached a new world. One of the most deadly means +of killing off the black swans was to chase them in boats, and either to +net or club them, when they had shed all their flight feathers. This is +what Mr. Trevor Battye saw the Samoyeds doing to the Brent geese on +Kolguev Island. Thousands were driven into a kind of kraal, and killed for +winter food. Next to the pelagic sealer, the whalers and ordinary +seal-hunters are the worst scourges of the animal world. They killed off, +for instance, every single one of the Antarctic right whales, and nearly +all the Cape and Antarctic fur seals. But it is not generally known that +they succeeded in almost killing off the black swans in some districts. +They caught and killed them in boatloads, not for the flesh, but to take +the swans' down. Black swans have white wings, though as they are nearly +always pinioned here, a stupid habit which our people have learnt from the +ancient and time-honoured brutality of "swan upping," we never see them +flying. They are then very beautiful objects, with their plumage of ebon +and ivory. + +In Australia they begin to lay in October, and the young are hatched and +growing in January. They are very prolific birds, laying from five to +eight light-green eggs with brownish buff markings. Some years ago a +splendid brood of six jolly little nigger cygnets were hatched out by the +black swans at Kew. But the most successful breeder of black swans in this +country was Mr. Samuel Gurney, who began his stock with a pair on the +river Wandle, at Carshalton. He bought them in Leadenhall Market, in 1851. +They did not breed till three years later, and laid their first egg on +January 1st. + +This is very interesting, because it shows that so far these birds were +not acclimatised, but kept more or less to the seasons of reproduction +proper to their native land. They were laying in what is the Australian +summer and our mid-winter. It was a most severe winter, and the young ones +were hatched out in a severe frost, which had lasted all the time that the +birds were sitting in the open. The cygnets lived--it is not stated how +many there were--and later on, the parents continued to breed, till in +1862, eight years after, they had hatched ninety-three young ones, and +reared about half the number. The most extraordinary thing about the +original pair was that they seem to have taken on both our seasons and +their own, laying both in our spring and in the Australian spring, and so +hatching two broods a year. They bred sixteen times in seven years--or +probably seven and a half--and in that time laid one hundred and eleven +eggs. The interest of this story is very considerable, because it shows +the imperfect and exhausting efforts which Nature causes animals to make +to adapt their breeding time to a new climate. Black swans which are +descended from young birds bred in this country conform to the ordinary +nesting-time of our hemisphere. + +[Illustration: FISHING BOATS AT LEIGH. _From photographs by R. B. +Lodge._] + +I notice that among the white swans on the Thames the cock-bird will fight +to preserve his lady from intrusion, but he never thinks of taking her any +breakfast, or of bringing her food of any kind, even though he may be fed +most liberally himself. His only idea of helping her actively is by +minding house while she goes off to feed and also while she is making her +toilet. Not long ago, a swan who had a nest by the Thames so far forgot +his mate as to fall in love with a young lady, whom he constantly tried to +persuade to come and join him on the river. She was in the habit of +feeding both swans every day, but as the lady swan was on the nest for the +greater part of the time, the cock swan came in for most of the attention. +In time he became tame enough to feed from her hand, and would come out on +to the bank; but he preferred to sit on the water and to be fed from a +boat-raft. After being fed he wanted to see more of his friend, but could +not understand why she preferred stopping on such an uncomfortable place +as the land when all she need do to enjoy his society, and to be happier +herself, was to step down into the water. He would swim away slowly, +looking over his shoulder to see if she was coming. As she usually wore a +white dress, there is very little doubt that the swan thought she only +wanted a few feathers to be quite a presentable swan, and suited for life +on the river. When he found that she did not follow, he would return, and +stretching out his neck would take hold of her dress and pull her towards +the water, not in anger, but with a kind and pressing insistence, as +showing her what was best. This he did usually when he had finished the +food she brought, and when she left the bank would swim up and down, +waiting to see if she were coming back. + +The time-honoured brutality of swan-upping is now mitigated by law, its +cruelty being obvious. It would be far better to leave them the use of +their wings, which would enable them to seek food at a distance in winter, +and to escape the ice, which sometimes breaks their legs. Several of these +flightless swans were starved to death in 1902. + + + + +CANVEY ISLAND + + +Down near Thames mouth is the curious reclamation from the river mud known +as Canvey Island. It is separated from the land by a "fleet," in which the +Danes are recorded to have laid up their ships in the early period of +their invasions, and the village opposite on the mainland is called +Benfleet. Though on the river, it is a half-marine place, with the typical +sea-plants growing on the saltings by the shore. In summer I noticed that +the graves below the grey sea-eaten, storm-furrowed walls of the church +have wreaths of sea-lavender laid upon them. But there is not the same +rich carpet of sea-flowers as at Wells or Blakeney. Nor is the deposit so +rich, so soft, so ready to be covered with smiling meadows as those of +North Norfolk, built up from the mud-clouds of the Fen. Canvey Island +itself is a heavy, indurated soil in parts, now well established, and +producing fine crops. But is it the kind of ground which would pay a fair +return on the cost of "inning it" to-day? The wheat is good, the straw +long, and the ears full. The oats are less good, perhaps because the soil +is too heavy. The beans are strong and healthy; clover, which does not +mind a salty soil, thrives there; and there are strong crops of mangold. +But it is not like the Fenland; it cracks under the sun, "pans" upon the +surface, and is not adapted for inexpensive or for intensive cultivation. +Such was the writer's impression from a careful view of the farms in the +middle of harvest. But as a fact in the history of English agriculture, +and in its relation to the past story of the Thames mouth, and its +possibilities as a future health resort, this work of the enterprising +Dutchmen in the beginning of the seventeenth century is full of interest. +In 1622 Sir Henry Appleton, the owner of the marsh, agreed to give +one-third of it to Joas Croppenburg, a Dutchman skilled in the making of +dikes, if he "inned" the marsh. This the Dutchman did off hand, and +enclosed six thousand acres by a wall twenty miles round. Like many parts +of the Fens, the island was peopled for a time by Dutchmen engaged on the +works, and Croppenburg is said to have built there a church. Two small +Dutch cottages remain, built in 1621. The general aspect of the island is +like that part of Holland near the mouth of the "old" Rhine, but less +closely cultivated and cared for. + +[Illustration: THE LOBSTER SMACK INN, CANVEY ISLAND. _From a photograph by +R. B. Lodge_.] + +[Illustration: THE STEPPING STONES AT BENFLEET. _From a photograph by R. +B. Lodge_.] + +It has always been a separate region. Never yet has it entered the heads +of its proprietors to join it permanently to the mainland. For three +centuries its visitors and people have driven or walked over a tide-washed +causeway at low water, or ferried over at high tide. You do so still, in a +scrubbed and salty boat, while an ancient road-mender is occupied in the +oddest of all forms of road maintenance. He stirs and swirls the mud as +the tide goes down, to wash it out of the hollow way, otherwise it would +be turned into warp-land every day, and become impassable. The Dutchmen's +roads are sound and straight enough on the island. Outside the wall the +samphire and orach beds are wholly marine. Inside the dikes and ditches +are filled with a purely sweet-water vegetation. Further seawards, or +rather riverwards, at a place called "Sluis," they are fringed with wild +rose and wild plum, and the ditches are deep in rushes, in willow herb, in +purple nightshade, water-mint, and reeds. + +Camden gives a curious account of the island in his day. It was constantly +almost submerged. The people lived by keeping sheep on it. There were four +thousand of a very excellent flavour. Evidently this was the origin of +_pre-sale_ mutton in England. Camden saw them milking their sheep, +from which they made ewe-milk cheeses. When the floods rose the sheep used +to be driven on to low mounds which studded the central parts of the +marsh, and these mounds are there still. Some are covered with wild-plum +bushes. One, in the centre of the island, is the site of the village of +Canvey; and on one, at the time of the writer's last visit, two fine old +Essex rams were sleeping in the sun. There was no flood; the island had +not known even a partial one for some years. But true to the instincts of +their race, they had occupied the highest ground, though it was only a few +feet above the levels. There are few land-birds on Canvey Island, because +there are few trees. Some greenfinches, a whinchat or two, almost no +pipits or larks, and very few sparrows. The shore-birds are numerous and +increasing, for the Essex County Council strictly protect all the eggs and +birds during the breeding season. Enormous areas of breeding ground are +now protected in the wide fringe of private fresh-water marshes of this +river-intersected shore. Plovers, redshanks, terns, ducks, especially the +wild mallards, are increasing. So are the black-headed gulls; even the +oyster-catchers are returning. After nesting the birds lead their young to +the southern point of Canvey Island. It is too near the growing and +popular Southend for the birds to be other than shy. But as they are not +allowed to be shot till the middle of August, they are able to take care +of themselves. At the flow of the tide, before the shooting begins, the +visitor who makes his way to this distant and unpeopled promontory sees +the birds in thousands. Out at sea the ducks were this year as numerous as +in the old days before breechloaders and railways. Stints and ringed +plover, golden plover and redshanks were flitting everywhere from island +to island on the mud and ooze; curlews were floating and flapping over the +"fleets"; and all were in security. As the tide flowed, they crowded on to +the highest and last-covered islets, whence, as the inexorable tide again +rose, they took wing and flew swiftly to the Essex shore. The Sluis, +looking across to the Kentish shore, is the home of the seagulls. Many +quaint ships lie anchored there--Dutch eel-boats, which call for +refreshment after selling the cargo; barges; hoys from the Medway bound to +Harwich; and fishing-smacks and timber-brigs. Round these the seagulls +float, as tame almost as London pigeons. They prefer company, at least the +lesser gulls do; the big herring gulls and black-backed gulls keep aloof. + +[Illustration: HAULING THE NETS FOR WHITEBAIT. _From photographs by R. +B. Lodge_.] + +The hope of reclaiming land from the waves exercises a peculiar +fascination over most minds. It presents itself in more than one form as a +most desirable activity. It is something like creation--a form of making +earth from sea. The clothing of the fringe of ocean's bed with herbage, +the reaping of a harvest where rolled the tide, the barring out of the +dominant sea, the vision, not altogether illusive, of planting industrious +and deserving men on the ground so won, all these are alluring ideas. The +undertaker, to use the word in vogue in the Stuart days when such +enterprises were in high favour, always leaves a name among posterity, +generally an honoured name, and in nearly every case one associated with +courage, perseverance, and in some measure with benevolence. The +picturesque and sentimental side will always remain to the credit of the +reclaimers of the waste of Neptune's manor. But if the balance of +profitable expenditure, or of good done to others, is weighed between +winning land from the sea and expenditure in improving the cultivation of +land already accessible, the award should probably be given to the latter. +Intensive cultivation and the improvement of the millions of acres which +we now possess is a more thankworthy task, demands more brains, and should +give greater results than the gaining of a few thousands of acres now +covered by water. This conclusion is not the one which any lover of +enterprise or of picturesque endeavour would prefer. It is a pity that it +is so. Perhaps in days to come when wheat is once more precious the sea +wastes may once more be worth recovery. But even so they are not desirable +spots on which to plant a population. They are by natural causes on the +way to nowhere, and out of communication with the towns and villages. +Brading Harbour, in the Isle of Wight, is an exception, for it ran up +inland. Lord Leicester's marshes at Holkham are narrow though long, and, +while splendidly fertile, are all well within reach of the farms and +villages. But to scatter farms and labourers' cottages on the dreary flats +of a place like Canvey Island is not likely to appeal to the wishes of +modern agriculturists, who feel the dulness of rural life acutely already. +The growth of the Jewish colonies not far off on the mainland, where poor +Hebrews continually reinforce a community devoted to field and garden +labour and content to begin by earning the barest living, seems to +indicate that a population from the poorest urban class might be found for +reclaimed land. But the industrious town artisans of English blood have +not yet found life so intolerable as to be ready to try the experiment. + + + + +THE LONDON THAMES AS A WATERWAY + + +Mary Boyle, in "Her Book," speaking of the time when her father had an +appointment at the Navy Board and a residence in Somerset House, says, "It +was our great delight to go by water on Sunday afternoon to Westminster +Abbey, and there is no doubt we occasionally cut a grand figure on the +river; for when my father went out he had a splendid barge, rowed by +boatmen clad entirely in scarlet, with black jockey caps, such as in those +picturesque old days formed part of that beautiful river procession in +honour of the Lord Mayor, on the 9th of November, over the disappearance +of which pageant I have often mourned." + +It was not until the early days of the present reign that neglect and dirt +spoiled our river as an almost Royal waterway; and we believe that as late +as the days of Archbishop Tait the Primate's State barge used to convey +him from Lambeth Palace to the House of Lords opposite. State barges and +river processions were the standing examples of State pageantry, +thoroughly popular and remembered by the intensely conservative people of +London; and it is a tribute to the feeling that the use of the river was a +necessary part of London life, that the Lord Mayor and his suite on the +9th of November used to take boat at Blackfriars Bridge, and went thence +by water to Westminster Hall, returning in their State barges to the +bridge, where their coaches were waiting for them. We may credit the +founders of the earliest illustrated paper with a knowledge of the popular +sentiment of the day. When the _Illustrated London News_ was +established the title-page of that paper showed the Thames, with the +procession of State barges in the foreground, and the then new and popular +river steamers passing by them. + +In addition to cleanliness something in the form of a restoration of old +conditions of water-level and other improvements by modern engineering +will also be required if the river is to become a popular waterway. Among +the main drawbacks to its present use is the great difference in level +between high and low water. The old London Bridge, with its multiplied +arches and pillars, acted as a lock. It admitted the flood tide more +easily than it released the ebb. The consequence was that when the tide +began to fall the waters above were pent in by the bridge, and the river +was kept at a level of three feet higher than it was below the +obstruction. Even now at flood tide it is a splendid and imposing river. +But the very improvements which add to its dignity when the tide is +flowing, have caused it to remain almost waterless for a longer period +during each day. The dredging and deepening of the channel forces the +waterway to contract its flow, while the embanking of its sides enables +the tide to slip down at great speed. For four hours in each tide the +Thames is not so much a river as a half-empty conduit. It is not in the +least probable that this will be allowed to continue. The success of the +half-tide lock at Richmond has been beyond all expectation. It has secured +a perpetual river, whether on the ebb or flow, with a mean level suited +for boating and traffic at all hours. A scheme for another lock of the +same kind at Wandsworth is now accepted in principle and nearly completed +in detail. When this is built the long stretch of river from Wandsworth, +past Putney, Ranelagh, Hammersmith, Barnes, and Kew, will retain a +permanent and constant supply, augmented at the flood tide, but never +falling below a certain level at the ebb. Then must follow the final and +complete measure for making the London river the greatest natural amenity +in the Metropolis, a half-tide lock at London Bridge, to hold up the water +opposite the historic and magnificent frontage of St. Paul's, the Temple, +Westminster and Lambeth, and upwards to above the embankments at Chelsea. +The result would be an immense fresh-water lake, with an ebb and flow to +keep it sweet and pure, but remaining for the greater part of the +twenty-four hours at a fixed level, and during this period of rest only +moved by a very gentle downward stream, or else practically still when the +water sank level with the sills of the lock. This would make it not only +easy for boats propelled by steam, sail, or oars to move on it at all +hours, without hindrance from the present strong up or down currents, but +also absolutely safe. Any craft, from the outrigger and Canada canoe, to +the improved river steamers which would at once be launched upon its +waters, could float with ease and safety on the London Thames. + +The scene in the near future can be imagined from the analogy of Henley, +though the larger scale of the London river makes the forecast more +difficult to bring into proportion. The intentionally decorative side, +given on the upper river by the houseboats, will doubtless be supplied by +a new service of public or municipal passenger steamers, able to ply +continuously at all hours, independently of the tide, as fast as safety +permits, and absolutely punctual because the stream will be under control. +These should be as brilliantly carved, gilded, coloured, and furnished as +possible, surplus profits only going to the municipal coffers after the +boats have been repaired yearly and thoroughly redecorated. The scheme is +not in the least visionary. The Chairman of one of the tramway companies +obtained recently complete estimates for a fast, luxurious, and beautiful +service of Thames passenger boats, which he was convinced would pay even +now; and though he did not succeed in inducing the shareholders to accept +the idea of this alternative investment, there is no doubt that on the +improved river the improved steamers would pay. A simultaneous and +necessary addition would be the building of numerous broad, accessible, +and beautiful stairs and landing places. Instead of the narrow gangway +through which files of passengers slowly creep there must be long +platforms, on to which the crowds on board the vessels step, as from a +train, all along the length of the ships, so that the touch and departure +may be rapid. The decline of traffic on the river is largely due to the +narrowness and fewness of these points of access, which were gradually +closed as the river was deserted for the road, while their blocking or +neglect discouraged efforts to improve or multiply boats and steamers. + +In 1543 there were twelve large and handsome flights of stairs down to the +river between Blackfriars and Westminster. In 1600, besides these there +were public and private gateways of large size, covered docks for State +and private barges, and every convenience for access to the water. There +were stairs and stages at Essex House, Arundel House, Somerset House, York +House (the water-gate of which still remains, with a frontage of +embankment and garden between it and the river of to-day), Bedford House, +Durham House, Whitehall, and Westminster. The latter were "the King's +Stairs." There are few constructions which lend themselves better to +architectural treatment than water-gates and stairways. They would become +one of the features of the Embankment. On the river itself the City +Companies would once more launch their State barges, and the Houses of +Parliament would have a flotilla of decorative steam or electric launches. +Permanent moorings, now difficult to maintain near the bank on account of +the runaway tide, would hold boats, launches, and single-handed sailing +yachts. No one will grudge the County Council a State barge; while the new +municipalities which border on the river--Westminster, Southwark, Fulham, +Kensington, and the rest--will endeavour to interest their members in the +great waterway by following the example of the Thames Conservancy and +sending their representatives for official voyages to survey its banks and +note suggestions for improvements in their actual setting and +surroundings. No doubt in winter all the minor pleasure traffic would +cease. But there is no reason whatever why a service of ornamental and +well-equipped screw steamers plying at very short intervals, and with +absolute punctuality, should not continue all the winter through. They +would be entirely unlike the "penny boat." Double-storied deckhouses, +glazed and warmed, would afford the passengers more room, purer air, and a +more rapid means of transport than the omnibus, and a far more agreeable +mode of crossing from one side of the river to the other than by railway +bridges, tunnels, or the architecturally beautiful, but crowded, stone +bridges used for ordinary traffic. + + + + +THE THAMES AS A NATIONAL TRUST + + +A movement is on foot among various societies interested in the +preservation of outdoor England to take measures jointly for the +protection of the beauties of the Thames. The subject is one which +attracts more interest yearly, and the time has now come when the nation +should make up its mind on the subject of such splendid properties as it +possesses in "real estate" like the Thames and the New Forest, with +especial regard to their value for beauty and enjoyment. It would be +unfair to expect too much from the Thames Conservancy in this direction. +That body exists to maintain the navigation of the river, and to see that +no impediments are put in the way of its use as a waterway. Its duties +are, in the first instance, those of a Highway Board, which deals with a +river instead of a road. It has to buoy wrecks, and see that they are +raised. It controls the speed of steamers and launches, not, in the first +place, because they are a nuisance to pleasure boats, but because the +"wash" destroys the banks, and this costs money to repair. It arranges for +the dredging of shallows in the fairway, for the embankment of the shores, +and for the repair and maintenance of the locks. Its business is to do +this as cheaply as is consistent with efficiency, and to lay no +unavoidable burden on the trade of the river. The preservation of its +amenities is not, strictly speaking, the object for which the Conservancy +exists. Yet it has done much in this direction, by obtaining from time to +time powers not originally in its jurisdiction. It may be said to be on +its way to become a guardian of the amenities of the river, though these, +which are fast becoming far more important than its use as a means of +traffic, were at first only accidentally objects of solicitude to the +Conservators, and such attention as is by them devoted to this end is +mainly confined to the Upper Thames, and not to the London river. +Legislation to preserve natural beauty, or prevent disfigurement, has +practically only been possible in recent years, and the wish to do so, +though shared by most classes, is not yet so pronounced as it ought to be. +What the Conservancy has been able to do, under these circumstances, has +been done, partly on grounds of health, which are recognised in +Legislation, and partly to preserve the fishery. It has endeavoured to +keep the river from the most disgusting forms of pollution, and lately +from being made the receptacle for minor but objectionable refuse. It has +certainly prevented the Upper Thames being made into a sewer, and also +stopped pollution by paper mills and factories. London's need of pure +drinking water has given immense assistance to the forces which were +working to keep our rivers clean. All the tributaries of the Thames are +now under surveillance, and no village or little country town may use them +to pour sewage into. Country villagers may grumble at being forced to keep +water clean for Londoners to drink. But this Act has done more to preserve +the amenities of the countryside than any other of this generation. It is +so far-reaching, and so frankly expresses the principle of placing public +rights in the "natural commodity" of pure water in our rivers before +private convenience in saving expense, that it is a hopeful sign of the +times. While the existence of this extensive control is a guarantee for +the increasing pureness of the Upper Thames, it is also a precedent for +regulating and increasing the supervision of this national property in the +most beautiful, the largest, and the most pleasant highway in our country, +whose very pavement is a means of delight to the eye, of pleasure to the +touch, and of refreshment to all the senses. The minor regulations for its +maintenance are still more encouraging, for some of these aim directly at +preserving beauty, or objects of natural interest, for their own sake. The +oldest are those which protect the fishery. There is one close-time for +the coarse fish, another for the trout, and a limit of size to the meshes +of the nets which may be used. Such minor disfigurements as the throwing +of ashes from steam-launches into the water or of kitchen _debris_ +from houseboats are forbidden. Recently the Conservators have taken powers +more frankly directed to the preservation of natural beauty, though even +in these cases what may be called direct "taste legislation" has not been +exercised. They have not asked for leave to say definitely: "This or that +object is hideous or disfiguring, and cannot be allowed by the side of our +national highway." But they have said, "This or that object which grows on +or lives by the side of our river-road is beautiful, and gives pleasure to +the public, and therefore it shall not be destroyed." The result has been +that the birds on the river and its banks may no longer be shot, and +certain flowers are not permitted to be plucked. The Conservancy is also +able indirectly to exercise some control over riverside building +operations, and very recently compelled an alteration of design in the use +of a building site on a reach of the Upper Thames. + +[Illustration: FISHING BOATS AT LEIGH. _From photographs by R. B. Lodge_.] + +It may be asked why, if so much has already been done, we should not rest +contented with the present control of the river, trusting that a gradual +increase of powers will be granted to the Conservancy, so that little by +little they may be able to meet all requirements for the preservation of +the Thames as our national river, just as the New Forest is preserved on +the grounds that it was "of unique beauty and historic interest." + +The answer is that, in the first place, this is not the proper business of +the Conservancy, but only an incidental duty; and, in the next, that with +the best of goodwill, as is shown by what they have done, the Conservators +have only been able to mitigate, not to control, a vast amount of +disfigurement and abuse of the river in the past. They were not created +_ad hoc_, and the body has not the position which would enable them +to take a strong line, or powers for expenditure on purely +non-remunerative business, such as might be necessary if a millowner had +to be bought out if about to sell his property for conversion into a +gasworks, like the factory of the Brentford Gas Company just opposite the +palace at Kew, or the foul soapworks which for years disfigured the banks +and polluted the air at Barnes. They have not the funds to maintain a +proper police to stop the minor pollution of the river, or to scavenge it +properly, and anywhere below Kew Bridge they are entirely unable to cope +with bankside disfigurements. Else we cannot believe that for years the +bank opposite the terrace at Barnes and the villas above it would have +been given up to the shooting of dustbin refuse for hundreds of yards, or +that Chiswick and Richmond would have been permitted to pour "sewage +effluent" into what are still two of the finest reaches on the London +river, or that we should see advertisements of "A Site on the River-- +Suitable for a Nuisance Trade," advertised, as was recently done, in a +daily paper. If the London public, for instance, will only make up its +mind in time that the Thames is something really necessary to its +enjoyment of life; that it is the most beautiful natural area which they +can easily reach; that on it may be had the freshest air, the best +exercise, good sport (if the fishery were replenished and the water kept +clean), and constant rest and refreshment for mind and body--it would no +doubt succeed in inducing Parliament to put the river under a strong +Commission with an adequate endowment. But the preservation of the Thames +is more than a local, or even a London, question. It is a national +property and of national importance, and should be managed from this point +of view. Mr. Richardson Evans has made out a good case for national +_property_ in scenery generally. But here the case is stronger, +because the river _is_ a national property already, and anything +which decreases its amenities for private ends damages the property. Like +very much other real estate, its value depends now not on its return to +the nation as a highway (above London, that is), but purely as a "pleasure +estate." Supposing any private owner to be in possession of a beautiful +stretch of river, is it conceivable that, if he could, he would not get a +law passed to prevent gasworks, or hideous advertisements, or rowdy +steamers, or stinking dust-heaps, or sewage works from spoiling any part +of it? Would he let people throw in dead cats and dogs, or set up +cocoa-nut shies on the banks?--all of which things have been done, and are +done, between Syon House and Putney Bridge, on the way by river from +London itself to London's fairest suburbs, Richmond and Twickenham. Or +would he allow himself to be shut off from access to his own river, or +forbidden to walk along the path by its side, supposing that one existed? +Yet the public, whose rights of way on the Thames are as good as those of +any private owner on his own waters, either suffer these things to go by +default, or at most permit and only faintly encourage a body which was not +created to care for this purpose, to undertake it because there is no +other authority to do so. It is no use to leave these things to the local +authority, however competent. There is always the danger that local +authorities--even those representing interests normally opposed to each +other--may agree to press local interests at the expense of the public. +What is needed is that both the New Forest and the Thames shall be created +national Trusts. Both are as valuable, as unique, and as important as the +British Museum, and should be controlled by trustees of such standing and +position that their decision on matters of taste and expediency in +managing and maintaining the natural amenities of the national forest and +the national stream would be beyond question. The decisions of the +trustees of the British Museum are scarcely ever questioned by public +opinion. Could not the national river be placed under similar +guardianship? + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Naturalist on the Thames, by C. J. 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Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Naturalist on the Thames + +Author: C. J. Cornish + +Release Date: August, 2005 [EBook #8682] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on July 31, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NATURALIST ON THE THAMES *** + + + + +Produced by Eric Eldred, Robert Connal +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + +[Illustration: FOX FLUSHING PHEASANTS. _From a drawing by Lancelot +Speed._] + + +THE NATURALIST ON THE THAMES + +BY + +C.J. CORNISH, F.Z.S. + + + + + + +PREFACE + +Having spent the greater part of my outdoor life in the Thames Valley, in +the enjoyment of the varied interests of its natural history and sport, I +have for many years hoped to publish the observations contained in the +following chapters. They have been written at different intervals of time, +but always with a view to publication in the form of a commentary on the +natural history and character of the valley as a whole, from the upper +waters to the mouth. For permission to use those which have been +previously printed I have to thank the editors and proprietors of the +_Spectator_, _Country Life_, and the _Badminton Magazine_. + +C.J. CORNISH. + +ORFORD HOUSE, +CHISWICK MALL. + + + + + + +CONTENTS + + +THE THAMES AT SINODUN HILL + +THE FILLING OF THE THAMES + +THE SHELLS OF THE THAMES + +THE ANTIQUITY OF RIVER PLANTS + +INSECTS OF THE THAMES + +"THE CHAVENDER OR CHUB" + +THE WORLD'S FIRST BUTTERFLIES + +BUTTERFLY SLEEP + +CRAYFISH AND TROUT + +FOUNTAINS AND SPRINGS + +BIRD MIGRATION DOWN THE THAMES + +WITTENHAM WOOD + +SPORT AT WITTENHAM + +SPORT AT WITTENHAM (_continued_) + +A FEBRUARY FOX HUNT + +EWELME--A HISTORICAL RELIC + +EEL-TRAPS + +SHEEP, PLAIN AND COLOURED + +SOME RESULTS OF WILD-BIRD PROTECTION + +OSIERS AND WATER-CRESS + +FOG AND DEW PONDS + +POISONOUS PLANTS + +ANCIENT THAMES MILLS + +THE BIRDS THAT STAY + +ANCIENT HEDGES + +THE ENGLISH MOCKING BIRD + +FLOWERS OF THE GRASS FIELDS + +RIVERSIDE GARDENING + +COTTAGES AND CAMPING OUT + +NETTING STAGS IN RICHMOND PARK + +RICHMOND OLD DEER PARK + +FISH IN THE LONDON RIVER + +CHISWICK EYOT + +CHISWICK FISHERMEN + +BIRDS ON THAMES RESERVOIRS + +THE CARRION CROW + +LONDON'S BURIED ELEPHANTS + +SWANS, BLACK AND WHITE + +CANVEY ISLAND + +THE LONDON THAMES AS A WATERWAY + +THE THAMES AS A NATIONAL TRUST + + + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +A FOX FLUSHING PHEASANTS + +WILD DUCK + +A FULL THAMES + +SHELLS OF THE THAMES + +A FLOWERY BANK + +BURR REED AND FLOWERING RUSH + +A MONSTER CHUB + +BUTTERFLIES AT REST + +A TROUT + +OTTERS + +A WATERHEN ON HER NEST + +A DABCHICK + +A BADGER + +FOX AND CUB + +EWELME POOL + +A NIGHTJAR AND YOUNG ONE + +A REED-BUNTING + +PEELING OSIERS + +BOTLEY MILL + +EEL BUCKS + +ORCHIS + +WATER VIOLET AND WILD IRIS + +A NETTED STAG + +BREAM AND ROACH + +A GRAMPUS AT CHISWICK + +SMELTS + +THE LOBSTER SMACK INN, CANVEY ISLAND + +THE STEPPING-STONES AT BENFLEET + +HAULING THE NETS FOR WHITEBAIT + +FISHING BOATS AT LEIGH + + + + + + +THE NATURALIST ON THE THAMES + + + + +THE THAMES AT SINODUN HILL + + +Fresh water is almost the oldest thing on earth. While the rocks have been +melted, the sea growing salter, and the birds and beasts perfecting +themselves or degenerating, the fresh water has been always the same, +without change or shadow of turning. So we find in it creatures which are +inconceivably old, still living, which, if they did not belong to other +worlds than ours, date from a time when the world was other than it is +now; and the fresh-water plants, equally prehistoric, on which these +creatures feed. Protected by this constant element the geographical range +of these animals and plants is as remarkable as their high antiquity. +There are in lake Tanganyika or the rivers of Japan exactly the same kinds +of shells as in the Thames, and the sedges and reeds of the Isis are found +from Cricklade to Kamschatka and beyond Bering Sea to the upper waters of +the Mackenzie and the Mississippi. The Thames, our longest fresh-water +river, and its containing valley form the largest natural feature in this +country. They are an organic whole, in which the river and its tributaries +support a vast and separate life of animals and plants, and modify that of +the hills and valleys by their course. Civil law has recognised the Thames +system as a separate area, and given to it a special government, that of +the Conservators, whose control now extends from the Nore to the remotest +springs in the hamlets in its watershed; and natural law did so long +before, when the valley became one of the migration routes of certain +southward-flying birds. Its course is of such remote antiquity that there +are those who hold that its bed may twice have been sunk beneath the sea, +and twice risen again above the face of the waters.[1] It has ever been a +masterful stream holding its own against the inner forces of the earth; +for where the chalk hills rose, silently, invisibly, in the long line from +the vale of White Horse to the Chilterns the river seems to have worn them +down as they rose at the crossing point at Pangbourne, and kept them +under, so that there was no barring of the Thames, and no subsequent +splitting of the barrier with gorges, cliffs, and falls. Its clear waters +pass from the oolite of the Cotswolds, by the blue lias and its fossils, +the sandstone rock at Clifton Hampden, the gravels of Wittenham, the great +chalk range of the downs, the greensand, the Reading Beds, to the +geological pie of the London Basin, and the beds of drifts and brick earth +in which lie bedded the frames and fragments of its prehistoric beasts. In +and beside its valley are great woods, parks, downs, springs, ancient +mills and fortresses, palaces and villages, and such homes of prehistoric +man as Sinodun Hill and the hut remains at Northfield. It has 151 miles of +fresh water and 77 of tideway, and is almost the only river in England in +which there are islands, the famous eyots, the lowest and largest of which +at Chiswick touches the London boundary. + +After leaving Oxford the writer has lived for many years opposite this +typical and almost unspoilt reach of the London river, and for a +considerable time shot over the estate on the upper Thames of which +Sinodun Hill is the hub and centre. This fine outlier of the chalk, with +its twin mount Harp Hill, dominates not only the whole of the Thames +valley at its feet, but the two cross vales of the Thame and the Ock. On +the bank opposite the Thame joins the Isis, and from thence flows on the +THAMES. Weeks and months spent there at all seasons of the year gave even +better opportunities for becoming acquainted with the life of the Upper +Thames, than the London river did of learning what the tidal stream really +is and may become. Fish, fowl and foxes, rare Thames flowers and shy +Thames chub, butterflies, eel-traps, fountains and springs, river shells +and water insects, are all parts of the "natural commodities" of the +district. There is no better and more representative part of the river +than this. Close by is Nuneham, one of the finest of Thames-side parks, +and behind that the remains of wild Oxfordshire show in Thame Lane and +Clifton Heath. How many centuries look down from the stronghold on Sinodun +Hill, reckoning centuries by human occupation, no one knows or will know. +There stands the fortress of some forgotten race, and below it the double +rampart of a Roman camp, running from Thame to Isis. Beyond is Dorchester, +the abbey of the oldest see in Wessex, and the Abbey Mill. The feet of the +hills are clothed by Wittenham Wood, and above the wood stretches the +weir, and round to the west, on another great loop of the river, is Long +Wittenham and its lovely backwater. Even in winter, when the snow is +falling like bags of flour, and the river is chinking with ice, there is +plenty to see and learn, or in the floods, when the water roars through +the lifted hatches and the rush of the river throbs across the misty +flats, and the weeds and sedges smell rank as the stream stews them in its +mash-tub in the pool below the weir. + +[1] Phillips, "Geology of Oxford and of the Valley of the Thames." + + + + +THE FILLING OF THE THAMES + + +In the late autumn of 1893, one of the driest years ever known, I went to +the weir pool above the wood, and found the shepherd fishing. The river +was lower than had ever been known or seen, and on the hills round the +"dowsers" had been called in with their divining rods to find the vanished +waters. + +"Thee've got no water in 'ee, and if 'ee don't fill'ee avore New Year, +'ee'll be no more good for a stree-um"! Thus briefly, to Father Thames, +the shepherd of Sinodun Hill. He had pitched his float into the pool below +the weir--the pool which lies in the broad, flat fields, with scarce a +house in sight but the lockman's cottage--and for the first time on a +Saturday's fishing he saw his bait go clear to the bottom instead of being +lost to view instantly in the boiling water of the weir-pool. He could +even see the broken piles and masses of concrete which the river in its +days of strength had torn up and scattered on the bottom, and among them +the shoals of fat river fish eyeing his worm as critically as his master +would a sample of most inferior oats. Yet the pool was beautiful to look +upon. Where the water had sunk the rushes had grown taller than ever, and +covered the little sandbanks left by the ebbing river with a forest of +green and of red gold, where the frost had laid its finger on them. In the +back eddies and shallows the dying lily leaves covered the surface with +scales of red and copper, and all along the banks teazles and frogbits, +and brown and green reeds, and sedges of bronze and russet, made a screen, +through which the black and white moorhens popped in and out, while the +water-rats, now almost losing the aquatic habit, and becoming pedestrian, +sat peeling rushes with their teeth, and eyeing the shepherd on the weir. +Even the birds seemed to have voted that the river was never going to fill +again, for a colony of sandpipers, instead of continuing their migration +to the coast, had taken up their quarters on the little spits of mud and +shingle now fringing the weir-pool, and were flitting from point to point, +and making believe it was a bit of Pagham Harbour or Porchester Creek. On +every sunny morning monster spiders ran out from the holes and angles of +the weir-frame, and spun webs across and across the straddling iron legs +below the footbridge, right down to the lowered surface of the water, +which had so sunk that each spider had at least four feet more of web than +he could have reckoned upon before and waxed fat on the produce of the +added superficies of enmeshed and immolated flies. So things went on +almost till New Year's Eve. The flats of the Upper Thames, where the +floods get out up the ditches and tributaries, and the wild duck gather on +the shallow "splashes" and are stalked with the stalking-horse as of old, +were as dry as Richmond Park, and sounded hollow to the foot, instead of +wheezing like a sponge. The herons could not find a meal on a hundred +acres of meadow, which even a frog found too dry for him, and the little +brooks and land-springs which came down through them to the big river were +as low as in June, as clear as a Hampshire chalk stream, and as full of +the submerged life of plants. Instead of dying with the dying year at the +inrush of cold water brought by autumn rains, all the cresses, and +tresses, and stars, and tangles, and laced sprays of the miniature growth +of the springs and running brooks were as bright as malachite, though +embedded in a double line of dead white shivering sedge. And thus the +shortest day went by, and still the fields lay dry, and the river shrank, +and the fish were off the feed; and though murky vapours hung over the +river and the flats and shut out the sun, the long-expected rains fell not +until the last week's end of the year. Then at last signs and tokens began +by which the knowing ones prophesied that there was something the matter +with the weather. The sheep fed as if they were not to have another bite +for a week, and bleated without ceasing, strange birds flew across the sky +in hurrying flocks, and in all the country houses and farmers' halls the +old-fashioned barometers, with their dials almost as big as our eight-day +clocks and pointers as long as a knitting-needle, began to fall, or rather +to go backwards, further than was ever recorded. And whereas it is, and +always has been, a fact well known to the owners of these barometers that +if they are tapped violently in the centre of their mahogany stomachs the +needle will jerk a little in the direction of recovery, and is thereby +believed to exercise a controlling influence in the direction of better +weather, the more the barometers were tapped and thumped the more the +needle edged backwards, till in some cases it went down till it pointed to +the ivory star at the very bottom of the dial, and then struck work and +stuck there. + +[Illustration: WILD DUCK. _From a photograph by Charles Reid._] + +[Illustration: A FULL THAMES. _From a photograph by Taunt & Co._] + +That night the storm began. To connoisseurs in weather in the +meteorological sense it was a joy and an ensample, for it was a perfect +cyclonic storm, exactly the right shape, with all its little dotted lines +of "isobars" running in ovals one inside another. From another point of +view it was the storm of an hour spread over two days, so that there was +plenty of time to see and remember the normal ways of cyclones, which may +be briefly described as first a flush of heat whether in summer or winter, +then a furious wind, then hurrying clouds and much rain, with changes of +wind, then more clouds and more rain, then a "clearing shower" with most +rain, then a furling and brailing-up of the rain clouds, splashes of blue +in the sky, with nets of scud crossing them, sudden gleams of sun, sudden +cold, and perhaps a hail shower, and then piercing cold and sunlight. All +which things happened, but took a long time about it. The storm began in +the night, and howled through the dark. The rain came with the morning; +but it was the "clearing shower," which lasted ten hours, which caused the +filling of the Thames. The wind still blew in furious gusts, but the rain +was almost too heavy to be moved. The sky was one dark, sombre cloud, and +from this the rain poured in slanting lines like pencils of water. But +across this blanket of cloud came darker, lower, and wetter clouds, even +more surcharged with water, from which the deluge poured till the earth +was white like glass with the spraying drops. Out in the fields it was +impossible to see through the rain; but as the end of the column of cloud +began to break and widen the water could be seen in the act of passing +from the land to the river. On the fallows and under the fences all the +surface earth was beaten down or swept away. All seeds which had sunk +naturally below the surface were laid bare. Hundreds of sprouting horse +chestnuts, of sprouting acorns beneath the trees, thousands of grains of +fallen wheat and barley, of beans, and other seeds of the farm were +uncovered as if by a spade. + +Down every furrow, drain, watercourse, ditch, runnel, and watercut, the +turbid waters were hurrying, all with one common flow, all with increasing +speed, to the Thames. The sound of waters filled the air, dropping, +poppling, splashing, trickling, dripping from leaves to earth, falling +from bank to rills below, gurgling under gate-paths, lapping against the +tree-trunks and little ridge piles in the brooks, and at last sweeping +with a hushed content into the bosom of Thames. And the river himself was +good for something more than a "stree-um." He was bank-full and sweeping +on, taking to himself on this side and on that the tributes of his +children, from which the waters poured so fast that they came in almost +clear, and the mingled waters in the river were scarcely clouded in their +flow. The lock-men rose by night and looked at the climbing flood, and +wakened their wives and children, and raised in haste hatch after hatch of +the weirs, and threw open locks and gates. Windsor Weir broke, but the +wires flashed the news on, and the river's course was open, and after the +greatest rain-storm and the lowest barometer known for thirty years, the +Thames was not in flood, but only brimful; and once more a "river of +waters." + + + + +THE SHELLS OF THE THAMES + + +Of the thousands who boat on the Thames during the summer few know or +notice the beauty of the river shells. They are among the most delicate +objects of natural ornament and design in this country. Exquisite pattern, +graceful shapes, and in some cases lovely tints of colour adorn them. +Nature has for once relaxed in their favour her rigid rules, by which she +turns out things of this kind not only alike in shape, but with identical +colour and ornament. Among humming-birds, for instance, each bird is like +the other, literally to a feather. The lustre on each ruby throat or +amethyst wing shines in the same light with the same prismatic divisions. +But even in the London river, if you go and seek among the pebbles above +Hammersmith Bridge when the river is low, you may find a score of +_neretina_ shells not one of which is coloured like the rest or +ornamented with exactly the same pattern, yet each is fit to bejewel the +coronet of some Titania of the waters. A number of these tiny shells, +gathered from below the bridge, lie before the writer, set on black satin +to display the hues. They look at a little distance like a series of mixed +Venetian beads, but of more elegant form. From whichever side they are +seen, the curves are the perfection of flowing line. The colouring and +ornament of each is a marvel and delight. Some are black, with white spots +arranged in lines following the curves, and with the top of the blunt +spiral white. These "black-and-white marble" patterns are followed by a +whole series in which purple takes the place of black, and the spots are +modified into scales. Then comes a row of rose-coloured shells, some with +white lance-heads, or scales, others with alternate bands of white scales +and white dots. Some are polished, others dull, some rosy pink, others +almost crimson. Some are marked with cream and purple like the juice of +black currants with cream in it. In some the scale pattern changes to a +chequer, some are white with purple zig-zags. And lastly come a whole +series in pale olive, and olive and cream, in which the general colour is +that of a blackcap's egg, and the pattern made by alternate spots of olive +and bands of cream. If these little gems of beauty come out of the London +river, what may we not expect in the upper waters of the silver Thames?[1] +A search in the right places in its course will show. But these +_neretinae_ are everywhere up to the source of the river, for they +feed on all kinds of decaying substances. If the pearl is the result of a +disease or injury, the beauty of the _neretina_ is a product or +transformation from foul things to fair ones. + +As the Thames is itself the product and union of all its vassal streams, +an "incarnation" of all the rest, so in its bed it holds all the shells +collected from all its tributaries. Different tribes of shells live in +different waters. Some love the "full-fed river winding slow," some the +swift and crystal chalk-stream. Some only flourish just over the spots +where the springs come bubbling up from the inner cisterns of earth, and +breathe, as it were, the freshness of these untainted waters; others love +the rich, fat mud, others the sides of wearings and piles, others the +river-jungles where the course is choked with weeds. But come what may, or +flourish where they please, the empty shells are in time rolled down from +trout-stream and chalk-stream, fountain and rill, mill-pool and ditch, +cress-bed and water-cut, from the springs of the Cotswolds, the Chilterns, +the downs, from the valleys of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Surrey, +Gloucester, Oxford, and Essex, into the Thames. Once there the river makes +shell collections on its own account, sorting them out from everything +else except a bed of fine sand and gravel, in which they lie like birds' +eggs in bran in a boy's cabinet, ready for who will to pick them up or +sift them out of it. These shell collections are made in the time of +winter floods, though how they are made or why the shells should all +remain together, while sticks, stones, and other rubbish are carried away, +it is impossible to say. They are laid on smooth points of land round +which the waters flow in shallow ripples. Across the river it is always +deep, swift, and dark, though the sandbanks come in places near the +surface, and in the shallows grow water-crowfoot, with waving green hair +under water, and white stems above it. The clean and shining sand shelves +down to the water's edge, and continues below the surface. Here are living +shells, or shells with living fish in them. In the bright water lie +hundreds of the shells of the fresh-water mussels, the bearers of pearls +sometimes, and always lined with that of which pearls are made, the +lustrous nacre. The mealy masses of dry sand beyond the river's lip are +stuffed with these mussel shells. They lie all ways up, endways, sideways, +on their faces, on their backs. The pearl lining shines through the sand, +and the mussels gleam like silver spoons under the water. They crack and +crunch beneath your feet as you step across to search the mass for the +smaller and rarer shells. Many of those in the water contain living +mussels, yellow-looking fat molluscs, greatly beloved of otters, who eat +them as sauce with the chub or bream they catch, and leave the broken +shells of the one by the half-picked bones of the other. There was a +popular song which had for chorus the question, "Did you ever see an +oyster walk upstairs?" These mussels _walk_, and are said to be +"tolerably active" by a great authority on their habits. They have one +foot, on which they travel in search of feeding ground, and leave a +visible track across the mud. There are three or four kinds, two of which +sometimes hold small pearls, while a third is the pearl-bearer proper. +_Unio pictorum_ is the scientific name of one, because the shells +were once the cups in which the old Dutch painters kept their colours, and +are still used to hold ground gold and silver for illuminating. The +pearl-bearing mussel is longer than the other kinds, flatter and darker, +and the lining of mother-of-pearl is equal to half the total thickness of +the shell.[2] + +[Illustration: SHELLS OF THE THAMES. _From a photograph by E. Seeley_] + +Though not so striking from their size and pearly lustre, there are many +shells on the Thames sandbanks not less interesting and in large numbers. +Among these are multitudes of tiny fresh-water cockle shells of all sizes, +from that of a grain of mustard seed to the size of a walnut, flat, curled +shells like small ammonites, fresh-water snail shells of all sizes, river +limpets, _neretinae_, and other and rounder bivalve shells allied to +the cockles. The so-called "snails" are really quite different from each +other, some, the _paludinas_, being large, thick-striped shells, +while the _limnaeas_ are thin, more delicately made, some with fine, +pointed spiral tops, and others in which the top seems to have been +absorbed in the lower stories. There are eight varieties of these +_limnaeas_ alone, and six more elegant shells of much the same +appearance, but of a different race. + +The minute elegance of many of these shells is very striking. Tiny +_physas_ and _succineas_, no larger than shot, live among big +_paludinas_ as large as a garden snail, while all sizes of the larger +varieties are found, from microscopic atoms to the perfect adult. Being +water shells, and not such common objects as land shells, these have no +popular names. The river limpets are called _ancylus fluviatilis_. +Some are no larger than a yew berry, and are shaped like a Phrygian cap; +but they "stick" with proper limpet-like tenacity. On the stems of +water-lilies, on piles, on weeds and roots in any shallow streams, but +always on the under side of the leaves, are the limpets of the Thames. The +small ammonite-like shells are called _planorbis_, and like most of +the others, belong also to the upper tertiary fossils. They feed on the +decaying leaves of the iris and other water plants, and from the number of +divisions on the shell are believed to live for sometimes twenty years. Of +the many varieties, one, the largest, the horn-coloured _planorbis_, +emits a purple dye. Two centuries ago Lister made several experiments in +the hope that he might succeed in fixing this dye, as the Tyrians did that +of the murex, but in vain. There are eleven varieties of this creature +alone. It is easier to find the shells than to discover the living +creature in the river. For many the deep, full river is not a suitable +home; they only come there as the water does, from the tributary streams. +Far up in some rill in the chalk, from the bed of which the water bubbles +up and keeps the stones and gravel bright, whole beds of little +pea-cockles may be found, lying in masses side by side, like seeds sown in +the water-garden of a nymph. + +[1] I have a series of _neretina_ shells from the Philippines, much +larger in size and brown in colour, in which many of the same kinds of +ornament occur. + +[2] A fresh-water mussel shell from North America in my possession is +coloured green, and so marked and crimped as to resemble exactly a patch +of water-weed, such as grows on stones and piles. + + + + +THE ANTIQUITY OF RIVER PLANTS + + +In the still gossamer weather of late October, when the webs lie sheeted +on the flat green meadows and spools of the air-spiders' silk float over +the waters, the birds and fish and insects and flowers of the best of +England's rivers show themselves for the last time in that golden autumn +sun, and make their bow to the audience before retiring for the year. All +the living things become for a few brief hours happy and careless, +drinking to the full the last drops of the mere joy of life before the +advent of winter and rough weather. The bank flowers still show blossom +among the seed-heads, and though the thick round rushes have turned to +russet, the forget-me-not is still in flower; and though the water-lilies +have all gone to the bottom again, and the swallows no longer skim over +the surface, the river seems as rich in life as ever; and the birds and +fish, unfrightened by the boat traffic, are tamer and more visible. + +[Illustration: A FLOWERY BANK NEAR COOKHAM. _From a photograph by E. +Seeley_.] + +The things in the waters and growing out of the waters are very, very old. +The mountains have been burnt with fire; lava grown solid has turned to +earth again and grows vines; chalk was once sea-shells; but the clouds and +the rivers have altered not their substance. Also, so far as this planet +goes, many of the water plants are world-encircling, growing just as they +do here in the rivers of Siberia, in China, in Canada, and almost up to +the Arctic Circle. The creatures which lived on these prehistoric plants +live on them now, and in exactly the same parts of the stream. The same +shells lie next the banks in the shallows as lie next the bank of the +prehistoric river of two million years ago whose bed is cut through at +Hordwell Cliffs on the Solent. The same shells lie next them in the deeper +water, and the sedges and rushes are as "prehistoric" as any plant can +well be. In the clay at Hordwell, which was once the mud of the river, lie +sedges, pressed and dried as if in the leaves of a book, almost exactly +similar in colour, which is kept, and in shape, which is uninjured, to +those which fringe the banks of the Thames to-day. These fresh-water +plants show their hoary antiquity by the fashion of their generation. Most +of them are mono-cotyledonous--with a single seed-lobe, like those of the +early world. There is nothing quite as old among the Thames fishes as the +mud fishes, the lineal descendants of the earliest of their race. But the +same water creatures were feeding on the same plants perhaps when the +Thames first flowed as a river. + +[Illustration: BURR REED AND FLOWERING RUSH. _From photographs by E. +Seeley._] + +The sedge fringe in the shallows, the "haunt of coot and tern" elsewhere, +and of hosts of moorhens and dabchicks on the now protected river, is +mainly composed of the giant rush, smooth and round, which the water-rats +cut down and peel to eat the pith. These great rushes, sometimes ten feet +high, _die_ every year like the sickliest flowers, and break and are +washed away. Few people have ever tried to reckon the number of kinds of +sedges and reeds by the river, and it would be difficult to do so. There +are forty-six kinds of sedge (_carex_), or if the _Scirpus_ tribe be +added, sixty-one, found in our islands. They are not all water plants, for +the sand-sedge with its creeping roots grows on the sandhills, and some of +the rarest are found on mountain-tops. But the river sedges and grasses, +with long creeping roots of the same kind, have played a great part in the +making of flat meadows and in the reclamation of marshes, stopping the +water-borne mud as the sand-sedge stops the blowing sand. They have done +much in this way on the Upper Thames, though not on the lower reaches of +the river. The "sweet sedge," so called--the smell is rather sickly to +most tastes--is now found on the Thames near Dorchester, and between +Kingston and Teddington among other places, though it was once thought +only to flourish on the Norfolk and Fen rivers. It is not a sedge at all, +but related to the common arum, and its flower, like the top joints of the +little finger, represents the "lords and ladies" of the hedges. So the +burr reed, among the prettiest of all the upright plants growing out of +the water, is not a reed, but a reed mace. Its bright green stems and +leaves, and spiky balls, are found in every suitable river from Berkshire +to the Amur, and in North America almost to the Arctic Circle. In the same +way the yellow water villarsia, which though formerly only common near +Oxford, has greatly increased on the Thames until its yellow stars are +found as low as the Cardinal's Well at Hampton Court, extends across the +rivers of Europe and Asia as far as China. The cosmopolitan ways of these +water plants are easily explained. They live almost outside competition. +They have not to take their chance with every new comer, for ninety-nine +out of a hundred stranger seeds are quietly drowned in the embosoming +stream. The water itself keeps its temperature steadily, and only changes +slowly and in no great degree, and then, when the plants are in their +winter sleep the stream may well say that "men may come and men may go, +but I go on for ever." The same is very largely true of the things which +live in the brook. + +Many of the flowers are not quite what their names imply. The true lilies +are among the oldest of plants. But "water-lilies" are not lilies. They +have been placed in order between the barberry and the poppy, because the +seed-head of a water-lily is like the poppy fruit. The villarsia, which +looks like a water-lily, is not related at all, while the buck-bean is not +a bean, but akin to the gentians. Water-violet might be more properly +called water-primrose, for it is closely related to the primrose, though +its colour is certainly violet, and not pale yellow. By this time all the +bladderworts have disappeared under water. In June in a pool near the +inflow of the Thames at Day's Lock, opposite Dorchester, the fine leafless +yellow spikes of flower were standing out of the water like orchids, while +the bladders with their trapdoors were employed in catching and devouring +small tadpoles. There is something quietly horrible about these +carnivorous plants. Their bladders are far too small to take one in whole, +but catch the unhappy infant tadpoles by their tails and hold them till +they die from exhaustion. + +The bank flora of the Thames is nearly all the same from Oxford to Hampton +Court, made up of some score of very fine and striking flowers that grow +from foot to crest on the wall of light marl that forms the bank. +Constantly refreshed by the adjacent water, they flower and seed, seed and +flower, and are haunted by bees and butterflies till the November frosts. +The most decorative of all are the spikes of purple loose-strife. In +autumn when most of the flowers are dead the tip of the leaf at the heads +of the spikes turns as crimson as a flower. The other red flowers are the +valerian, in masses of squashed strawberry, and the fig-wort, tall, +square-stemmed, and set with small carmine knots of flower. In autumn +these become brown seed crockets, and are most decorative. The fourth tall +flower is the flea-bane, and the fifth the great willow-herb. The lesser +plants are the small willow-herbs, whose late blossoms are almost carmine, +the water-mints, with mauve-grey flowers, and the comfrey, both purple and +white. The dewberry, a blue-coloured more luscious bramble fruit, and tiny +wild roses, grow on the marl-face also. At its foot are the two most +beautiful flowers, though not the most effective, the small yellow +snapdragon, or toad-flax, and the forget-me-not. This blue of the +forget-me-nots is as peculiar as it is beautiful. It is not a common blue +by any means, any more than the azure of the chalk-blue butterflies is +common among other insects. Colour is a very constant feature in certain +groups of flowers. One of these includes the forget-me-nots, the borage, +the alkanet, and the viper's bugloss, which keep up this blue as a family +heirloom. Others of the tribe, like the comfrey, have it not, but those +which possess it keep it pure. + +The willows at this time are ready to shed their leaves at the slightest +touch of frost. Yet these leaves are covered with the warts made by the +saw-flies to deposit their eggs in. The male saw-fly of this species and +some others is scarcely ever seen, though the female is so common. The +creature _stings_ the leaf, dropping into the wound a portion of +formic acid, and then lays its egg. The stung leaf swells, and makes the +protecting gall. It is difficult to say when "fly," in the fisherman's use +of the term as the adult insect food of fish, may not appear on the water. +Moths are out on snowy nights, as every collector knows, and on any mild +winter day flies and gnats are seen by streams. In the warm, sunny days of +late September, numbers of some species of ephemerae were seen on the +sedges and willows, with black bodies and gauzy wings, which the dace and +bleak were swallowing eagerly, in quite summer fashion. The water is now +unusually clear, and as the fish come to sun themselves in the shallows +every shoal can be seen. + +Among the typical Thames-valley flowers, all of which would be the better +for protection, are the very rare soldier orchis (_Orchis Militaris_) +and the monkey orchis (_Orchis Simia_), the water-snowflake, the +_hottonia_, or water-violet, the water-villarsia, more elegant even +than the water-lilies, the flowering rush, with a crown of bright +rose-pink flowers. The two orchids named are very interesting plants. Of +the monkey orchis Mr. Claridge Druce says in his "Flora of Oxfordshire" +that it has become exceedingly scarce, not so much from the depredations +of collectors, but from the fondness of rabbits for it and the changes +brought about by agriculture. The soldier orchis is very rare indeed; both +are only found in a few woods in the Thames valley, and possibly in Kent. +The bladderworts fade instantly, and are not much interfered with, and +though the fritillaries are picked for market, the roots are not dug up +because that would injure the meadow turf in which they grow, and business +objections would be raised. + + + + +INSECTS OF THE THAMES + + +Except among the select few, generally either enthusiastic boys or London +mechanics of an inquiring mind, who keep fresh-water aquariums and +replenish them from ponds and brooks at "weekends," few persons outside +the fancy either see or know much of the water insects,[1] or are aware, +when floating on a summer day under the willows in a Thames backwater, of +the near presence of thousands of aquatic creatures, swift, carnivorous, +and pursuing, or feeding greedily on the plants in the water garden that +floats below the boat, or weaving nests, tending eggs, or undergoing the +most astonishing transitions of form and activity, on or below the +surface. Many of them are perhaps better equipped for encountering all the +chances of existence than any other creatures. They can swim, dive, and +run below water, live on dry land, or fly in the air, and many are so +hardy as to be almost proof against any degree of cold. The great +carnivorous water-beetle, the dytiscus, after catching and eating other +creatures all day, with two-minute intervals to come up, poke the tips of +its wings out of the water and jam some air against its spiracles, before +descending once more to its subaqueous hunting-grounds, will rise by night +from the surface of the Thames, lift again those horny wing-cases, unfold +a broad and beautiful pair of gauzy wings, and whirl off on a visit of +love and adventure to some distant pond, on to which it descends like a +bullet from the air above. When people are sitting in a greenhouse at +night with no lamp lighted, talking or smoking, they sometimes hear a +smash as if a pebble had been dropped on the glass from above. It is a +dytiscus beetle, whose compound eyes have mistaken the shine of the glass +in the moonlight for the gleam of a pond. At night some of the whirligig +beetles, the shiny, bean-like creatures seen whirling in incessant circles +in corners by the bank, make a quite audible and almost musical sound upon +the water. The activity of many of the water insects is astonishing. +Besides keeping in almost incessant motion, those which spend most of +their time below water have generally to come up constantly to breathe. +Such are the water-bugs, water-scorpions and stick insects, which, though +slender as rushes, and with limbs like hairs, can catch and kill the fry +of the smaller fishes. Most of these are like divers, who have to provide +themselves with air to breathe, and work at double speed in addition. + +If a group of whirligig beetles is disturbed, the whole party will dive +like dabchicks, rising to the surface again when they feel the need for +breathing-air again. The diving-bell spiders, which do not often frequent +the main Thames stream, though they are commonly found in the ditches near +it, gather air to use just as a soldier might draw water and dispose it +about his person in water-bottles. They do this in two ways, one of which +is characteristic of many of the creatures which live both in and out of +the water as the spider does. The tail of the spider is covered with +black, velvety hair. Putting its tail out of the water, it collects much +air in the interstices of the velvet. It then descends, when all this air, +drawn down beneath the surface, collects into a single bubble, covering +its tail and breathing holes like a coat of quicksilver. This supply the +spider uses up when at work below, until it dwindles to a single speck, +when it once more ascends and collects a fresh store. The writer has seen +one of these spiders spin so many webs across the stems of water plants in +a limited space that not only the small water-shrimps and larvae, but even +a young fish were entangled. The other and more artistic means of +gathering air employed by the spider is to catch a bubble on the surface +and swim down below with it. The bubble is then let go into a bell woven +under some plant, into which many other bubbles have been drawn. In this +diving-bell the eggs are laid and the young hatched, under the constant +watch of the old spider. Few people care to take the trouble to gaze for +any time into a shallow, still piece of water, in which the bottom is +plainly discernible, and a crop of water-weeds makes a wall on either side +of some central "well." If they do find some such pond near the Thames +banks or a shallow backwater, they may see after a few minutes much that +is new and suggestive of strange activities. Everything will be quiet and +motionless at first, for water beasts are very suspicious of movement +above them, and all sham dead, or lie quite still, and are strangely +invisible. On the other hand, they have none of the power of remaining +motionless for half-an-hour like land animals. Soon what look like sticks, +but are caddis larva, begin to creep on the bottom. Then more brown +objects, larvae of dragon-flies and water-beetles, detach themselves from +the stems of the plants and cruise up and down seeking what they may +devour. Other creatures feeding and swimming among or beneath the plants +crawl out on to the upper surface, and the water-beetles come up to +breathe, or to play upon the surface. One of the largest of these is a +very fine _black_ beetle, a vegetable-feeding creature. It is most +interesting to see two of them--they generally live in pairs--browsing on +one of the fern-like plants of the Thames. This plant has leaves like fern +blades, each having in turn its own small spikelets. The big beetles work +along the leaf like a cow in a cabbage yard, biting off, chewing, and +swallowing each in succession, and leaving the stem perfectly bare. +Sometimes it looks as if the two beetles were eating for a match, like the +beef-eating contests held in country public-houses, in which the winner +once boasted that he won easily "afore he came to vinegar." + +The number of carnivorous creatures found in the water seems out of all +proportion to the usual order of Nature. But this is perhaps because the +minute, almost invisible creatures, or entomostraca, of which the rivers +and ponds are full, and which are the main food of the smaller water +carnivora, live mainly on decaying vegetable substance, which is +practically converted and condensed into microscopical animals before +these become in turn the food of others. It is as if all trees and grass +on land were first eaten by locusts or white ants, and the locusts and +white ants were then eaten by semi-carnivorous cows and sheep, which were +in turn eaten by true carnivora. The water-weeds, both when living and +decaying, are eaten by the entomostraca, the entomostraca are eaten by the +larvae of insects, the perfect insects are eaten by the fish, and the fish +are eaten by men, otters, and birds. Thus we eat the products of the water +plants at four removes in a fish; while we eat that of the grass or +turnips only in a secondary form in beef or mutton. + +The water-shrimp is a very common crustacean in the small Thames +tributaries, and valuable as fish food. It has a very rare subterranean +cousin known as the _well shrimp_. A lady in the Isle of Wight, who in a +moment of energy went to the pump to get some water to put flowers in, +actually pumped up one of these subterranean shrimps into a glass bowl. +The well was eighty feet deep. The shrimp was absolutely white, and +probably blind. + +Flesh-eating insects are fairly common on land; wasps will actually raid a +butcher's shop, and carry off little red bits of meat, besides killing and +eating flies, spiders, and larvae. Dragon-flies are the hawks of the +insect world, and slay and devour wholesale, when in the air as well as +when they are larvae on the water, though few persons actually witness +their attacks on other creatures, owing to the swiftness of their flight. +Some centipedes will attack other creatures with the ferocity of a +bulldog. An encounter between one of the smaller centipedes and a worm is +like a fight between a ferret and a snake, so frantic is the writhing of +the worm, so determined the hold which the hard and shiny centipede +maintains with its hooked jaws. But the ferocity and destroying appetite +of some of the water creatures would be appalling were it not for their +small size. The desire of killing and devouring appears in the most +unexpected quarters, among creatures which no one would suspect of such +intentions. Of two kinds of water snail found in the Thames, and among the +commonest molluscs, one is a vegetable feeder. It is found living on water +plants, the snails being of all sizes, from that of a mustard seed to a +walnut. The other will feed not only on dead animal substances, but on +living creatures, and is equipped with sharp teeth, which work like a saw. +One of these kept in an aquarium fastened on to and slowly devoured a +small frog confined in the same vessel. The large dytiscus beetle is the +great enemy of small fish. If the salmon is ever restored to the Thames +these creatures will be among the worst enemies of the fry, though in +swift rivers they are not plentiful. Frank Buckland states that in +Hollymount Pond they killed two thousand young salmon. One of these was +put into a bowl with a dytiscus beetle, which, "pouncing upon him like a +hawk upon an unsuspecting lark, drove its scythe-like horny jaws right +into the back of the poor little fish. The little salmon, a plucky fellow, +fought hard for his life, and swam round and round, up and down, hither +and thither, trying to escape from this terrible murderer; but it was no +use, he could not free himself from his grip; and while the poor little +wretch was giving the last few flutterings of his tail, the water-beetle +proceeded coolly to peck out his left eye, and to devour it at once." The +larva not only of the carnivorous dytiscus but also of the +vegetable-feeding water-beetle are ferocious and carnivorous, and deadly +enemies of young fish and ova. + +[1] In mentioning some of the Thames _insecta_ I have also noticed some of +the _mollusca_ and _crustacea_. It is a pity these have not some common +names. One cannot write easily of "pulmonate gasteropods." + + + + +"THE CHAVENDER OR CHUB" + + + "Now when you've caught your chavender, + (Your chavender or chub) + You hie you to your pavender, + (Your pavender or pub), + And there you lie in lavender, + (Sweet lavender or lub)." + + _Mr. Punch._ + + +I went into the Plough Inn at Long Wittenham in mid-November to arrange +about sending some game to London. The landlord, after inquiring about our +shooting luck, went out and came back into the parlour, saying, "Now, sir, +will you look at my sport?" He carried on a tray two large chub weighing +about 2-1/2 lbs. each, which he had caught in the river just behind the +house. Their colour, olive and silver, scarlet, and grey, was simply +splendid. Laid on the table with one or two hares and cock pheasants and a +few brace of partridges they made a fine sporting group in still life--a +regular Thames Valley yield of fish and fowl. The landlord is a quiet +enthusiast in this Thames fishing. It is a pleasure to watch him at work, +whether being rowed down on a hot summer day by one of his men, and +casting a long line under the willows for chub, or hauling out big perch +or barbel. All his tackle is exquisitely kept, as well kept as the +yeoman's arrows and bow in the Canterbury Tales. His baits are arranged on +the hook as neatly as a good cook sends up a boned quail. He gets all his +worms from Nottingham. I notice that among anglers the man who gets his +worms from Nottingham is as much a connoisseur as the man who imported his +own wine used to be among dinner-givers. + +Drifting against a willow bush one day, the branches of which came right +down over the water like a crinoline, I saw inside, and under the +branches, a number of fair-sized chub of about 1 lb. or 1-1/2 lbs. It +struck me that they felt themselves absolutely safe there, and that if in +any way I could get a bait over them they might take it. The entry under +which I find this chronicled is August 24th. Next morning when the sun was +hot I got a stiff rod and caught a few grasshoppers. Overnight I had cut +out a bough or two at the back of the willow bush, and there was just a +chance that I might be able to poke my rod in and drop the grasshopper on +the water. After that I must trust to the strength of the gut, for the +fish would be unplayable. It was almost like fishing in a faggot-stack. +Peering through the willow leaves I could just see down into the water +where a patch of sunlight about a yard square struck the surface. Under +this skylight I saw the backs of several chub pass as they cruised slowly +up and down. I twisted the last two feet of my line round the rod-top, +poked this into the bush with infinite bother and pluckings at my line +between the rings, and managed to drop the hopper on to the little bit of +sunny water. What a commotion there was. The chub thought they were all in +a sanctuary and that no one was looking. I could see six or seven of them, +evidently all cronies and old acquaintances, the sort of fish that have +known one another for years and would call each other by their Christian +names. They were as cocky and consequential as possible, cruising up and +down with an air, and staring at each other and out through the screen of +leaves between them and the river, and every now and then taking something +off a leaf and spitting it out again in a very independent +connoisseur-like way. The moment the grasshopper fell there was a regular +rush to the place, very different from what their behaviour would have +been outside the bush. There was a hustle and jostle to look at it, and +then to get it. They almost fought one another to get a place. Flop! +Splash! Wallop! "My grasshopper, I think." "I saw it first." "Where are +you shoving to?" "O--oh--what is the matter with William?" I called him +William because he had a mark like a W on his back. But he was hooked fast +and flopping, and held quite tight by a very strong hook and gut, like a +bull with a ring and a pole fastened to his nose. I got him out too--not a +big fish, but about 1-1/2 lbs. + +This showed pretty clearly that where chub can be fished for "silently, +invisibly," they can still be caught, even though steam launches or +row-boats are passing every ten minutes. This was mid-August; my next +venture nearly realised the highest ambitions of a chub-fisher. It also +showed the sad limitations of mere instinctive fishing aptitudes in the +human being as contrasted with the mental and bodily resources of a fish +with a deplorably low facial angle and a very poor _morale_. There +was just one place on the river where it seemed possible to remain unseen +yet to be able to drop a bait over a chub. A willow tree had fallen, and +smashed through a willow _bush_. Its head stuck out like a feather +brush in front and made a good screen. On either side were the boughs of +the bush, high, but not too high to get a rod over them, if I walked along +the horizontal stem of the tree. It was only a small tree, and a most +unpleasant platform. But I had caught a most appetising young frog, rather +larger than a domino, which I fastened to the hook, and after much +manoeuvring I dropped this where I knew some large chub lay. As the tree +had only been blown down a day before, I was certain that they had never +been fished for at that spot. + +[Illustration: A MONSTER CHUB. _From a drawing by Lancelot Speed._] + +I was right; hardly had the frog touched the water when I saw a monster +chub rise like a dark salamander out of the depths. Slowly he rose and +eyed the frog, moving his white lips as if the very sight imparted a gusto +to the natural excellence of young frogs. I nearly dropped from the tree +stem from sheer suspense, when he made up his mind, put on steam, and took +it! He was fast in a minute, and kindly rushed out into the river, where I +played him. Then I wound in my line and hauled him up till his head and +mouth were out of the water. As there was an impenetrable screen of bushes +between him and me I laid the rod down, trusting to the tackle, and ran +round to where close by was a farm punt, made fast. It had been used +during harvest time, and was full of what in the classics they call the +"implements of Ceres." All of these that do not seem made to cut your leg +off are designed to run into and spike you. Besides scythes and reap +hooks, there were iron rakes (sharp end upwards), wooden rakes, +pitchforks, and garden forks, and the difficulty was to move in the punt +without getting cut or spiked. The last users of the punt had also taken +peculiar care to fasten it up. It was anchored by a grapnel, and by an +iron pin on a chain, the pin eighteen inches long and driven hard into the +bank. In a desperate hurry I hauled up the grapnel, did a regular Sandow +feat in pulling up the iron peg, seized a punt pole apparently weighted +with lead, but made out of an ash sapling, and started the punt. It would +not move. I found there was another mooring, so picking my way among the +scythes, spikes, rakes, &c., I hauled this in. It was most infernally +heavy, and turned out to be a cast-iron wheel of a steam plough or other +farming implement. Then I was under weigh, and got round to the fish. It +was still there. I could see its expressionless eye (about as big as a +sixpence) out of the water and its mouth wide open, when I remembered I +had forgotten the landing-net in my hurry. Then came the period of mental +aberration common to the amateur. The fish was certainly 4 lbs. in weight, +yet I tried to get him in with my hands. Of course he gave one big flop, +slipped out, and disappeared--the biggest chub I ever shall not catch. + + + + +THE WORLD'S FIRST BUTTERFLIES + + +Thames plants must strike every one as belonging to an ancient order of +life. But the vast clouds of winged _ephemeridae_ that dance over its +waters when there is a rise of "May-fly" in early summer look to be not +only the creatures of a day, but of our day. In the astonishing wave and +rush of life seen at such times, when from every plant and pool winged +creatures are ascending to float in air, it is difficult to picture the +silence and stillness of a world where there were no birds, or hum of +bees, and no signs of the other insects which exceed the other population +of the earth by unnumbered myriads of millions; yet the insects, even the +same identical species which dance over the Thames to-day, are among the +very oldest of living things, just as its plants and its shells are. Rocks +and slate are not ideal butterfly cases; and if the fragile limbs of the +beetle and grasshopper of the successive prehistoric worlds had perished +beyond the power of identification, no one could have felt surprise. But +such has been the industry of modern naturalists--to give the widest name +to those who have devoted their time to the search for, and description +of, fossil insects--that the remains of thousands of species have been +identified, and the time of their appearance upon the earth approximately +fixed. The latest contributor to this elegant branch of the study of +fossils is Mr. Herbert Goss.[1] Perhaps the most interesting of his +conclusions is the antiquity, not only of the existing orders of insects, +but even of their particular families and genera, as compared with +vertebrate animals. It is astonishing to find not only crickets and +beetles existing at periods enormously earlier than the appearance of +birds or fish, but that they conformed in type to the families in which +they are classed to-day. Though they become fewer and fewer as they are +tracked back up the river of time, there are not found in the earliest +fossil-bearing rocks any connecting links or earlier and simpler forms of +insect life, or a clue to the common ancestor of insects, spiders, and +shrimps, which naturalists would dearly like to discover. There is a +baffling completeness about these creatures. When in the lias period, for +instance, the vertebrates were huge saurian reptiles and flying lizards, +and scarcely any of our existing classes of fish had come into existence, +the beetles, cockroaches, crickets, and white ants were there, with all +the distinguishing characteristics of the existing families as they were +settled by Linnaeus. + +The first insect known to have existed, a creature of such vast antiquity +that it deserves all the respect which the parvenu man can summon and +offer to it, was--a cockroach. This, the father of all black-beetles, +probably walked the earth in solitary magnificence when not only kitchens, +but even kitchen-middens were undreamt of, possibly millions of years +before Neolithic man had even a back cave to offer with the remains of +last night's supper for the cockroach of the period to enjoy. His +discovery established the fact that in the Silurian period there were +insects, though, as the only piece of his remains found was a wing, there +has been room for dispute as to the exact species. Mr. Goss in his preface +to the second edition of his book notes that what is probably a still +older insect has been found in the lower Silurian in Sweden. This was not +a cockroach, but apparently something worse. If the Latin name, +_Protocimex Silurius_, be literally translated, it means the original +Silurian bug. It was a fair conjecture that insects appeared about the +same time as land plants first grew on the earth. As almost all the +species either feed on some vegetable substances in growth or decay, or +else live upon other insects, some such provision of food was necessary +for them. Remains of such plants were discovered in the Silurian rocks. In +the Devonian formations, which contain the next oldest set of fossil +insects, numbers of conifers and ferns are found. Yet even then the only +vertebrate animals seem to have been fish. The insects still had the land +all to themselves. Of one of these Devonian insects the base of a wing was +the only part preserved in the rock. From this it was possible to tell the +order to which the creature belonged. It was one of the _Neuroptera_ +--insects with wings in which the veins run straight down the wing, +sometimes joined by cross branches at right angles. Some of the modern +kinds are very beautiful four-winged flies, with bright colours on their +wings like butterflies. Others are ant-lions or caddis-flies. The curve of +the fragment of wing also suggested its probable size when unbroken. It +was perhaps two inches long. As there are little horny rings round the +wing base like those which crickets have, on which they rub their legs and +so "chirp," it is also quite likely that this insect of hoary antiquity +did the same, and enlivened the silence of Devonian fern groves with a +prehistoric hum. It is quite in keeping with modern ideas that in that age +of fishes one of the most remarkable insects should have been a kind of +May-fly, "a large species of _Ephemerina_, which must have measured +five inches in expanse of wings." Thus our Thames May-flies had gigantic +prehistoric ancestors, which appeared on earth, possibly with their +present associates the caddis flies, at an enormously remote age. + +So far no butterfly had yet appeared on earth, though the +_Ephemerinae_ might dance over the still lagoons and swamps. In the +coal-forest period, and the age of trees and rank vegetation, insects of +many kinds seem to have multiplied, even though the most beautiful of all +were not yet launched in air. In England the first beetle wandered on to +the stage of life--the oldest British insect fossil known. It was +discovered in the ironstone of Coalbrookdale, and was a kind of weevil. +Another creature found in the same ironstone was a cricket. It is quite in +keeping with the forest and tree surroundings of the time that white ants +should have abounded to eat up the decayed and dead wood. Strictly +speaking, black-beetles are not beetles at all. But they are a very good +imitation. As some hundreds of families of _Paltaeoblattidae_, which +may be translated as "old original cockroaches," and _Blattidae_, or +cockroaches _pur sang_, pervaded these forests, and the doyen of all +Swiss fossil animals is one of these, the "state of the streets" in a coal +forest may be imagined when there were no bird police to keep the insects +in order. Thus the end of the Palaeozoic world--a very poor world at +best--was fairly well stocked with insects, though the moths, bees, and +butterflies had yet to come. Then came the sunrise of a new time--mammals, +any number of reptiles, possibly some birds, and an insect life more +teeming than any we now know. The "insect limestone" attests these +multitudes. Beetles, of which the scarabs were a numerous family, +increased vastly, and the oldest known dragon-fly and supposed ancestor of +those which hawk over the Oxford river, left his skeleton, or what +represents a dragon-fly's skeleton, among some two thousand other +specimens of fossil insects, in the Swiss Alps. It was then that the first +bird and the first butterfly appeared. The bird was the famous +Archaeopteryx, found in the Solenhofen slate, and the first butterfly, to +use an Irishism, was a moth, a sphinx moth, apparently about the size of +the Convolvulus sphinx moth. This stone-embedded relic of the moth that +sucked the juices of the plants of the Mesozoic world, incalculable ages +before the time even of the gigantic mammals, is preserved in the Teyler +Museum at Haarlem. When the new era of the Eocene period developed modern +forms of plants, their rapid growth was accompanied by a great increase in +the number of insects. Those which, like the moths, had only made their +first venture on earth, now appeared in greater numbers. Near Aix, in +Provence, five butterflies and two moths were found in some beds of marl +and gypsum long celebrated for their fossils, and with the fossil +butterflies were, in every case but one, fossil remains of the plants +which had served its larvae as food. Thus the May-flies and beetles are +perhaps older than the Thames shells, and older than the prehistoric +plants on which the river molluscs feed. + +[1] Secretary of the Entomological Society, and an accomplished botanist. +The work is entitled "The Geological Antiquity of Insects," and published +by Gurney and Jackson, London. + + + + +BUTTERFLY SLEEP + + +Fond as the butterflies are of the light and sun, they dearly love their +beds. Like most fashionable people who do nothing, they stay there very +late. But their unwillingness to get up in the morning is equalled by +their equal desire to leave the world and its pleasures early and be +asleep in good time. They are the first of all our creatures to seek +repose. An August day has about fifteen hours of light, and for that time +the sun shines for twelve hours at least; but the butterflies weary of sun +and flowers, colour and light, so early that by six o'clock, even on warm +days, many of them have retired for the night. I climbed Sinodun Hill, on +a cold, windy afternoon, and found that hundreds of butterflies were all +falling asleep at five o'clock. Their dormitory was in the tall, +colourless grass, with dead seed-heads, that fringes the tracks over the +hills, or the lanes that cross the hollows. Common blues were there in +numbers, and small heath butterflies almost as many. The former, each and +every one of them, arrange themselves to look like part of the seed-spike +that caps the grass-stem. Then the use and purpose of the parti-coloured +grey and yellow under-colouring of their wings is seen. The butterfly +invariably goes to sleep head downwards, its eyes looking straight down +the stem of the grass. It folds and contracts its wings to the utmost, +partly, perhaps, to wrap its body from the cold. But the effect is to +reduce its size and shape to a narrow ridge, making an acute angle with +the grass-stem, hardly distinguishable in shape and colour from the +seed-heads on thousands of other stems around.[1] The butterfly also +sleeps on the top of the stem, which increases its likeness to the natural +finial of the grass. In the morning, when the sunbeams warm them, all +these grey-pied sleepers on the grass-tops open their wings, and the +colourless bennets are starred with a thousand living flowers of purest +azure. Side by side with the "blues" sleep the common "small heaths." They +use the grass-stems for beds, but less carefully, and with no such obvious +solicitude to compose their limbs in harmony with the lines of the plant. +They also sleep with their heads downwards, but the body is allowed to +droop sideways from the stem like a leaf. This, with their light +colouring, makes them far more conspicuous than the blues. Moreover, as +grass has no leaves shaped in any way like the sleeping butterfly, the +contrast of shape attracts notice. Can it be that the blues, whose +brilliant colouring by day makes them conspicuous to every enemy, have +learnt caution, while the brown heaths, less exposed to risk, are less +careful of concealment? Be it noticed that moths and butterflies go to +sleep in different attitudes. Moths fold their wings back upon their +bodies, covering the lower wing, which is usually bright in colour, with +the upper wing. They fold their antennas back on the line of their wings. +Butterflies raise the wings above their bodies and lay them back to back, +putting their antennae between them if they move them at all. On these +same dry grasses of the hills, another of the most brilliant insects of +this country may often be seen sleeping in swarms--the carmine and green +burnet moth. But it is a sluggish creature, which often seems scarcely +awake in the day, and its surrender to the dominion of sleep excites less +surprise than the deep slumber of the active and vivacious butterflies. +The "heaths" and "blues" should perhaps be regarded as the gipsies of the +butterfly world, because they sleep in the open. They are even worse off +than the nomads, because, like that regiment sleeping in the open which +the War Office lately refused to grant field allowance to on the ground +that they were "not under canvas," they do not possess even a temporary +roof. What we may call the "garden butterflies," especially the red +admirals, often do seek a roof, going into barns, sheds, churches, +verandahs, and even houses to sleep. There, too, they sometimes wake up in +winter from their long hibernating sleep, and remind us of summer days +gone by as they flicker on the sun-warmed panes. Mrs. Brightwen +established the fact that they sometimes have fixed homes to which they +return. Two butterflies, one a brimstone, the other, so far as the writer +remembers, a red admiral, regularly came for admission to the house. One +was killed by a rain-storm when the window was shut; the other hibernated +in the house. Probably it was as a sleeping-place and bedroom that the +butterflies made it their home. There is a parallel instance, mentioned by +a Dutch naturalist quoted by Mr. Kirby, when a butterfly came night after +night to sleep on a particular spot in the roof of a verandah in the +Eastern Archipelago. In the East the sun itself is so regular and so rapid +in rising and setting that the sleeping hours of insects and birds are far +more regular than in temperate lands, with their shifting periods of light +and darkness. Our twilight, that season that the tropics know not, has +produced a curious race of moths, or rather, a curious habit confined to +certain kinds. They are the creatures neither of day nor of night, but of +twilight. They awake as twilight begins, go about their business and enjoy +a brief and crepuscular activity, and go to sleep as soon as darkness +settles on the world. At the first glimmer of the dawn they awaken again +to fly till sunrise, when they hurry off like the fairies, and sleep till +twilight falls again. + +[Illustration: BUTTERFLIES AT REST. _From photographs by R.B. Lodge._] + +At the time of writing a border of bright flowers runs in straight +perspective from the window opposite, with a rose arcade by the border, +and a yew hedge behind that. The shafts of the morning sun fly straight +down to the flowers, and every blossom of hollyhock, sunflower, campanula, +and convolvulus, and the scarlet ranks of the geraniums, are standing at +"attention" to welcome this morning inspection by the ruler and +commander-in-chief of all the world of flowers. The inspecting officers, +rather late as inspecting officers are wont to be, are overhauling and +examining the flowers. These inspectors, also roused by the sun, are the +butterflies and bees. Splendid red admirals are flying up, and alighting +on the sunflowers, or hovering over the pink masses of valerian. Peacock +butterflies, "eyed" like Emperors' robes, open and shut their wings upon +the petals; large tortoiseshells are flitting from flower to flower; +mouse-coloured humming-bird moths are poising before the red lips of the +geraniums; and a stream of common white butterflies is crossing the lawn +to the flowers at the rate of twenty a minute. They all come from the same +direction, across a cornfield and meadow, behind which lies a wood. The +bees came first, as they are fairly early risers; the butterflies later, +some of them very late, and evidently not really ready for parade, for +they are sitting on the flowers stretching, brushing themselves, and +cleaning their boots--or feet. The fact is that the butterflies, late +though it is, are only just out of bed. You might look all the evening to +find the place where these particular butterflies sleep, and not discover +it, unless some of them have taken a fancy to the verandah or the inside +of a dwelling-room in the house. But each and every one of them has been +asleep in a place it has chosen, and it is probable that some, the red +admirals, for instance, will go back to that place to sleep at evening. + +As there are hundreds of moths that fly by night and sleep by day at +seasons when there are perhaps only twenty species of butterflies flying +by day and sleeping by night, it is strange that the sleeping moths are +not more often found. Some kinds are often disturbed, and are seen. But +the great majority are sleeping on the bark of trees, in hedges, in the +crevices of pines, oaks and elms, and other rough-skinned timber, and we +see them not. Some prefer damp nights with a drizzle of rain to fly in, +not the weather which we should choose as inviting us to leave repose. Few +like moonlight nights; darkness is their idea of a "fine day" in which to +get up and enjoy life, many, like the dreams in Virgil's Hades, being all +day high among the leaves of lofty trees, whence they descend at the +summons of night, the-- + + "Filmy shapes + That haunt the dusk, with ermine capes, + And woolly breasts, and beaded eyes," + +The connection between character and bedtime which grew up from +association when human life was less complex than now has some counterpart +in the world of butterflies and insects. The industrious bees go to bed +much earlier than the roving wasps. The latter, which have been out +stealing fruit and meat, and foraging on their own individual account, +"knock in" at all hours till dark, and may sometimes be seen in a state of +disgraceful intoxication, hardly able to find the way in at their own +front door. The bees are all asleep by then in their communal dormitory. + +It would not be human if some belief had not arisen that the insects that +fly by night imitate human thieves and rob those which toil by day. There +has always been a tradition that the death's-head moth, the largest of all +our moths, does this, and that it creeps into the hives and robs the bees, +which are said to be terrified by a squeaking noise made by the gigantic +moth, which to a bee must appear as the roc did to its victims. It is said +that the bees will close up the sides of the entrance to the hive with +wax, so as to make it too small for the moth to creep in. Probably this is +a fable, due to the pirate badge which the moth bears on its head. But it +is certainly fond of sweet things, and as it is often caught in empty +sugar-barrels, it is quite possible that it does come to the hive-door at +night and alarm the inmates in its search for honey. + +[1] In the illustration it was impossible to photograph butterflies +actually sleeping. They show their attitude, but not the degree to which +the wings are flattened into a very acute angle. + + + + +CRAYFISH AND TROUT + + +About the middle of August, when walking by one of the locks on a disused +canal in the Ock Valley, I saw a man engaged in a very artistic mode of +catching crayfish. The lock was very old, and the brickwork above water +covered with pennywort and crane's-bill growing where the mortar had +rotted at the joints. In these same joints below water the crayfish had +made holes or homes of some sort, and were sitting at the doors with their +claws and feelers just outside, waiting, like Mr. Micawber, for something +to turn up. To meet their views the crayfish catcher had cut a long willow +withe. From the tapering tip of this he had cut the wood, leaving the +bark, which had been carefully slit and the woody tip extracted from it. +This pendant of bark he had made into a running noose, and leaning over +the bank he worked it over the crayfish's claws and then snared them. It +was a neat adaptation of local means to an end; for if you think of it, +string would not have answered, because it would not remain rigid, and +wire would be too stiff for the job. + +Crayfish catching, until lately one of the minor fisheries of the Thames, +is now a vanished industry. Ten years ago the banks of the river from +Staines to the upper waters at Cricklade were honeycombed with crayfish +holes, like sandmartins' nests in a railway cutting. These holes were +generally not more than eighteen inches below the normal water line of the +river. In winter when the stream was full fresh holes were dug higher up +the bank. In summer when the water fell these were deserted. The result +was that there were many times more holes than crayfish, and that for +hundreds of miles along the Thames and its tributaries these burrows made +a perforated border of about three feet deep. The almost complete +destruction of the crayfish was due to a disease, which first appeared +near Staines, and worked its way up the Thames, with as much method as +enteric fever worked its way down the Nile in the Egyptian Campaign after +Omdurman. The epidemic is well known in France, where a larger kind of +crayfish is reared artificially in ponds, and serves as the material for +_bisque d'écrevisses_, and as the most elegant scarlet garnish for +cold and hot dishes of fish in Paris restaurants; but it was new to recent +experience of the Thames. Perhaps that is why its effects were so +disastrous. The neat little fresh-water lobsters turned almost as red as +if they had been boiled, crawled out of their holes, and died. Under some +of the most closely perforated banks they lay like a red fringe along the +riverside under the water. Near Oxford, and up the Cherwell, Windrush, and +other streams they were, before the pestilence, so numerous that making +crayfish pots was as much a local industry as making eel-pots, the smaller +withes, not much larger than a thick straw, being used for this purpose. +Most cottages near the river had one or two of these pots, which were +baited on summer nights and laid in the bottom of the stream near the +crayfish holes. It must be supposed that they only use them by day, and +come out by night, just as lobsters do, to roam about and seek food on a +larger scale than that which they seize as it floats past their holes by +day. That time of more or less enforced idleness the crayfish used to +spend in looking out of their holes with their claws hanging just over the +edge ready to seize and haul in anything nice that floated by. Their +appetite by night was such that no form of animal food came amiss to them. +The "pots" were baited with most unpleasant dainties, but nasty as these +were they were not so unsavoury as the food which the crayfish found for +themselves and thoroughly enjoyed, such as dead water-rats and dead fish, +worms, snails, and larvae. They were always hungry, and one of the +simplest ways of catching them was to push into their holes a gloved +finger, which the creature always seized with its claw and tried to drag +further in. The crayfish, who, like the lobster, looked on it as a point +of honour never to let go, was then jerked out into a basket. They rather +liked the neighbourhood of towns and villages because plenty of dirty +refuse was thrown into the water. In the canalised stream which runs into +Oxford city itself there were numbers, which not only burrowed in the +bank, but made homes in all the chinks of stone and brick river walls, and +sides of locks, and in the wood of the weiring, where they sat ensconced +as snugly as crickets round a brick farmhouse kitchen fireplace. They were +regularly caught by the families of the riverine population of boatmen, +bargees, and waterside labourers, and sold in the Oxford market. A dish of +crayfish, as scarlet as coral, was not unfrequently seen at a College +luncheon. Possibly the recovery from the epidemic may be rapid, and the +small boys of Medley and Mill Street may earn their sixpence a dozen as +delightfully as they used to. Young crayfish, when hatched from the egg, +are almost exactly like their parents. The female nurses and protects +them, carrying them attached to its underside in clinging crowds. They +grow very fast, and this makes it necessary for the youthful crayfish to +"moult" or shed their shells eight times in their first twelvemonth of +life, as the shell is rigid and does not grow with the body. The constant +secretion of the lime necessary to make these shells is so exhausting to +the youthful crayfish that only a small number ever grow up. In America, +where a large freshwater crayfish nearly a foot long is found, its +burrowing habits are a serious nuisance, especially in the dykes of the +Mississippi. In those streams from which these interesting little +creatures have entirely disappeared it might be worth while to introduce +the large Continental crayfish. As it is bred artificially, there would be +no difficulty in obtaining a supply, and it would be a useful substitute +for the small native kind. + +Sea crayfish, which grow to a very large size, are not much esteemed in +this country. They are not so well flavoured as their cousin the lobster. +But as river crayfish of a superior kind can be cultivated, and are reared +for the table abroad, it might be worth while to pay some attention to +what has been done in the United States to replenish by artificial +breeding the stock of lobsters now somewhat depleted by the great +"canning" industry. The method of obtaining the young lobsters is +different from that employed to rear trout from ova. The female lobsters +carry all their eggs fastened to hair-fringed fans or "swimmerets" under +their tails, the eggs being glued to these hairs by a kind of gum which +instantly hardens when it touches the water. For some ten months the +female lobster carries the eggs in this way, aerating them all the time +with the movement of the swimmerets. When they are caught in the +lobster-pots in the months of June and July, the eggs are taken to the +hatchery, and the ova are detached. As they are already fertilised, they +are put into hatching jars, where in due course they become young +lobsters, or rather lobster larvae, for the lobster does not start in life +quite so much developed as does the infant crayfish. It is about one-third +of an inch long, has no large claws, and swims naturally on the surface of +the water, instead of lurking at the bottom as it does when it has come to +lobster's estate. It seems to be compelled to rise to the surface, for +sunlight, or any bright illumination, always brings swarms of lobsterlings +to the top of the jars in which they are hatched. In the sea this impulse +towards the light stands them in good stead, for in the surface-waters +they find themselves surrounded by the countless atoms of animal life, or +potential life, the eggs and young of smaller sea beasts. The young +lobster is furiously hungry and voracious, because, like the young +crayfish, it has to change not only its shell but the lining of its +stomach five times in eighteen days. Unfortunately, in the hatching jars +there is no such store of natural food as in the sea. The result is that +the young lobsters have to eat each other, which they do with a cheerful +mind, if they are not at once liberated. When they have reached their +fifth month they go to the bottom and "settle down" in the literal sense +to the serious life of lobsters. + +[Illustration: A TROUT. _From a photograph by Charles Reid._] + +I believe no one ever saw trout spawning in the Thames, though there are +plenty of shallows where they might do so. Consequently the Thames trout +must be regarded as a fish which was born in the tributaries and descended +into the big river, and as the mouths of these trout-holding tributaries, +such as the Kennet at Reading, the Pang, the lower Colne, and others, +become surrounded with houses and the trout no longer haunt the +_embouchure_, so the tendency is for fewer trout to get into the +Thames. Still, places like the Windrush, the Evenlode, and the other upper +tributaries hold rather more trout than they did, as they are better +looked after; and the Fairford Colne is still a beautiful trout stream. +For some reason, however, the Thames trout do not seem fond of the upper +waters, where if found they seem to keep entirely in the highly aerated +parts by the weirs, but mainly haunt the lower ones from Windsor +downwards, and one was recently caught in the tidal waters below the +bridge. It is very difficult to see why there are so few above Oxford, or +from Abingdon to Reading. It is not because they are caught, for very few +are caught. A friend of mine who had lived on the river near Clifton +Hampden for some eight years, could only remember eight trout being caught +in that time. I thought I was going to have one once. I was fishing for +chub with a bumble bee, and a great spotted trout rose to it in a way +which made me hope I was going to have a trophy to boast of for life. But +he "rose short," and I saw him no more. I believe _all_ the brooks +which rise in the chalk hills of the Thames Valley have trout in them. One +runs under the railway line at Steventon. A resident there had quite a +number of tamed trout in the conduit which took the stream under the line, +and used to feed them with worms as a show. At the head waters of the +Lockinge brook, close to the springs, I saw the trout spawning on New +Year's Day. The big fish had wriggled up into the very shallowest water, +and were lying with their back fins and tails out, I suppose from some +instinct either that this water is the most highly aerated, or because +floods do less harm on a shallow, or for both reasons combined. At Long +Wittenham, though I never saw a trout in the river (they are, however, +taken there), Admiral Clutterbuck recently had a fine old stew pond in the +picturesque old grounds of the Manor House cleaned out, and stocked it +with rainbow trout. They did well and grew fast, and so far as I know, +none died. The water was not suited for their breeding, but the fish were +very ornamental, and rose freely to the fly. + + + + +FOUNTAINS AND SPRINGS + + +Is it true that our fountains and springs of sweet water are about to +perish? A writer in _Country Life_ says "Yes," that in parts of the +Southern counties the hidden cisterns of the springs are now sucked dry, +and that the engineers employed to bring the waters from these natural +sources to the village or the farm lament that where formerly streams +gushed out unbidden, they are now at pains to raise the needed water by +all the resources of modern machinery. When the old fountains fail new +sources are eagerly sought, and where science fails the diviner's art is +called in to aid. At the Agricultural Show the water-diviner sits +installed, surrounded by votive tablets picturing the springs discovered +by his magic art; and County Councils quarrel with the auditors of local +expenditure over sums paid for the successful employment of his mysterious +gift. + +It is not strange that the springs of England should still suggest a faint +echo of Nature-worship. If rivers have their gods, fountains and springs +have ever been held to be the home of divinities, beings who were by right +of birth gods, even though, owing to circumstances, they did not move +exactly in their circle. _Procul a Jove, procul a fulgure_ may have +been the thought ascribed by Greek fancy to the gracious beings who made +their home by the springs, for whether in ancient Greece or in our Western +island, they breathe the sense of peace, security, and quiet, and to them +all living things, animal and human, come by instinct to enjoy the sense +of refreshment and repose. A spring is always old and always new. It is +ever in movement, yet constant, seldom greater and seldom less, in the +case of most natural upspringing waters, syphoned from the deep cisterns +of earth. Absolutely material, with no mystery in its origin, it impresses +the fancy as a thing unaccountable, like the source of life embodied, +something self-engendered. It has pulses, throbbing like the ebb and flow +of blood. Its dancing bubbles, rising and bursting, image emotion. It is +the only water always clear and sparkling. Streams gather mud, springs +dispel it. They come pure from the depths, and never suffer the earth to +gather where they leap from ground. They are the brightest and the +cleanest things in Nature. From all time the polluter of a spring has been +held accursed. + +One of the sources of the Thames was a real spring, rising from the earth +in a meadow, until the level of the subterranean water was reduced. + +These suddenly uprising springs are not common in our country, and need +seeking. Our poets, who borrowed from the classics all their epithets for +natural _fountains_, wrongly applied them to our modest springs +welling gently from the bosom of the earth. The springs of old Greece and +Italy gushed spouting from the rocks or flowed like the fountains of +Tivoli in falling sheets over dripping shoots of stone. Even a Greek of +to-day never speaks of a "spring," because he seldom sees one. "Fountain" +is the word used for all waters flowing from the earth, and the difference +of words corresponds to a difference of fact. The springs of his land +_are_ fountains, waters gushing from the rock or flowing from caverns +and channels in the hills. The fountains of Greece flow down from above, +and do not bubble up from below. These are the waters that tell their +presence by sound, and have been the natural models of all the drinking +fountains ever built,--jets that, spouting in a rainbow curve, hollow out +basins below them, cut in the marble floor, cool cisterns ever running +over, at which demi-gods watered their horses, and the white feet of the +nymphs were seen dancing at sundown. + +A tributary of the Severn, near Bisley, in the Cotswolds, bursts from a +real fountain pouring from a hollow face of stone. But fountains in this +sense are rare in England, though among the Welsh hills and the Yorkshire +dales they may be seen springing full grown from the sides of the glens or +"scarrs," and cutting basins and steps in marble or slate. But in the +South the gentle springs take their place, silent, retiring, seldom found, +except by chance, or by the local tradition which always attaches to the +more important of our English natural wells. These it is the ambition of +misdirected zeal to enclose in walls of stone, and to furnish with steps +and conduits. If the old goddess Tan was once worshipped as the deity of +the spring, it has usually undergone conversion by the early monks and +changed its title to "St. Anne's Well," or been assigned to St. Catherine +or some other of the holy sisterhood of saints.[1] But there are hundreds +of tiny springs in Britain still left as Nature made them, and not yet +settled in trust on any of the modern successors to the water rights of +classic nymphs and Celtic goddesses. He who discovers for himself one of +these springs will visit it each time he passes near. Some are in the +woods, known only to the birds and beasts which live in them, and come +daily to drink the pure, untainted waters. Wood springs are among the most +beautiful of all, for they have a setting of tall timber, and their +margins are never trampled by cattle, or the natural play of their waters +disturbed to draw for the beasts of the farm. In the wood below Sinodun +Hill there rises an everlasting spring. There may be seen how great an +area of land it takes to make and keep one tiny spring. All the waters +which gather in the millions of tons of chalk on Sinodun rise and flow out +in the wood in the one pool, not larger than the circle of a wheel. It is +always full, with the water throbbing up clear from the invisible vents +below, and tiny white water-shells floating and falling in the basin, set +round with liverwort and moss, and watering a bed of teazles in the wood +below. Children drink from it, and pluck wild strawberries by its banks, +and the pheasant and the fox come there to quench their thirst. An +unexpected but not uncommon site of such springs is close to the margin of +streams, which themselves are fed, not mainly by springs, but from the +surface waters. [2] Wherever high ground slopes down to a stream, and ends +in a rising bank at some distance from the river, there a true spring +often rises, with an existence wholly apart from that of the river close +by, into which its surplus of waters flows. Such springs have their +special flora, their own "phenomena," and their own little set of effects +on their liliput landscape. In the centre the waters well up, absolutely +pure, and only discoloured when a more impatient earth-throb drives up a +column of cloudy sand or earth. The spreading circles broaden outwards, +and make their little marsh, planted with water-grass and forget-me-nots +and blue bog-bean, and in the spring with butterburs. Outside, on the +firmer but still moist soil the creeping jenny mats the ground; and the +succulent grasses which attract the cattle to tread the marsh into a muddy +paste. At the foot of the larger chalk downs the springs sometimes break +out in different fashion, a modest imitation of classical fountains. The +chalky soil breaks down, and from its sides the water often spouts in +jets, as may be seen in Betterton glen, above Lockinge House, and in many +other heads of the chalk brooks. + +Springs of this kind are the natural outflowing of the water-bearing +strata, where they lie upon others not pervious. But the upflowing springs +are often fed by the accumulations of a great area of country, coming to +the surface like water from the orifice of a syphon, and flowing +permanently neither in greater nor less volume with constant force. If +these cease to run the inference is that the old conditions are seriously +disturbed. This has happened so frequently of late that local authorities +would do well to schedule lists of the larger springs and request the +owners or occupiers of the land to inform them from time to time whether +there is a decrease in the flow. Stored water is almost as valuable as +earth in a cycle of deficient rainfall, and the loss of any of our +fountains and springs is a local misfortune not easily remedied. + +[1] "Well deckings" are still common festivals in the North. Quite lately +a Scotch loch was dragged with nets to catch a kelpie, and the bottom +sowed with lime. The Church early forbade well worship. + +[2] There is one such just above Marston Ferry, near Oxford, on the +Cherwell, and two in a field below Ardington, near Lockinge. + + + + +BIRD MIGRATION DOWN THE THAMES + + +On September 16, 1896, after a period of very stormy wet weather, I saw a +great migration of swallows down the Thames. It was a dark, dripping +evening, and the thick osier bed on Chiswick Eyot was covered with wet +leaf. Between five and six o'clock immense flights of swallows and martins +suddenly appeared above the eyot, arriving, not in hundreds, but in +thousands and tens of thousands. The air was thick with them, and their +numbers increased from minute to minute. Part drifted above, in clouds, +twisting round like soot in a smoke-wreath. Thousands kept sweeping just +over the tops of the willows, skimming so thickly that the sky-line was +almost blotted out for the height of from three to four feet. The quarter +from which these armies of swallows came was at first undiscoverable. They +might have been hatched, like gnats, from the river. + +In time I discovered whence they came. They were literally "dropping from +the sky." The flocks were travelling at a height at which they were quite +invisible in the cloudy air, and from minute to minute they kept dropping +down into sight, and so perpendicularly to the very surface of the river +or of the eyot. One of these flocks dropped from the invisible regions to +the lawn on the river bank on which I stood. Without exaggeration I may +say that I saw them fall from the sky, for I was looking upwards, and saw +them when first visible as descending specks. The plunge was perpendicular +till within ten yards of the ground. Soon the high-flying crowds of birds +drew down, and swept for a few minutes low over the willows, from end to +end of the eyot, with a sound like the rush of water in a hydraulic pipe. +Then by a common impulse the whole mass settled down from end to end of +the island, upon the osiers. Those in the centre of the eyot were black +with swallows--like the black blight on beans. + +Next morning, at 6.30 a.m., every swallow was gone. In half an hour's +watching not a bird was seen. Whether they went on during the night, or +started at dawn, I know not. Probably the latter, for Gilbert White once +found a heath covered with such a flock of migrating swallows, which did +not leave till the sun dispelled the mists. + +The migration routes of birds follow river valleys, when these are +conveniently in line with the course they wish to take. There is far more +food along a river than elsewhere, and this is a consideration, for most +birds, in spite of the wonderful stories of thousand-mile flights, prefer +to rest and feed when making long migrations, and also those short shifts +of locality which temporary hard weather causes. A friend just back from +Khartoum tells me that he saw the storks descending from vast heights to +rest at night on the Nile sandbanks, and saw their departing flight early +in the morning, these birds being in flocks of hundreds and thousands. + +By watching the river carefully for many years I have noticed that it is a +regular migration route for several species besides swallows. The first to +begin the "trek" down the river are the early broods of water-wagtails, +both yellow and pied. They turn up in small flocks so early in the summer +that one might almost doubt if they could fly well enough to take care of +themselves. On June 26th last summer nearly forty were flying about in the +evening, and went across to roost on the eyot. Later numbers of blackbirds +arrive, also moving down the river. Sand-martins, when beginning the +migration, travel down the Thames in small flocks, and sleep each night in +different osier beds. How many stages they make when "going easy" down the +river no one knows. But I have seen the flocks come along just before +dusk, straight down stream, and then dropping into an osier bed. + +In the second week of September there is usually an immense migration of +house-martins and swallows down the river. I have already described what I +once saw on a migration night on Chiswick Eyot. Sometimes they go on past +London, and find themselves near Thames mouth with no osier beds or +shelter of any kind. Then they settle on ships. I was told that one +morning the craft lying in Hole Haven off Canvey Island were covered with +swallows, all too numb to move, but that when the sun came out the greater +number flew away towards the sea. The same thing happened on the windmill +at Cley, in Norfolk, a famous starting and alighting place for birds. +Moorhens evidently migrate up or down the river in spring and autumn, and +occasionally dabchicks; otherwise their sudden appearance and +disappearance on the eyot could not be accounted for. Snipe follow the +Thames up the valley. Formerly Chiswick Eyot was their first alighting +place when east winds were blowing, after the fatigue of crossing London; +and persons still living used to go out and shoot them. A friend of mine, +whose family has resided in Chiswick for several generations, used to go +down the outside of the eyot and kill snipe, and also kill teal and duck +in the stream which runs from Chiswick House into the river. Another +friend broke a young pointer to partridges on the market garden between +Barnes Bridge and Chiswick. + +Probably a number of the warblers also use the river as a migration road, +though I only notice them in spring. But as I am never here in early +September possibly many pass without being noticed. Also they are silent +in autumn, whereas in spring they sing, a little, but enough to show that +they are there. + +Among the birds of this kind which pass up the river, but of which only a +few pairs stay to breed on the eyot, are whitethroats, blackcaps, +chiff-chaffs, and, I believe, nightingales. One beautiful early morning in +spring I could not believe my ears, but I heard a nightingale in a bush by +the side of the garden overhanging the river. It sang for about an hour, +"practising" as nightingales do. Another person in a house near also heard +it, and was equally astonished. It probably passed on, for next day it was +inaudible. + +In hard weather a migration of a different kind takes place down the river +towards the sea. These birds are recruited from the ranks of the birds +that stay, with some foreign winter visitors also. They pass down the +river feeding on the mud and among the stones at ebb tide. Among those I +have seen are flocks of starlings and scattered birds, mainly redwings, +thrushes, blackbirds, and occasionally robins. Sandpipers also migrate up +the Thames in spring, and down it in autumn. + + + + +WITTENHAM WOOD + + +In Wittenham Wood, which in our time was not spoiled, from a naturalist's +point of view, by too much trapping or shooting the enemies of game, +though there was plenty of wild game in it, the balance of nature was +quite undisturbed. Of course we never shot a hawk or an owl, and I think +the most important item of vermin killed was two cats, which were hung up +as an awful instance of what we could do if we liked. + +[Illustration: OTTERS. _From a photograph by J. S. Bond_.] + +[Illustration: WATERHEN ON HER NEST. _From a photograph by R. B. Lodge_.] + +In such large isolated woods, the wild life of the ordinary countryside +exists under conditions somewhat differing from those found even in +estates where the natural cover of woodland is broken up into copses and +plantations. Birds and beasts, and even vegetation, are found in an +intermediate stage between the wholly artificial life on cultivated land +and the natural life in true forest districts like the New Forest or +Exmoor. Most of these woods are cut bare, so far as the underwood extends, +once in every seven years. But the cutting is always limited to a seventh +of the wood. This leaves the ground covered with seven stages of growth, +the large trees remaining unfelled. With the exception of this annual +disturbance of a seventh of the area, and a few days' hunting and +shooting, limited by the difficulty of beating such extensive tracts of +cover, the wood remains undisturbed for the twelve months, and all wild +animals are naturally tempted to make it a permanent home. + +As I have said, the wood stands on the banks of the Thames, below the old +fortress of Sinodun Hill, and opposite to the junction of the River Thame. +All the British land carnivora except the martin cat and the wild cat are +found in it. The writer recently saw the skin of a cat which had reverted +to the exact size, colouring, and length of fur of the wild species, +killed in the well-known Bagley Wood, an area of similar character, but of +much greater extent, at a few miles distance in the direction of Oxford. A +polecat was domiciled in Wittenham Wood as lately as August, 1898. Though +this animal is reported to be very scarce in many counties, there is +little doubt that in such woods it is far commoner than is generally +believed. Being mainly a night-hunting animal it escapes notice. But in +the quiet of the wood it lays aside its caution, and hunts boldly in the +daytime. The cries of a young pheasant in distress, running through some +thick bramble patches and clumps of hazel, suggested that some carnivorous +animal was near, and on stepping into the thicket a large polecat was seen +galloping through the brushwood. Its great size showed that it was a male, +and the colour of its fur was to all appearance not the rich brown common +to the polecat and the polecat cross in the ferret, but a glossy black. +This, according to Mr. W.E. de Winton, perhaps the best authority on the +British _mustelidae_, is the normal tint of the male polecat's fur in +summer. "By the 1st of June," he writes, "the fur is entirely changed in +both sexes. The female, or 'Jill,' changes her entire coat directly she +has young; at the end of April or the beginning of May. The male, or +'Hob,' changes his more leisurely throughout the month of May. He is then +known locally as the black ferret, and has a beautiful purplish black +coat. As in all _mustelidae_ the male is half as big again as the +female." Stoats and weasels are of course attracted to the woods, where, +abandoning their habit of methodical hedgerow hunting, they range at +large, killing the rabbits in the open wood, and hunting them through the +different squares into which the ground is divided with as much +perseverance as a hound. They may be seen engaged in this occupation, +during which they show little or no fear of man. They will stop when +crossing a ride to pick up the scent of the hunted rabbit, and after +following it into the next square, run back to have another look at the +man they noticed as they went by, with an impudence peculiar to their +race. The foxes have selected one of the prettiest tracts of the wood for +their breeding-earth. It is dug in a gentle hollow, and at a height of +some forty feet above the Thames. From it the cubs have beaten a regular +path to the riverside, where they amuse themselves by catching frogs and +young water-voles. The parent foxes do not, as a rule, kill much game in +the wood itself, except when the cubs are young. They leave it early in +the evening and prowl round the outsides, over the hill, and round the +Celtic camp above, and beat the river-bank for a great distance up and +down stream, catching water-hens and rats. At sunrise they return to the +wood, and, as a rule, go to earth. The cubs, on the other hand, never +leave it until disturbed by the hounds cub-hunting in September. Otters, +which travel up and down the river, and occasionally lie in the osier-bed +which joins the wood, complete the list of predatory quadrupeds which +haunt it. With the exception of the first, the wild cat, and the last, the +otter, they constitute its normal population, and as long as the stock of +rabbits and hares is maintained, they may remain there as long as the wood +lasts. + +Numerically, the rabbits are more than equal to the total of other +species, whether bird or beast.[1] In dry seasons, they swarm in the +lighter tracts of the wood, and burrow in every part of it. These +wood-rabbits differ in their way of life from those in the open warren +outside. Their burrows are less intricate, and not massed together in +numbers as in the open. On the other hand, the whole rabbit population of +the one hundred acres seems to keep in touch, and occasionally moves in +large bodies from one part of the area to another. During one spring and +early summer the first broods of young rabbits burrowed tunnels under the +wire-netting which encircled the boundary for many hundred yards, and went +into a large field of barley adjoining. This they half destroyed. By the +middle of August it was found that, instead of the barley being full of +rabbits, it was deserted. They had all returned to the wood, and were in +their turn bringing up young families. One colony deserted the wood +altogether, and formed a separate warren some hundreds of yards away on a +steep hillside. On the eastern boundary the river is a complete check to +their migration. Except in the great frosts, when the Thames is frozen, no +rabbit ever troubles to cross it. Hares do so frequently when coursed, and +occasionally when under no pressure of danger. After harvest, when the +last barley-fields are cut, the wood is full of hares. They resort to it +from all quarters for shelter, and do not emerge in any number until after +the fall of the leaf. During the months of August, September, and October +these hares, which during the spring and winter lie out in the most open +parts of the hills above, lead the life of woodland animals. In place of +lying still in a form throughout the day, they move and feed. At all hours +they may be heard fidgeting about in the underwood and "creeping" in the +regularly used paths in the thick cover. When disturbed they never go at +speed, but, confident in the shelter of the wood, hop and canter in +circles, without leaving cover. In the evening they come out into the +rides, and thence travel out into the clover layers, returning, like the +foxes, early in the morning. A badger was found dead in the wood the first +year I rented it. This I much regretted, for though it had probably been +shot coming out of a cornfield next the wood, the badger is quite +harmless, and most useful to the fox hunter, for he _cleans out the +earths_. Mr. E. Dunn, late master of the Old Berkshire, tells me that +they are of great service in this way, as they _dig_ and enlarge the +earths, and so prevent the taint of mange clinging to the sides if a mangy +fox has lain in them. + +[Illustration: DABCHICK. _From a photograph by R.B. Lodge._] + +[Illustration: BADGER. _From a photograph by J.S. Bond._] + +Lying between the river and the hills, this wood holds nearly every +species of the larger woodland and riverine birds common to southern +England. The hobby breeds there yearly. The wild pheasant, crow, +sparrow-hawk, kestrel, magpie, jay, ringdove, brown owl, water-hen (on the +river-bounded side), in summer the cuckoo and turtle-dove, are all found +there, and, with the exception of the pigeons and kestrels, which seek +their food at a distance during the day, they seldom leave the shelter of +its trees. One other species frequents the more open parts of the cover in +yearly greater numbers; this is the common grey partridge. The wood has an +increasing attraction for them. They nest in it, fly to it at once for +shelter when disturbed, lie in the thick copses during the heat of the +day, and roost there at night. Several covies may be seen on the wing in a +few minutes if the stubbles outside are disturbed in the evening, flying +to the wood. There they alight, and run like pheasants, refusing to rise +if followed. It is said that in the most thickly planted parts of +Hampshire the partridge is becoming a woodland bird, like the ruffed +grouse of North America. All that it needs to learn is how to perch in a +tree, an art which the red-legged partridge possesses. The birds, unlike +the foxes, hares, and rabbits, avoid the centre of the wood. Only the owls +and wood-pigeons haunt the interior. All the other species live upon the +edge. They dislike the darkness, and draw towards the sun. The jays keep +mainly to one corner by the river. The sparrow-hawks have also their +favourite corner. The wild pheasants lead a life in curious contrast to +that of the tame birds in the preserves. Like their ancestors in China and +the Caucasus, they prefer the osier-beds and reeds by the river to the +higher and drier ground. But in common with all the other birds of the +wood, with the exception of the brown owls, they move round the wood +daily, _following the sun_. In the early morning they are on the +eastern margin to meet the sunrise. At noon they move round to the south, +and in the evening are on the stubbles to the west. Where the pheasants +are there will the other birds be found, in an unconscious search for +light. It is the shelter and safety of the big wood, and not the presence +of crowded vegetation, that attracts them. They seek the wood, not from +choice, but because it is a city of refuge. + +[1] These observations were made some years ago. I believe it has been +found necessary to kill down the rabbits since. + + + + +SPORT AT WITTENHAM + + +There is always some rivalry about shooting different woods on adjacent +properties, and the villages near always take a certain interest in the +results. Visiting our nearest riverside inn to order luncheon for our own +shoot that week, I found about a dozen labourers in the front room, with a +high settle before the fire to keep the draught out, sitting in a fine +mixed odour of burning wood, beer, and pipes. Sport was the pervading +topic, for a popular resident had been shooting his wood, and many of the +men had been beating for him, and had their usual half-crown to spend. +They were all talking over the day at the top of their voices; it had been +a very good one. The wood is quite isolated and not more than forty acres. +All round it is the property of one of the Oxford Colleges, which retains +the sporting rights over about fifteen hundred acres. This is exercised by +one of their senior fellows under some arrangement which works perfectly +well so far as I can see. I asked our keeper, who always calls him "The +Doctor," whether he was a medicine doctor or a doctor of divinity. He +inclined to think he was the latter, as he belonged to college shooting. +This way of putting it struck me as odd, but he was right. Any way, he +looked a very pleasant figure in his long shooting coat and old-fashioned +Bedford cords. There is also a college keeper, who is an institution in +the village. The day's sport in "the Captain's wood" had been a success. +Forty hares had been shot, or just one per acre, as well as a number of +rabbits and wild pheasants. The hares were being sent round the village in +very generous fashion, and a dozen lay on a bench in a back room. + +Our own day was also a satisfactory one. Rabbits were unusually numerous, +and many squares had to be beaten twice. The gross total of the two days +was only something over three hundred head; but it was all wild game, and +shot in very pretty surroundings. With the beaters were the keeper, who is +also head woodman, and two assistant woodmen. These three men cut the +whole of the hundred acres down in the course of seven years. Putting +their lives at something over three score and ten, they will, as they +began before they were twenty-one, have cut the wood down about eight +times in the course of their existence. The beaters are entirely recruited +from the staff of this very large and well-managed farm. They have beaten +the woods so often that they know exactly what to do, when properly +generalled. Our landlord was one of the guns, and his son, who does not +shoot, but knows the wood thoroughly, kindly took command of the men, and +kept things going at best pace through the day. Anything prettier than the +entrance to the wood would be hard to find. A long meadow slopes steeply +to the Thames, with an old church and the remains of a manor house at one +end and the wood at the other. Below the house is a roaring weir, and +opposite the abbey of Dorchester across the flats. Our little campaign +gave an added interest to the scene. The bulk of the men were going round +behind the hills to drive these "kopjes" into the wood. The guns and one +or two ladies, and some small boys bearing burdens were walking up the +middle ride. Below was the silver Thames in best autumn livery, for the +leaf was not yet off the willows, though the reed-beds were bright russet. +The sky was blue, the sun bright, and the sound of the weir came gaily up +through the trees. All the wood-paths were bright with moss, the air +still, and an endless shower of leaves from the oaks was falling over the +whole hundred acres. There were just enough wild pheasants in the wood to +make a variety in the rabbit-shooting. Hares were unexpectedly numerous, +and we lined up on the side of the wood furthest from the river for a hare +drive. The whole hillside is without a hedge. Watching the long slope it +is a pretty and exciting sport to see the coveys of partridges, of which +there are sometimes a number on the hill, rise, fly down and pitch again, +and then rise once more and come fifty miles an hour over your head into +the wood. + +The hares are generally very wild, getting up while the folds of the +ground are still between them and the beaters. As they seldom come +straight into the wood it is amusing to guess which particular gun they +will make for. Most of them slipped in at a safe distance, only to be +picked up in the wood later. A few birds were shot, and the cover now held +some forty partridges, though they are very wild in the low slop, and +seldom leave more than one or two stragglers behind when the wood is +beaten. The rabbit-shooting in the cover is difficult unless firing at +"creepers" from the cover in front is indulged in. The rides are often +very narrow, and the rabbits cross like lightning. Shooting "creepers" is +also highly dangerous if there are many guns, or if the men are near. They +do not seem to mind; indeed, I have known them shout out exhortations for +us to fire, when only screened by a row of thistles. One thing I have +learnt by shooting this big wood. The hares, and late in the season the +rabbits, move at least one square ahead of the beaters. If a single gun is +kept well forward, choosing his own place and taking turnabout with the +others, the bag--if it is wished to kill down the ground game--will be +considerably increased. One object when shooting this wood is to get the +ground beaten quickly; if there are twenty squares to be beaten, and five +minutes are wasted at each, it means a loss of one hour forty minutes. The +guns consequently go best pace to their places forward after each beat. +What with running at a jog-trot down the rides, shooting hard when in +place, and then getting on quickly to the next stand, often along spongy +or clayey rides on a nice, warm, moist November day, this is by no means +the armchair work which people are fond of calling wood shooting. The +variety of scenery in the wood added much to the charm. Sometimes we were +in the narrow rides covered with short turf and almost arched over by the +tall hazels; sometimes we were in low slop or walking through last year's +cuttings, shooting at impossible rabbits. There we had an occasional rise +of those most difficult of all birds to kill, partridge in cover, killing +both French and English birds; or a cock pheasant would rise and hustle +forward, an agreement having been made to leave these till properly beaten +up later in the day. Two very pretty corners were perhaps the most +enjoyable parts of the sport. By the river was a flat reed- and +rush-covered corner, with a ring of oaks round, the Thames at the bottom, +and some tall chestnut-trees on the outside. As the men advanced we had a +regular rise of wild pheasants, rocketing up from the reeds in every +direction high over the oaks and chestnuts. A fox helped the fun by +trotting up and down in the reeds uncertain which way to go, and flushing +the birds as he did so. Then the rushes were walked out and the rabbits +sent darting in every direction. After this we hardly found a bird or +rabbit in that corner during the season. + +That year the wood gave constant sport, far better than in the later +years. There were three times as many rabbits, as well as hares and +pheasants. + +One day in January we shot it during a fall of fine, dry snow. As the day +went on the ground grew white, and our coats whiter. At luncheon the men +were quite prepared for the emergency, or rather had prepared for it the +day before when the frost began. They had a bonfire of brambles a dozen +feet high, and faggots ready as seats, one set for us on one side of the +fire, another for themselves on the other. The roaring blaze of the fire +warmed us through and through, and by the end of luncheon our coats, which +had been powdered with snow, were grey with wood ash descending. During +this day a fox hung round us during the whole shoot. I think he must have +been picking up and burying or hiding wounded rabbits, for every now and +then he would come out into the ride, carefully smell the various places +where rabbits had crossed, and then, selecting one, would go off like a +retriever into the cover. + + + + +SPORT AT WITTENHAM (_continued_) + + +A month later Mr. Harcourt was shooting his woods at Nuneham. There are +more than four hundred acres of woods round this most beautiful park, all +of them giving ideal English estate scenery. The oaks of the park are like +those at Richmond, but there is not much fern except in the covers. +Nuneham is the best natural pheasant preserve in the Thames Valley, except +Wytham, Lord Abingdon's place, above Oxford. The woods lie roughly in a +ring round the park, in which the pheasants sun themselves. Outside these +woods are arable fields with quantities of feed, and all along the front +lies the river, which the pheasants do not often cross. The most striking +sport at Nuneham is the driving of the island by the lock cottage. Every +one who has been at Oxford has rowed down to have tea under the lovely +hanging woods by the old lock. Few see it later in the year when the +island opposite is covered with masses of silver-white clematis and +thousands of red berries of the wild rose and thorn. In the late autumn +mornings, when the mists are floating among the tall trees on the hill and +the sunbeams just striking down through the vapours as they top the wood +from the east, it is one of the prettiest sights on the Thames. In +November or early December, when the woods are shot, numbers of pheasants +are always found on the island. It holds a pool, in which and on the river +are usually a number of wild ducks. Shooting from the river itself is now +forbidden, and these and the half-wild duck have multiplied. The beaters, +in white smocks, all cross the old rustic bridge like a procession of +white-robed monks, and drive this island, and wild ducks and pheasants +come out high over the river, making for the top of the hill. The shooting +is fast and difficult, and the scene as the guns fire from the stations +all along the bank is most picturesque. + +Shooting with a neighbour on some land adjoining Nuneham, my attention was +drawn to the very elegant appearance of all the gates and rails adjacent +to the road. As the ground was always beautifully farmed and in good +order, the condition of the gates did not surprise me. There was, however, +a story attached to their smartness. A seller of quack medicines had sent +out advertisers with most objectionable little bills, which he had posted +on every gate adjoining the roads. My entertainer, who was the occupier of +the land, had brought an action against the medicine man for defacing his +gates, which was only compromised by the delinquent undertaking to paint +every gate. He demurred at first to painting the railings too, but in the +end had to do this also. + +The stalking-horse is still part of the sporting equipment of some old +Thames-valley farmhouses, but not in this neighbourhood. Only one wet +season fell to my lot, and then, though I often saw bodies of duck, I had +no opportunity of getting near them. A neighbour anchored a punt under a +hedge on the line which he believed the duck would take at dusk, and +killed several. Hard frosts send large bodies of duck to the river; they +come as soon as ever the large private lakes, like those at Blenheim, +Wootton, and Eynsham are frozen, and lie in small flocks all along the +river. Water-hens are so numerous on the river now, owing to their +preservation by the Conservancy, that any small covers of osier near are +full of them. They make extremely pretty old-fashioned shooting when +beaten up by a spaniel from the sedge and osier cover. I once turned out a +dozen water-hens, a brown owl, a woodcock, and a water-rail from one +little withe patch. When shooting the wood we always had one or two +water-hens in the bag, and sometimes a chance at a duck flying overhead +from the river. Only once were there many woodcocks in the cover. There +must have been at least five, and all were missed. At last, as we were +finishing the beat, one of the guns, who was young and keen, went off +after the last-missed cock along the river bank. As we were loading up the +game at the wood gate we heard a single shot. Then he appeared in the ride +with the cock. Both he and his excellent old spaniel received warm +congratulations. For my own part I was never tired of by-days in the wood +in my first season. The best sport was starting rabbits from under the +rows of fresh-felled ash and hazel poles, which the woodman called drills. +They are about five feet high and seven feet through. The rabbits get +under them in numbers, and sit there all day. We had an old retriever who +was an expert at finding them. The next process was for the gun to clamber +on to the top and stand knee-deep on the springing faggots, while a +woodman on each side poked the rabbit out with a pole. He might bolt any +way, and was under the next drill in a trice, so the shooting was quick. I +bagged twelve one afternoon in this cheerful manner. Another great +ambition of our lives was to get the better of the hill partridges. There +were plenty of them, but they always dived into the wood, and were lost +for the day. Only once did we score off them. We drove about sixty from +the hills into the wood. There they were seen running along the rides like +guinea fowls, but by placing a gun at the corner of the wood, and beating +towards him, we killed nine brace. + + + + +A FEBRUARY FOX HUNT + + +When the Yeomanry left the hunting field for South Africa, and +"registered" horses were commandeered by Government, fox hunting in +counties where it is not the main business of life might be supposed to +languish. As a matter of fact, it did not; and if the fields were smaller +than usual, and a good many familiar faces missing, the master very +properly felt that as he had his pack and there were plenty of foxes, he +might as well employ the one and hunt the other, and keep up the spirits +of the county by good, sound sport and plenty of it. Masters who take this +view, and there are very few who do not, are public benefactors and +shining examples; for it is not only the men who hunt who benefit vastly +by the change and exhilaration which hunting brings in its train. The +whole countryside enjoys a wholesome tonic by the frequent visits of the +hounds, and the well-equipped company with them. Nothing cheers up the +village, or cures the influenza, or brings oblivion of war news, or puts +every one into conceit with themselves, so quickly, or leaves such a glow +of sound satisfaction behind it. It would be odd if it did not, +considering the amount of time, money, and trouble spent before the pack +trots up to the green before the old grey church at eleven on a February +morning. Wittenham Wood lies on the very edge of the Old Berkshire +country, and as the river blocks all one side of it is naturally not one +of the favourite meets. But at the time of writing, early in February a +meet was duly advertised, and punctually to time the hounds were there. +Some people seem to think that modern fox-hunting is not so thorough as it +was in the past. We know better, and without imitating Mr. Jack Spraggon, +or reminding every one present of that "two thousand five +hundred--twenty-five 'undred--pounds a year" which Lord Scamperdale did or +did not spend on his pack, are very well aware of what our master and the +servants and the hounds had done that morning. The meet is on the edge of +his country, sixteen miles from his house, and he has ridden over all the +way, rising before the sun has got through more than the outside layer of +the mists. There is no special honour and glory awaiting him in return. +The cover to be drawn is surrounded for miles by deep and holding land now +soaked with rain. A run of any distinction is most improbable. On the +other hand, there will be plenty of hunting of a certain kind, and the +chance of seeing it, for the wood is overlooked by lofty hills. Therefore, +though the meet is small, the neighbourhood as a body expect to see plenty +of the hounds, and turn up expectant, the farmers on their cobs, the young +ladies on ponies and in dog-carts, and all the village who can be spared +for an hour on foot, while the small boys regard each other with rapturous +grins, and practise "holloaing" to improve their lung-power when the fox +breaks. When the hounds appear--they have come nearly as far from the +kennels as the master has from home--they are covered with road mud from +foot to head. The gritty splashes have changed all the white and tan to +grey, and made the black badger-pied. While some roll on the grass and +push themselves along sideways to get clean, and others attempt the +impossible task of licking the mud off their legs and feet, the older +hounds, who are less self-conscious, poke their heads into the hands and +against the chests of their ready-made friends, the village children, who +rush in while the master and the field and lookers-on are exchanging +courtesies, and embrace all the pack whom they can reach. Meantime the +"assets" for the day's sport, the material complement on which this +present assembly must rely for its day's hunting, lie in the cover and its +contents. A hundred acres of wood, in all stages of growth, from the high +thickets which the woodmen were felling yesterday, to the teazle and +stump-studded slope which they cut last year, with the deep river below +and the swelling hills above, is the cover. + +[Illustration: FOX AND CUB. _From photographs by Charles Reid_.] + +What the master would like would be that it should hold but one fox, that +that fox should get away over the hills and on to the downs beyond as +quickly as possible, and that he should never come back, but be killed +three parishes away. But no one believes in such luck; and the local +lookers-on do not in the least desire it. They want to see "a day's +hunting" in the wood, and a fox to every half-dozen hounds. As a fact +there are five foxes, not one, in the wood; and, passing from the general +to the particular, we may explain how they came there. The heavy rains of +the end of January filled all the drains, in which many foxes lie, so full +of water that they abandoned them in sheer disgust, and took to the warm +lying of the wood. Among these was a most attractive vixen, whose society +kept the rest from leaving when the weather improved; consequently, the +wood seemed full of foxes, none of which were disposed to leave it. When +the pack trotted up to the main ride, and the huntsman's ringing voice +sent them crashing into the four-years' growth by the river, a brace were +lying snug and dry in the old ash-stumps. One slipped into the river at +once and quietly swam to the opposite bank, while the other crept all +along the outside hedge and curled up in the corner waiting on events. The +vixen slipped into a badger earth under an old oak and stayed there, and a +couple more dog-foxes moved on into four acres of low slop, brambles, +shoots, and blackthorns, where they were winded by half the pack, while +the other half were running the first fox up the fence. The crash and +music of the hounds re-echoed from the trees and the enfolding hills +above, the shrieking of the jays as they flit protesting from tree to +tree, the hearty ring of the huntsman's voice cheering his hounds--surely +all this should send each fox flying out over the fields beyond! But a fox +has no nerves. He keeps his head with the coolness of a Red Indian, and a +"slimness" all his own. The first fox doubles back along his tracks, +crosses the big ride, twenty yards lower, just as that part of the pack +which is hunting him flings on up the fence, and waits again till he hears +them break out where he first stopped. From outside, where the field are +waiting on a knoll which gives a downward view into the rolling acres of +the wood, the rest of the pack are seen forcing another fox upwards +towards the hills. The sight is as pretty as our woods can show. Down +below the red coats of the master and huntsman move up the rides, and the +heads and sterns of the broad line of hounds, now all clean and bright +after brushing through the wood, rise and fall, appear and vanish, as they +leap over or thrust through the low slop and brambles. In front, where a +goyle runs up to a hollow of the hill, the ground has been cleared of +wood, and the forest of tall teazle-tops is full of goldfinches, flying +from seed-head to seed-head, too tame to mind the noise or care for +anything but their breakfast. Yet even they gather and fly before the +approaching tumult. Hares come hurrying out, and dash over the smooth +hillside; magpies rise, poise themselves, slue round, and dive backwards +into the wood; and then circumspect, lopping easily and lightly along, a +fox crosses through the teazles, and slips down to a drain in the hollow; +and see! another fox behind him, along the same path, and on the same +errand, for each trots up to a covered drain, looks at it, and finding it +stopped, pauses a second to think, and takes his resolve. One slips back +into the wood, the other canters to the fence, rising the hill, looks out, +whisks his brush and is off--across the turf, over the fifty-acre field of +growing wheat, and away to the back of the hills. Half the pack are +running the first fox, who has slipped back to the river, but with the +other half every one gets clear off, and does his best over the awful +ground. The mud explodes like shells as the hoofs crush into it, but +somehow every one is across and away, and on to the green road and a line +of sainfoin much sooner than could be expected. The fox can be seen +crossing the back of the hill, looking big and red, and full of running; +but after twenty-five minutes over all sorts of ground, from medium bad to +"downright cruel," for the soaking rains have made a very pudding even of +the pasture, the fox is run into and killed close to the Thames. No one +need be sorry for him, for he had lived by theft and violence for the past +two years, and was duly eaten himself by his natural enemies. Then back to +the wood again, where the rest of the pack had been whipped off their fox, +and were waiting dolefully to begin again, by which time the other foxes, +of which two elected to stay, had resolved that come what might, they +would stick to the wood, of which they knew every inch by heart; and by +keeping under the river bank, sneaking under layers of felled brushwood, +dodging along drains, and other devices, postponed their fate for two +hours, when one was "chopped" and one broke away and was run till dark. +This is not the kind of thing that keeps hunting alive, but it is the kind +of day which occurs in most ordinary counties in February, and at which no +one greatly grumbles. But if a slow woodland day is unattractive, the man +who hunts in a modest way from London and wishes to be sure of a run has +no lack of choice. Try, for instance, a day on the South Downs, five miles +from the sea, on the vast uplands and among the furze-covered bottoms +behind Beachy Head, when the snow-clouds are rolling in from the Channel +and dusting the summits of the downs with white. There is at least the +certainty of foxes, and of a gallop over the highest and soundest land in +the South, and even "February fill-dike" cannot make the going heavy. + + + + +EWELME--A HISTORICAL RELIC + + +At the head of one of the smaller Thames tributaries, a few miles from the +river, lies Ewelme, the ancient Aquelma, so called from the springing +waters which rise there. There are trout in the brook and excellent +water-cresses higher up, which are cultivated scientifically. Also there +was a political row in Gladstonian days over an appointment to the living. +But the real interest of this exceptionally beautiful Thames-valley +village is that it is a survival, almost unchanged, of a "model village" +made in the time of the Plantagenets. As such it deserves a place in any +history, even a "natural" history, which deals with the river. + +The village lies at the foot of the Chiltern Hills, not far from +Dorchester. The persons who made it a model village just before the Wars +of the Roses were William de la Pole, the first Duke of Suffolk, and his +Duchess, Alice, the grandchild of Geoffrey Chaucer. The Duke, as every one +knows, was for years the leading spirit in England during the early part +of the reign of Henry VI., whose marriage with Margaret of Anjou he +arranged in the hope of putting an end to the disastrous war with France. +His murder in mid-Channel--when his relentless enemies followed him out to +sea, took him from the ship in which he was going into exile, and beheaded +him on the thwarts of an open boat--was the forerunner of the most ghastly +chapters of blood and vengeance in civil feud ever known in this country. +But the grace and dignity of his home life in his palace at Ewelme, with +his Duchess to help him, are less well known, though the evidences of it +remain little altered at the present day. + +[Illustration: EWELME POOL. _From a photograph by Taunt & Co_.] + +Of course there was a village there long before the Duke of Suffolk became +possessed of it. It was such a perfect site that if any place in the +country round were inhabited, Ewelme would have been first choice. The +flow of water is one of the most striking natural features and amenities +of the place. It is a natural spring, coming out from the chalk of the +Chilterns, and forming immediately a lovely natural pool, under high, +tree-grown banks. This is still exactly as it was in the ancient days. No +water company has robbed it, and besides "The King's Pool," which is the +old name of the water, there are overflowing streams in every direction, +now used in careful irrigation for the growth of watercress, one of the +prettiest of all forms of minor farming. Fertile land, shelter from gales +by the overhanging hill, great trees, and abundance of ever-flowing water, +are the natural commodities of the place. It was of some importance very +early, for it gave its name to a Hundred. This hundred contains among +other places Chalgrove, where Hampden received his death-wound. Ewelme +belonged to the Chaucer family. The last male heir was Thomas, son of +Geoffrey Chaucer the poet, who left an only daughter Alice, destined to +become the greatest lady of her time. She married first the celebrated +Earl of Salisbury, who was killed by a cannon-shot while inspecting the +defences of Orleans during the siege which Joan of Arc raised. William de +la Pole, then Earl of Suffolk, was appointed commander of the English +forces in the Earl of Salisbury's place, and not only succeeded to his +office, but also married his Countess, who now became Countess of Suffolk. +It was long before either the Earl or his Countess could revisit Ewelme, +where the Earl must have had some property before his marriage, for his +elder brother, Earl Michael, was buried at the public expense in the +church of Ewelme after his death at Agincourt. For seventeen years the +Earl never left the war in France; but when Henry VI. was grown up he +arranged the marriage with Margaret of Anjou, and did his best to promote +peace. At this time Suffolk was the most powerful subject in the kingdom. +He was made a Marquis, and finally a Duke, and his Duchess was granted the +livery of the Garter. In 1424 they built a palace at Ewelme, and in due +course rebuilt the church, founded a "hospital for thirteen poor men and +two priests," and added to this a school. Palace, church, hospital, and +school were all of the same period of architecture, and that the very best +of its kind. Thus in the fifteenth century Ewelme was eminently a "one +man" place, like most of the model villages of to-day. The palace was +moated, and used as a prison as late as the Civil War. Margaret of Anjou +was kept there in a kind of honourable confinement for a short time, for +long after the Duke's murder the Duchess was in favour once more, in the +triumph of the Yorkists, and Margaret, who had been her Queen and +patroness, was given to her keeping as a prisoner both in her palace and +later at Wallingford Castle. Henry VIII. spent his third honeymoon there, +with Jane Seymour, and Prince Rupert lived in it during the Civil War. +Later, only the banqueting hall remained, which was converted into a manor +house. + +But if the palace is gone, the church remains as evidence of the +magnificence of the Duke's ideas on the subject of a village place of +worship. He seems to have shared the apprehension felt by the Duke in +Disraeli's novel "Tancred," that he might be accused of "under-building +his position." In design it is very like another large church at Wingfield +in Suffolk, where his hereditary possessions lay, and where he was buried +after his murder, his body having been given to his widow. The same +architect possibly supervised both, but of the two Ewelme Church is the +finer. The interior is especially splendid, for in it are the tombs of the +Chaucers, and the magnificent sepulchre of the Duchess herself, on which +her emaciated figure lies wrapped in her shroud. This tomb of the Duchess +Alice is one of the finest monuments of the kind in England. The other +relic of the prosperity of Ewelme under the De la Poles is the hospital +and school they founded. "God's House" is the name now given to it, and it +is kept in good repair and used as an almshouse. The inner court is +surrounded by cloisters, and the whole is in exactly the same condition as +when it was built. The higher parts, constructed of brick, were the +quarters of the priest and schoolmaster. The ruin and subsequent murder of +the Duke, who adorned and beautified this model village in the early +fifteenth century, took place in 1450. Nearly all France was lost, and in +the hopes of conciliating the enemy, Maine and Anjou were given up by +Suffolk's advice. He was accused of "selling" the provinces, and a number +of vague but damaging charges were drawn up against him on evidence which +would not be listened to now in any court or Parliament, except perhaps in +a French State trial. Suffolk drew up a petition to the king, which shows +among other things the drain which the French wars made on the lives and +fortunes of the English nobles. After referring to the "odious and +horrible language that runneth through the land almost in every common +mouth, sounding to my highest charge and most heaviest slander," he +reminded the King that his father had died in the siege of Harfleur, and +his eldest brother at Agincourt; that two other brothers were killed at +the battle of Jargeau, where he himself had been taken prisoner and had to +pay Ł20,000 ransom; that while his fourth brother was hostage for him he +died in the enemy's hands; and that he had borne arms for the King's +father and himself "thirty-four winters," and had "abided in the war in +France seventeen years without ever seeing this land." The King's favour +secured that he should be banished instead of losing his head, for a State +trial was never anything better than a judicial murder. The following is +the letter written by an eye-witness to Sir John Paston, describing what +then happened: "In the sight of all his men he was drawn out of the great +ship into the boat, and there was an axe and a stock. And one of the +lewdest men of the ship bade him lay down his head and he should be fairly +ferd (dealt) with, and die on a sword. And he took a rusty sword and smote +off his head with half-a-dozen strokes, and took away his gown of russet +and his doublet of velvet mailed, and laid his body on the sands of Dover; +and some say his head was set on a pole by it, and his men sit on the land +by great circumstance and pray." The writer says, "I have so washed this +bill with sorrowful tears that uneths ye shall not read it." The Countess +survived his fall and lived to be great and powerful once more. Her son +became the brother-in-law of sovereigns, and her grandchildren were +princes and princesses. + + + + +EEL-TRAPS + + +Fish and flour go together as bye-products of nearly all our large rivers. +The combination comes about thus: Wherever there is a water-mill, a mill +cut is made to take the water to it. The larger the river, the bigger and +deeper the mill cut and dam, unless the mill is built across an arm of the +stream itself. This mill-dam, as every trout-fisher knows, holds the +biggest fish, and where there are no trout, or few trout, it will be full +of big fish, while in the pool below there are perhaps as many more. Of +all the food fishes of our rivers the eel is really far the most +important. He flourishes everywhere, in the smallest pools and brooks as +well as in the largest rivers, and grows up to a weight of 9 lb. or 10 +lb., and sometimes, though rarely, more. His price indicates his worth, +and never falls below 10d. per lb. Consequently he is valuable as well as +plentiful, and the millers know this well. On nearly all rivers the +millers have eel-traps, some of the ancient sort being "bucks," made of +withes, and worked by expensive, old-fashioned machinery like the mill +gear. Another and most paying dodge of the machine-made order is worked in +the mill itself, and makes an annexe to the mill-wheel. + +I once spent an agreeable hour watching the making of barley meal and the +catching of eels, literally side by side. It was sufficiently good fun to +make me put my gun away for the afternoon, and give up a couple of hours' +walk, with the chance of a duck, to watch the mill and eel-traps working. + +They were both in a perfect old-world bye-end of the Thames Valley, in the +meads at the back of the forgotten but perfect abbey of the third order at +Dorchester, under the tall east window of which the River Thame was +running bank full, fringed with giant poplars, from which the rooks were +flying to look at their last year's nests in the abbey trees. + +The mill was, as might be supposed, the Abbey Mill; but on driving up the +lane I was surprised to see how good and large was the miller's house, a +fine dwelling of red and grey brick; and what a length of frontage the old +mill showed, built of wood, as most of them are, but with two sets of +stones, and space for two wheels. Only one was at work, and that was +grinding barley-meal--meal from nasty, foreign barley full of dirt; but +the miller had English barley-meal too, soft as velvet and sweet as a +new-baked loaf. Stalactites of finest meal dust hung from every nail, peg, +cobweb, and rope end on the walls, fine meal strewed the floor, coarse +meal poured from the polished shoots, to which the sacks hung by bright +steel hooks, and on both floors ancient grindstones stood like monuments +of past work and energy, while below and beside all this dust and floury +dryness roared the flooded waters of the dam and the beating floats of the +wheel. "Have you any eels?" I asked. "Come and see," said the miller. + +He stopped his wheel, unbolted the door, and we looked up the mill dam, +two hundred yards long, straight as a line, embanked by double rows of +ancient yews, the banks made and the trees planted by the monks five +hundred years ago. Then we stepped into the wheel-house, where the water, +all yellow and foaming, was pouring into two compartments set with iron +gratings below, on which it rose and foamed. Seizing a long pole with +prongs like walrus teeth, the miller felt below the water on the bars. +"Here's one, anyway," he said, and by a dexterous haul scooped up a +monster eel on to the floor. In a box which he hauled from the dam he had +more, some of 5-lb. weight, which had come down with the flood--an easy +and profitable fishery, for the eels can lie in the trap till he hauls +them out, and sell well summer and winter. It pays as well as a poultry +yard. Once he took a 9-lb. fish; 2-1/2 lb. to 4 lb. are common. + +The eel-trap on the old Thames mill stream is imitated in other places +where there is no mill. Thus at Mottisfont Abbey on the Test an old mill +stream is used to work an hydraulic ram, and also to supply eels for the +house; the water is diverted into the eel-trap, and the fish taken at any +time. Another dodge for taking eels, which is not in the nature of what is +called a "fixed engine," is the movable eel-trap or "grig wheel." It is +like a crayfish basket, and is in fact the same thing, only rather larger. +They can be obtained from that old river hand, Mr. Bambridge, at Eton, +weighted, stoppered, and ready for use, for 7s. 6d. each, and unweighted +for 5s. They are neat wicker-work tunnels, with the usual contrivance at +the mouth to make the entrance of the eels agreeable and their exit +impossible. The "sporting" side of these traps is that a good deal of +judgment is needed to set them in the right places in a river. Many people +think that eels like carrion and favour mud. Mr. Bambridge says his +experience is different, and his "advice to those about to fish" with this +kind of eel-trap is suggestive of new ideas about eels. He says that "for +bait nothing can beat about a dozen and a-half of small or medium live +gudgeon, failing these large minnows, small dace, roach, loach, &c., +though in some streams about a dozen good bright large lob worms, threaded +on a copper wire and suspended inside, are very effective, and should +always be given a trial. Offal I have tried but found useless, eels being +a cleaner feeding fish than many are aware of; and feeding principally in +gravelly, weedy parts, the basket should be well tucked up under a long +flowing weed, as it is to these places they go for food, such as the +ground fish, loach, miller's thumb, crayfish, shrimps, mussels, &c. When I +worked a fishery near here, I made it a rule after setting the basket to +well scratch the soil in front of the entrance with the boathook I used +for lowering them, and firmly believe their curiosity was excited by the +disturbed gravel. Choose water from four feet to six feet deep, and see +basket lays flat. Every morning when picked up, lay them on the bank, pick +out all weed and rubbish, and brush them over with a bass broom, keeping +them out of water till setting again at dusk." + +Eel-bucks, of which few perfect sets now remain, are the fixed engines so +often seen on the Thames, and are a costly and rather striking +contrivance, adding greatly to the picturesqueness of parts of the river. +They are very ancient, and date from days when the "eel-run" was one of +the annual events of river life. The eels went down in millions to the +sea, and the elvers came up in such tens of millions that they made a +black margin to the river on either side by the bank, where they swam +because the current was there weakest. The large eels were taken, and are +still taken, on their downward journey in autumn. It is then that the +Thames fills, and at the first big rush of water the eels begin to descend +to reach the mud and sands at the Thames mouth, where they spawn. They +always travel by night, and it is then that the heavy eel-bucks are +lowered. Often hundredweights are taken in a night, all of good size, one +of the largest of which there is any record being one of 15 lb., taken in +the Kennet near Newbury. In the "grig-wheels" they are taken as small as 3 +oz. or 4 oz.; but in the bucks they rarely weigh less than 1 lb. The +darkest nights are the most favourable. Moonlight stops them, and they do +not like still weather. The upward migration of eels goes on from February +till May on the Thames, but the regular "eel-fare" of the young grigs do +not assume any great size till May, when as many as 1,800, about three +inches long, were seen to pass a given point in one minute. So say the +records. But who could have counted them so fast? + +A few recent developments of the eel trade elsewhere show how valuable +this may be. Quite lately the Danes discovered that the Lim-fiord and some +other shallow Broads on the West Danish Coast were a huge preserve of +eels. They began trawling there steadily, and have established a large and +lucrative trade in them. On the Bann, in Ireland, eel catching is still +done in a large way, and the fish shipped to London. But the most ancient +and yet most modern of eel fisheries is on the Adriatic, at Comacchio, +where lagoons 140 miles in circumference are stocked with eels, and eel +breeding and exporting are carried out on a large scale. Even as early as +the sixteenth century the Popes used to derive an income of Ł12,000 from +this source. + + + + +SHEEP, PLAIN AND COLOURED + + +In the Thames Valley there are two very distinguished breeds of sheep--the +Cotswolds at the head of the watershed, and the Oxford Downs, near +Wallingford. Wallingford lamb is supposed to be the best in the market. +There are also the Berkshire Downs sheep, but these are, I think, more +obviously cross-bred, or else of the Hampshire breed. The Cotswold sheep +are probably a very old breed. They are evidently the original of the +woolly "baa-lamb" of the nursery, with long, fleecy wool. The Oxford Downs +are a short-woolled sheep. One of the flocks of this breed has been +improved by selection, mainly in regard to fecundity, to such an extent +that I believe twins are the normal proportion among the lambs. The +shepherds, as elsewhere on the large down farms, form a race apart. They +are not always on the best of terms with the ordinary farm labourers, I +notice. "The shepherd be a working against I," is a complaint I sometimes +hear. The real reason is that the shepherd thinks, above all things, of +his flock, and of finding them _food_. The feud between the keeper of +sheep and the raiser of crops dates from the days of Cain and Abel. + +I heard lately from a gentleman who very frequently occupies the +honourable position of judge or steward at the leading agricultural shows, +that it is proposed that in future no sheep sent to shows are to be +allowed to have their coats rouged, and the judges are in future to make +their decisions uninfluenced by the beauties of cosmetics. This decision +comes as a great blow to the skilled hands in the business of the +"improver," who, by long experience and a nice knowledge of the weaknesses +of judges, had brought the art of "making up" pedigree sheep of any +particular breed to something very nearly approaching the ideal of +perfection. Their wool was clipped so artistically as to resemble a bed of +moss, and this being elegantly tinted with rouge or saffron, the sheep +assumed the hue of the pink or primrose, according to taste and fancy. The +reason for the demand which now requires that the champions of the flock +shall be shown "plain" and not coloured is not too technical to appeal to +the general public. Those who know the acute anxiety with which the +exhibitors of prize animals, from fancy mice to shorthorns, watch them +"coming on" as the hour for the show approaches, will treat tenderly, even +if they cannot condone, the little weaknesses into which the uses of rouge +and saffron led them. When a Southdown which ought to have a contour +smooth and rounded as a pear still showed aggravating little pits and +hollows where there ought to be none, nothing was easier than to postpone +clipping those undesirable hollows till the moment before the show, or if +there were bumps where there should be no bumps, to shave the wool down +close over them. Left to Nature, the newly-clipped wool would show a +different tint from the rest of the fleece; but the rouge or saffron then +applied made all things even, to the eye, and the judges to find out +whether the animals were "level" or not had to feel them all over. Feeling +every six inches of some two hundred sheep's backs is very tiring work; so +the judges have struck against rouge, and there is an end of it. + +One night, some years ago, an extraordinary thing happened on both lines +of downs by the Thames, near Reading, and also along the Chilterns. Most +of the flocks over a very large area took a panic and burst from their +folds, and next morning thousands of sheep were wandering all over the +hills. I feel certain that there must have been an earthquake shock that +night. Nothing else could have accounted for such a wide and general +stampede. The last authenticated earthquake shock in the South Midlands +took place hereabouts in 1775, and was noted at Lord Macclesfield's Castle +of Shirbourne, where the water in the moat was seen to rise against the +wall of one of the towers.[1] + +Are our domestic sheep, except for their highly artificial development of +wool, really very different from their wild ancestors, the active and +flat-coated animals which still feed on the stony mountain-tops? The ways +of sheep, not only in this country but abroad, show that a part at least +of their wild nature is still strong in them; and if type photographs of +all the representative domestic animals of our time, had been possible a +few centuries ago, it may be that even in this country the shape of the +animal would be found to have been far nearer to the sheep of St. Kilda +and of the wild breeds than it is to-day. + +In one of the old Cloth Halls of Norfolk are two fine reliefs in plaster, +one showing the _Argo_, bringing the golden fleece, the other a flock +of sheep of the day, with a saint in Bishop's mitre and robes preaching to +them. The shepherd, in a smock, is spinning wool with a distaff; and the +sheep feeding around him, though carefully modelled, are quite unlike any +of the modern breeds. Many of the domestic sheep of hot countries are more +slender and less woolly than the wild sheep of the mountains. The +black-and-white Somali sheep, for instance, are as smooth as a pointer +dog. + +But it is in temperament and habits that the close connection between the +wild and tame breeds is most clearly shown. The _excessive_ +domestication of the flocks of Southern England has killed all interest in +them even among those who live in the country, and are keen and +sympathetic observers of the ways of every other creature in the fields. +The beauty of the lambs attracts attention, and the prettiness of the +scene when they and their mothers are placed in some sheltered orchard +among the wild daffodils and primroses, or in an early meadow by the +brook, makes people wonder why they are so stupid when grown up. But the +fact is that when not penned up by hurdles and moved from square to square +over a whole farm, so that each inch of food may be devoured, each member +of the flock can think for itself, and would, in less artificial +surroundings, make for itself a creditable name for independence and +intelligence. All sheep have retained this distinguishing habit of their +ancestors, that they are by nature migratory, and share with nearly all +migrant animals a capacity for thought and organisation, and a knowledge +of localities. Wild sheep are migratory because they live by preference on +the rocky and stony parts of hills just below the snow-line. This is why +the tame sheep do so well on the moors of Scotland and mountains of +Switzerland. But as the snow-line descends each winter far below their +summer feeding haunts, wild sheep either migrate to the lower slopes of +the mountains, or, like the deer of the Rockies, move off altogether to +great distances. Every winter, for instance, the lower valleys of +Yellowstone Park are filled with deer and antelope from the distant +mountains. So the tame flocks of Greece, Thrace, Spain, and even Scotland +are migratory. In Scotland their transport is modernised, and they travel +regularly by steamer from the islands to winter in the Lowlands, and by +train from the Highlands. Two years ago a flock of migratory sheep from +Ayrshire came for early spring feeding to Hyde Park, and were there shorn, +with their Highland collies looking on. In the "old countries" and the +non-progressive East of Europe the migration of the flocks is on a vaster +and far more romantic scale. In Spain there are some ten millions of +migratory sheep, which every year travel as much as two hundred miles from +the plains to the "delectable mountains," where the shepherds feed them +till the snows descend. These sheep are known as _transhumanies_ and +their march, resting places, and behaviour are regulated by ancient and +special laws and tribunals dating from the fourteenth century. At certain +times no one is allowed to travel on the same route as the sheep, which +have a right to graze on all open and common land on the way, and for +which a road ninety yards wide must be left on all enclosed and private +property. The shepherds lead the flocks, the sheep follow, and the flock +is accompanied by mules carrying provisions, and large dogs which act as +guards against the wolves. The Merino sheep travel four hundred miles to +the mountains, and the total time spent on the migration there and back is +fourteen weeks. In Thrace the migration of the flocks is to the northern +ranges of Mount Rhodope. The sheep are said to be no less alert than the +Pomak shepherds, obeying a signal to assemble at any moment given by the +shepherd's horn. The dogs are ferocious in the extreme, as the enemies of +sheep in these parts are more commonly men than wild beasts, and the +gentle shepherd, who has, since the Russo-Turkish War, exchanged his long +gun for a Winchester rifle, shoots at sight and asks no questions. + +The more nearly domestic sheep can approach the life of the primitive +stock, the more intelligent their way of life becomes. The cleverest sheep +live on the hills, and the stupidest on the plains. In Wales, for +instance, if a new tenant takes over the flock of an outgoing tenant, the +latter is by law allowed a higher price if the flock is one which knows +the boundaries and paths on the hills. On the plains of Argentina, as Mr. +Hudson tells us, the lambs are born so stupid that they will run after a +puff-ball rolling before the wind, mistaking it for their mother. + +[1] This was a tremor of the great earthquake at Lisbon. + + + + +SOME RESULTS OF WILD-BIRD PROTECTION + + +Among the happiest results of the modern feeling about birds is the +conversion of the whole of the Thames above the tideway into a "protected +area." This was not done by an order of the Secretary of State, who, by +existing law, would have had to make orders for each bit of the river in +different counties, and often, where it divides counties, would have been +obliged to deal separately with each bank. The Thames Conservancy used +their powers, and summarily put a stop to shooting on the river throughout +their whole jurisdiction. The effect of this was not seen all at once; but +little by little the waterfowl began to return, the kingfishers to +increase, and all the birds along the banks grew tamer. Then the County +Councils of Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, and Berkshire forbade the +killing of owls and kingfishers, and this practically made the river and +its banks a sanctuary. + +The water-hen are so numerous that at Nuneham Lock they run into the +cottages, and at other locks the men complain they eat all their winter +cabbages. As many as forty at a time have been counted on the meadows. Mr. +Harcourt has also established a wild-duck colony on and about the island +at Nuneham. The island has a pond in the centre, with sedges and ancient +willows and tall trees round. There the really wild ducks join the +home-bred ones in winter. Lower down, the scene on late summer days is +almost like a poultry-yard, with waterfowl and wild pigeons substituted +for ducks and chickens. Young water-hens of all sizes pipe and flutter in +the reeds, and feed on the bank within a few feet of those rowing or +fishing, and their only enemies are the cats, which, attracted by their +numbers, leave the cottages for the river and stalk them, while the old +water-hens in vain try to get their too tame young safe on to the water +again. + +Though kingfishers have increased fast they are less in evidence, being +naturally shy after years of persecution. In summer they keep mainly at +the back of the willows, away from the river, so long as the latter is +crowded with boats. + +It was not till November, 1899, that I saw the kingfishers at play, as I +had long hoped to do, in such numbers as to make a real feature on the +river. It was a brilliant, warm, sunny morning, such as sometimes comes in +early winter, and I went down before breakfast to Clifton Bridge. There +the shrill cry of the kingfishers was heard on all sides, and I counted +seven, chasing each other over the water, darting in swift flight round +and round the pool, and perching on the cam-shedding in a row to rest. +Presently two flew up and hovered together, like kestrels, over the +stream. One suddenly plunged, came up with a fish, and flying to the +other, which was still hovering, put the fish into its beak. After this +pretty gift and acceptance both flew to the willows, where, let us hope, +they shared their breakfast. + +In a row down the river extending over ten miles I saw more than twenty +kingfishers, most of them flying out, as is their custom, on the side of +the willows and osiers averse from the river, but some being quite content +to remain on their perches from which they fish, while the boat slipped +down in midstream. As they sit absolutely motionless, and the reddish +breast, and not the brilliant back, is turned to the water, it needs quick +eyes to see these watchers by the stream. + +The total prohibition of shooting on the water or banks is also producing +the usual effect on the other birds and beasts. They are rapidly becoming +tame, and the oarsman has the singular pleasure of floating down among all +kinds of birds which do not regard him as an enemy. Young swallows sit +fearlessly on the dead willow boughs to be fed by their parents; the +reed-buntings and sedge-warblers scarcely move when the oar dips near the +sedge on which they sit; wood-pigeons sit on the margin and drink where +the pebble-banks or cattle-ways touch the water; and the water-rats will +scarcely stop their business of peeling rushes to eat the pith, even if a +boatload of children passes by. + +[Illustration: NIGHTJAR AND YOUNG ONE. _From a photograph by R.B. Lodge_.] + +[Illustration: REED BUNTING. _From a photograph by R.B. Lodge_.] + +The return of the birds, and especially of wild fowl, to the London river +is the result partly of the same causes which have restored the fish to +its waters; partly, also, of measures affecting a wider area, but carried +out with far less physical difficulty. Their presence is evidence that the +tidal Thames now yields them a stock of food so abundant as to tempt birds +like the heron, the water-hen, and the kingfisher back to their old +haunts. It shows, secondly, that the by-laws for the protection of birds +passed by the counties of London, Surrey, and Middlesex, and by the Thames +Conservancy (which was the pioneer in this direction by forbidding +shooting on the river), are so far effective that the stock is rapidly +increasing; and, lastly, that the birds are preserved and left in peace to +a great extent on the London river itself. The following are the most +marked instances of this return of river fowl which have come under the +writer's notice; but in every case there have been preliminary advances on +the part of the birds, which show that what is now recorded is only one +step further in the general tendency to resume their old habits, or even +to go beyond their former limits of place and time in resorting to the +river. The herons from Richmond Park have extended their usual nightly +fishing ground, which formerly ended at Kew Bridge, four miles further +down the river, almost to Hammersmith Bridge, and in place of coming late +at night, under cover of darkness, have made a practice of flying down at +dusk, and pitching on the edge of Chiswick Eyot.[1] Their regular +appearance led to various inquiries as to the nature of the "big birds +like geese" which flew down the river and made a noise in the evening, +questions which were answered, in one case, by the appearance of one of +the birds as it swung round in the air opposite a terrace of houses, and +dropped in the stream to fish, not twenty yards from the road. As the +heron is naturally among the shyest of all waterside birds, and seeks +solitude above all things, these visits show that the quantity of fish in +the lower river must be great, and also that the London herons, now never +shot at, are losing their inbred dislike of houses and humanity. Their +footprints have been found on the mud opposite a creek in Hammersmith, +round which is one of the most crowded quarters of the poorer folk of West +London. The birds had been fishing within ten yards of the houses, which +at this point are largely inhabited by organ-grinders and vendors of +ice-creams, callings which do not promote quiet and solitude in the +immediate neighbourhood. In the evening and early morning a few wild ducks +accompany the herons as low as the reach above Hammersmith Bridge, and +single ducks have been seen even at midday flying overhead. At sunrise one +Midsummer Day I saw a sheldrake (probably an escaped bird) flying down the +river, looking very splendid in its black, white, and red plumage, in the +bright light of the morning. It haunted the reach for some days, and was +not shot. Among other visitors to this part of the river and its island +during spring were a curlew, which fed for some time on the eyot during +the early morning, and a pair of pheasants, one of which, an old-fashioned +English cock bird, was subsequently captured unhurt. A flock of sandpipers +remained there for some weeks, and during the summer numbers of +sedge-warblers have nested on and around the eyot; the cuckoo has been a +regular visitor to the osier-bed in the early morning, probably with a +view to laying its eggs in the sedge-warblers' nests. As a set-off to +these early visits of the cuckoo, a nightjar has hunted round the islet +for moths, both at dusk and during the night, when its note may often be +heard. This is a fairly long list of interesting birds revisiting a +portion of the river which the London boundary crosses. At a distance of +less than half a mile, on some ornamental water near the river, an even +more unexpected increase of the bird population has been noted. A pair of +kingfishers nested and reared their brood in an old gravel-pit, while +several nests of young dabchicks hatched by the pool.[2] There also during +the spring a pair of tufted ducks appeared, and remained for some days +before going on their journey to their breeding haunts. One lamentable +event in the bird life of the Thames deserves mention. A pair of swans +ventured to nest within a few hundred feet of the London boundary. The +hen, a very shy young bird, laid three eggs on Chiswick Eyot, and the +pair, being supplied with material, diligently built up their nest day by +day until it was above the tide level. They sat for five weeks, the cock +bird keeping anxious guard day and night, while the hen would probably +have died of starvation unless fed by kindly neighbours, for the river +affords very little food for a swan, and this required far longer time to +find than the bird was willing to spare from her nest. This was then +robbed in the night, and the cock bird maltreated in defending it. The +return of fish and fowl to the London Thames shows by the best of tests +that the efforts of the Thames Conservancy to preserve the amenities of +the river, of the Sewage Committee of the County Council to maintain its +purity, or rather to render it less impure at its mouth, and of the +adjacent County Authorities to protect bird life, are all yielding good +results, and justify the courage with which such an apparently hopeless +task was undertaken. To the Conservancy I would offer one or two +suggestions, which County Councillors might also consider. The river is +the only large _natural_ feature still left in the area of London and +Greater London. Now that it contains water in place of sewage, there is a +guarantee that its main element as a natural amenity in a great city will +be maintained, and as it becomes purer, so will the facilities which it +offers for boating, fishing, and bathing increase. But it should not be +_embanked_ beyond the present limit at Putney. Stone walls are not a +thing of beauty, and a natural river-bank is. At present, from Putney to +Richmond the greater part of the Thames flows between natural boundaries. +If these can be maintained, the growth of willows, sedge, hemlock, reeds, +water ranunculus, and many other fine and luxuriant plants affords insect +food for the fish and shelter for the birds, besides giving to the river +its natural floral border. If this is replaced by stone banks the birds +and the fish will move elsewhere. + +[1] Mr. J.E. Vincent tells me that in 1902 the herons were heard as far +down the river as Chelsea. + +[2] In the beautiful grounds of Chiswick House, where the present +occupier, Dr. T. Tuke, carefully preserves all wild birds. + + + + +OSIERS AND WATER-CRESS + + +Osiers, the shoots of which are cut yearly for making baskets, crates, +lobster-pots, and eel-traps are a form of crop of which not nearly as much +is made in the Thames Valley as their profitable return warrants. Properly +managed they nearly always pay well, and, in addition, they are very +ornamental, and for the whole of the summer, autumn, and winter are one of +the very best forms of covert for game. They are commonly seen near +rivers, especially in parts where the ground is flooded in winter. But +osiers may be grown anywhere on good ground, and are a rapid and paying +crop, giving very little trouble, though they need some attention even on +the banks of tidal rivers. It is estimated that in the whole of Great +Britain there are only between 7,000 and 8,000 acres of osier beds, but +these average three tons of rods per acre, and the value of the crop when +harvested is often at least Ł15 per acre gross return. As fruit +cultivation is immensely increasing in England, there is a corresponding +increase in the demand for baskets to put the fruit in. This is the main +reason why osiers, unlike most farm crops, keep up their price. Immense +quantities are now imported from Belgium, France, and Germany because our +own crop is not nearly sufficient.[1] They do not require a wet soil or to +be near water: all that the willow roots need is that the land shall be +good and not too dry or sandy. Stagnant, boggy ground does not suit them +at all, though they will grow well in light loam. Many species of osier +are of most brilliant colouring in winter and early spring. In some the +rods are golden yellow; in others the bark is almost scarlet with a bright +polish, and the osier bed forms a brilliant object from December to +February, just before the rods are cut. The kind of willow grown varies +from the slender, tough withes used in making small baskets and eel-traps, +to the large, fast-growing rods suited for making crates for heavy goods. +The planter must find out for which kind there is the readiest market in +the neighbourhood, and then get his land ready. It needs thorough clearing +and trenching to the depth of from twenty to thirty inches. The young +osiers should then be put in. These should be taken from a nursery in +which they have been "schooled" for one year, as in that case they will +produce a crop fit to cut one year earlier than if the cuttings have been +put at once in the new osier-bed. The cuttings when transferred to the bed +should be put in twelve inches apart in the rows, and these rows made at +two feet distance from each other. They will need hoeing to keep the +ground clear, which will cost Łl to Ł2 per acre for the first two years, +and this should be done before the middle of June. When the osiers are +well started they grow so densely that they kill out the weeds themselves. +The rate of growth even on ordinary field-land is astonishing; they will +add eighteen inches in a week. February and March are the months for +planting, and March also sees the osier harvest when the time comes to cut +them. In the fens the harvesting of the rods begins earlier, but this +depends usually on the season, the object being to cut them before the sap +begins to rise. Osiers particularly invite the attention of those who are +desirous of planting coverts for game. They are a paying crop, and a quick +crop, giving cover sooner and of better quality than almost any other form +of underwood, and are also very ornamental. It is true that they are cut +yearly, but this is not till the shooting season is over. Meantime there +is no covert which pheasants like so much as osier-beds, especially if +they are near water. + +On Chiswick Eyot, which is entirely planted with osiers, there are +standing at the time of writing six stacks of bundles set upright. Each +stack contains about fifty bundles of the finest rods, nine feet high. +Thus the eyot yields at least three hundred bundles. This osier-bed is cut +quite early in the year, usually in January, and by February all the fresh +rods are planted. Before being peeled the osiers are stood upright in +water for a month, and some begin to bud again. This is to make the sap +run up, I presume, by which means the bark comes off more readily. I +believe that the Chiswick osiers, being of the largest size, are used for +making crates, and that they are cut early because there is no need to +peel them. + +Water-cress growing is an increasing business in the Thames Valley, where +the head of every little brook or river in the chalk is used for this +purpose. This is good both for business in general and for the fish, for +water-cress causes the accumulation of a vast quantity of fish food in +various forms. + +The artificial culture of water-cress is comparatively modern, and a +remarkably pretty side-industry of the country. + +Formerly, the cress gatherer was usually a gipsy, or "vagrom man," who +wandered up to the springs and by the head waters of brooks at dawn, and +took his cresses as the mushroom-gatherer takes mushrooms--by dint of +early rising and trespass. + +[Illustration: PEELING OSIERS. _From a photograph by Taunt & Co_.] + +The places where water-cress grows naturally are usually singularly +attractive. The plant grows best where springs actually bubble from the +ground, either where the waters break out on the lower sides of the chalk +downs, or in some limestone-begotten stream where springs rise, sometimes +for a distance of one or two miles, bubbling and swelling in the very bed +of the brook. There, among dead reeds and flags, the pale green cresses +appear very early in the spring, for the water is always warmer which +rises from the bosom of the earth. Trout and wild duck haunt the same +spots, and one often sees, stuck on a board in the stream, a notice +warning off the poor water-cress gatherer, who was supposed to poach the +fish. + +The happy-go-lucky cress gathering is now a thing of the past, and there +are few rural industries more skilfully and profitably conducted. I knew a +farmer who, having lost all his capital on a large farm on the downs, took +as a last resource to growing the humble "creases" by the springs below. +He has now made money once more, and been able to take and cultivate +another farm nearly as large as that he worked before, while the area of +his water-cress beds still grows. + +Wherever a chalk stream, however small, breaks out of the hills, it is +usual to let it to a water-cress grower. He widens the channels, and year +by year every square foot of the upper waters is planted with cress. Each +year, too, new and larger beds are added below, and the cresses creep down +the stream. When they encroach on good spawning ground this is very bad +for trout; but the beds are pretty enough, forming successive flats, on +different levels, of vivid green. + +The scene on the Water-cress Farm shows the complete metamorphosis +undergone by what was once a swift running brook when once the new culture +is taken in hand. When left to Nature, the little chalk stream might truly +have said, in the words of the poem-- + + "I murmur under moon and stars + In brambly wildernesses, + I linger by my shingly bars, + I loiter round my cresses." + +Now all the brambles and shingle are gone, and the stream is condemned to +"loiter round its cresses," and to do nothing else. The water must not be +more than six inches deep, and it must not flow too fast. To secure these +conditions little dams, some made of earth and some of boards, are built +from side to side of the brook. The water thus appears to descend in a +series of steps, each communicating with the next by earthen pipes, +through which the water spouts. When a fresh bed of cresses is to be +planted, which is done usually towards the end of summer, a sluice is +opened, and only an inch or so of water left. On this cuttings from the +cress are strewn, which soon take root, and make a bed fit for gathering +by next spring. + +From February to April the cresses are at their best. Their flavour is +good, their leaves crisp, and they come at a time when no outdoor salad +can be grown. As the beds are set close to the fresh springs, they are +seldom frozen. Hence, in very hard weather all the birds flock to the +cress-beds, where they find running water and a certain quantity of food. +If the beds do freeze, the cress is destroyed, and the loss is very +serious. + +Gathering cresses is a very pleasant job in summer, but in early spring +one of the most cheerless occupations conceivable short of gathering +Iceland moss. The men wear waterproof boots, reaching up the thighs, and +thick stockings inside these. But the water is icy cold. The cress plants +are then not tall, as they are later, but short and bushy. They need +careful picking, too, in order not to injure the second crop. Then the +cold and dripping cresses have to be trimmed, tied into bundles, and +packed. When "dressed" they are laid in strong, flat hampers, called +"flats," the lids of which are squeezed down tight on to them. The edges +are then cut neatly with a sharp knife, and the baskets placed in running +water, until the carts are ready to drive them to the station. Not London +only but the great towns of the North consume the cress grown in the South +of England. A great part of that grown in the springs which break out +under the Berkshire Downs goes to Manchester. + +One basket holds about two hundred large bunches. From each of these a +dozen of the small bunches retailed at a penny each can be made; and every +square rod of the cress-bed yields two baskets at a cutting. + +In one of the East London suburbs, near to the reservoirs of a water +company, it has been found worth while to create an artificial spring, by +making an arrangement with the waterworks for a constant supply. This +flows from a stand-pipe and irrigates the cress-beds, which produce good +cresses, though not of such fine flavour as those grown in natural spring +water and upon a chalk soil. + +[1] Fishermen in the Isle of Wight send all the way to the Midlands to get +the little scarlet withes required for making lobster-pots. + + + + +FOG AND DEW PONDS + + +The cycle of dry seasons seems to be indefinitely prolonged. During the +period, now lasting since 1893, in which we have had practically no wet +summers, and many very hot ones, a very curious phenomenon has been +remarked upon the high and dry chalk downs. The dew ponds, so called +because they are believed to be fed by dew and vapours, and not by rain, +have kept their water, while the deeper ponds in the valleys have often +failed. The shepherds on the downs are careful observers of these ponds, +because if they run dry they have to take their sheep to a distance or +draw water for them from very deep wells. They maintain that there are on +the downs some dew ponds which have never been known to run dry. Others +which do run dry do so because the bottom is injured by driving sheep into +them and so perforating the bed when the water is shallow, and not from +the failure of the invisible means of supply. There seem to be two sources +whence these ponds draw water, the dew and the fogs. Summer fogs are very +common at night on the high downs, though people who go to bed and get up +at normal hours do not know of them. These fogs are so wet that a man +riding up on to the hills at 4 a.m. may find his clothes wringing wet, and +every tree dripping water, just as during the first week of last November +in London many trees distilled pools of water from the fog, as if it had +been pouring with rain. Such was the case on July 4th, 1901. The fogs will +draw up the hollows towards the ponds, and hang densely round them. Fog +and dew may or may not come together; but generally there is a heavy dew +deposit on the grass when a fog lies on the hills. After such fogs, though +rain may not have fallen for a month, and there is no water channel or +spring near the dew pond, the water in it rises prodigiously. Every +shepherd knows this, but the actual measurements of this contribution of +the vapour-laden air have not often been taken. Yet the subject is an +interesting one, and of real importance to all dwellers on high hills, +especially those which, like the South Downs, are near the sea, and +attract great masses of fog and vapour-laden cloud, but contain few +springs on the high rolls of the hills. + +The following are some notes of the rise in a dew pond caused by winter +fogs on the Berkshire Downs. They were recorded by the Rev. J.G. Cornish +at Lockinge, in Berkshire, and taken at his suggestion by a shepherd[1] in +a simple and ingenious way. Whenever he thought that a heavy dew or fog +was to be expected (and the shepherds are rarely wrong as weather +prophets) he notched a stick, and drove it into the pond overnight, so +that the notch was level with the surface. Next morning he pulled it up, +marked how high the water had risen above the notch, and nicked it again +for measurement. On January 18th, after a night of fog, the water rose +1-1/2 in.; on the next day, after another fog, 2 in.; and on January 24th, +1 in. Five nights of winter fog gave a total rise of 8 ins.--a vast weight +of water even in a pond of moderate area. Five days of heavy spring dew in +April and May, with no fog, gave a total rise in the same pond of 3-1/2 +ins., the dews, though one was very heavy, giving less water than the +fogs, one of which even in May caused the water to rise 1-1/2 ins.[2] The +shepherds say that it is always well to have one or two trees hanging over +the pond, for that these distil the water from the fog. This is certainly +the case. The drops may be heard raining on to the surface in heavy mists. +During the first October mists of 1891 the pavement under certain trees +was as wet as if it had been raining, while elsewhere the dust lay like +powder. The water was still dripping from these trees at 7 a.m. Under the +plane-trees the fallen leaves were as wet from distilled moisture as if +they had been dipped in water; yet the ground beyond the spread of the +tree was dry. The writer tried a simple experiment in this distilling +power of trees. At sundown, two vessels were placed, one under a small +cherry-tree in full leaf, the other on some stone flags. Heavy dew was +falling and condensing on all vegetation, and on some other objects, with +the curious capriciousness which the dewfall seems to show. The leaves of +some trees were already wet. In the morning the vessel under the tree, and +that in the open, both held a considerable quantity of water, that on the +stone caught from dew and condensation, that under the tree mainly from +what had dripped from the leaves, which clearly intercepted the direct +fall of dew. But the vessel under the tree held just twice as much water +as that in the open, the surplus being almost entirely derived from drops +precipitated from the leaves. Mr. Sanderson, the manager of the +elephant-catching establishment of the Indian Government, noted that in +heavy dews in the jungle the water condensed by the leaves could be heard +falling like a heavy shower of rain. + +Gilbert White, who noticed everything, and lived near a chalk hill, makes +some shrewd conjectures, both about the dew ponds and the part which trees +play in distilling water from fog, though he does not form the practical +conclusion, which we think is a safe one, that the most fog-distilling +trees should be discovered and planted to help to supply the water in +these air-tapping reservoirs. "To a thinking mind," he writes, "few +phenomena are more strange than the state of little ponds on the summits +of the chalk hills, many of which are never dry in the most trying +droughts of summer. On _chalk_ hills, I say, because in many rocky +and gravelly soils springs usually break out pretty high on the sides of +elevated grounds and mountains; but no persons acquainted with chalky +districts will allow that they ever saw springs in such a soil but in +valleys and bottoms, since the waters of so pervious a stratum as chalk +all lie on one dead level, as well-diggers have assured me again and +again. Now we have many such little round ponds in this district, and one +in particular on our sheep-down, three hundred feet above my house, and +containing perhaps not more than two or three hundred hogsheads of water; +yet it is never known to fail, though it affords drink for three or four +hundred sheep, and for at least twenty head of large cattle beside. This +pond, it is true, is overhung with two moderate beeches, that doubtless at +times afford it much supply. But then we have others as small, which, +without the aid of trees, and in spite of evaporation from sun and wind +and perpetual consumption by cattle, yet constantly contain a moderate +share of water, without overflowing in the winter, as they would do if +supplied by springs. By my Journal of May, 1775, it appears that 'the +small and even the considerable ponds in the vales are now dried up, but +the small ponds on the very tops of the hills are but little affected.' +Can this difference be accounted for by evaporation alone, which is +certainly more prevalent in the bottoms? Or, rather, have not these +elevated pools _some unnoticed recruits, which in the night time +counterbalance the waste of the day?_" These unnoticed recruits, though +it is now certain that they come in the form of those swimming vapours +from which little moisture seems to fall, are enlisted by means still not +certainly known. The common explanation was that the cool surface of the +water condensed the dew, just as the surface of a glass of iced water +condenses moisture. The ponds are always made artificially in the first +instance, and puddled with clay and chalk. + +In the notes to a recent edition of "White's Selborne," edited by +Professor L.C. Miall, F.R.S., and Mr. W. Warde Fowler, a considerable +amount of information on dew ponds is appended to the passage quoted +above, but the source of supply still remains obscure. The best dew ponds +seem to be on the Sussex Downs, where far more fog and cooling cloud +accumulates than on the more inland chalk ranges, because of the nearness +of the sea. Near Inkpen Beacon, in Hampshire, there is a dew pond at a +height of nine hundred feet, which is never dry, though it waters a large +flock of sheep.[3] Dew ponds are often found where there are no other +sources of supply, such as the wash coming from a road. Probably if the +site for one had to be selected, it should be where the mists gather most +thickly and the heaviest dews are shed, local knowledge only possessed by +a few shepherds. I have driven up _through_ rain on to the top of the +downs, and found there that no rain was falling, but mists lying in the +hollows like smoke. Mr. Clement Reid, F.R.S., has added to the "Selborne" +notes his own experiences of the best sites for dew ponds. They should, he +thinks, be sheltered on the south-west by an overhanging tree. In those he +is acquainted with the tree is often only a stunted, ivy-covered thorn or +oak, or a bush of holly, or else the southern bank is high enough to give +shadow. "When one of these ponds is examined in the middle of a hot +summer's day," he adds, "it would appear that the few inches of water in +it could only last a week. But in early morning, or towards evening, or +whenever a sea-mist drifts in, there is a continuous drip from the smooth +leaves of the overhanging tree. There appears also to be a considerable +amount of condensation on the surface of the water itself, though the +roads may be quite dry and dusty. In fact, whenever there is dew on the +grass the pond is receiving moisture." + +Though this is evidently the case, no one has explained how it comes about +that the pond surface receives so very much more moisture than the grass. +The heaviest dew or fog would not deposit an inch, or even two inches, of +water over an area of grass equal to that of the pond. None of the current +theories of dew deposits quite explain this very interesting question. Two +lines of inquiry seem to be suggested, which might be pursued side by +side. These are the quantities distilled or condensed on the ponds, and +the means by which it is done; and secondly, the kind of tree which, in +Gilbert White's phrase, forms the best "alembic" for distilling water from +fog at all times of the year. It seems certain that the tree is an +important piece of machinery in aid of such ponds, though many remain well +supplied without one. + +[1] Thomas Elliot, who for some twenty years was shepherd and general +manager for one of my father's tenants at Childrey. + +[2] Full details of the cost and method of making dew ponds, as well as +other information about them, are contained in the prize essay of the late +Rev. J. Clutterbuck, Rector of Long Wittenham, in the Journal of the Royal +Agricultural Society. Vol. I., §S. Part 2. + +[3] In the Isle of Wight, on Brightstone Downs, about 400 feet above the +sea, is a dew pond with a _concrete_ bottom, which has never run dry +for thirty years. + + + + +POISONOUS PLANTS + + +A friend informs me that he has found a quantity of woad growing on the +Chilterns above the Thame, enough to stain blue a whole tribe of ancient +Britons, and also that on a wall by the roadside between Reading and +Pangbourne he discovered several plants of the deadly nightshade, or +"dwale." This word is said to be derived from Old French _deuil_, +mourning; but its present form looks very English. The only cases of plant +poisoning now common among grown-up people are those caused by mistaking +fungi for mushrooms, or by making rash experiments in cooking the former, +of which Gerard quaintly says: "Beware of licking honey among the thorns, +lest the sweetness of the one do not countervail the sharpness and +pricking of the other." But with such a list of toxic plants as our flora +can show there is always danger from certain species whose properties are +quite unknown to ordinary mortals. Are they equally unknown to the +herbalists and that mysterious trade-union of country-women and collectors +of herbs by the roadside who deal with them? Probably the trade in poisons +not used for serious purposes, but for what used in some parts of England +to be called "giving a dose," a punishment for unfaithful, unkind, or +drunken husbands, still exists as it did some forty years ago. The +collectors of medicinal plants cut from the roadside and rubbish heaps, +plants whose "operations" for good are quite well known, and have been +handed down by tradition for centuries, cannot be absolutely ignorant of +the other side of the picture, the toxic properties which other plants, or +sometimes even the same plants, contain. Foxglove, for instance, from +which _digitalis_ used as a medicine is extracted, is a good example +of these kill-or-cure plants. Every portion of the plant is poisonous, +leaves, flowers, stalks, and berries. It affects the heart, and though +useful in cases in which the pulsations are abnormal, its symptoms when +taken by persons in ordinary health are those of heart failure. Thus +foxglove is not only a dangerous but a "subtle" poison. + +Among other plants which may cause serious mischief, but are seldom +suspected, are such harmless-looking flowers as the meadowsweet, +herb-paris, the common fool's-parsley, found growing in quantities in the +gardens of unlet houses and neglected ground which has been in +cultivation, mezereon, columbine, and laburnum. Meadowsweet has the +following set against its name: "A few years since two young men went from +London to one of the Southern counties on a holiday excursion, on the last +day of which they gathered two very large sheafs of meadowsweet to bring +home with them. These they placed in their bedroom at the village inn +where they had to put up. In the course of the night they were taken +violently ill, and the doctor who was called in stated that they were +suffering from the poisonous prussic-acid fumes of the meadowsweet +flowers, which he said almost overpowered him when he came into the room. +The flowers were at once removed, and the young men, treated with suitable +restoratives, were by next morning sufficiently recovered to undertake the +journey home." [1] Without knowing what the young men had had for supper, +it seems perhaps rather hasty to blame the meadowsweet. But the other +flowers mentioned above have a bad record. To take them in order. +Herb-paris, which grows in woods and shady places, with four even-sized +leaves in a star at the top of the stem, all growing out opposite each +other, bears a large, green solitary flower, and a bluish-black berry +later. All parts of the plant are poisonous, the berries especially. +Fool's-parsley, an unpleasantly smelling, very common plant, which leaves +its odour on the hand if the seeds are squeezed or drawn through it, is +said to cause numbers of deaths by being mistaken for common parsley and +cooked. In the case of poisoning by this plant, it is recommended that +milk should be given, the body sponged with vinegar, and mustard poultices +put on the sufferer's legs. It is reckoned that one plant produced six +thousand and eighty seeds--an unpleasant degree of fecundity for a +poisonous weed. Columbine, which is a wild plant with blue or white +flowers, as well as a domesticated one, has a toxic principle like that of +the monkshood, more especially in the seeds; and the pretty red berries of +the mezereon are responsible for the deaths or illness of children nearly +every autumn. They are like cherries, and easily picked from the low +bushes on which they grow. A dozen are said to be enough to cause death, +though this must probably depend on the state of the eater's health. The +laburnum, with its golden rain, is potentially a kind of upas tree. The +writer has only known of two deaths of children caused by eating the beans +in the green pods, but it is said to be a frequent cause of death every +year on the Continent, where, possibly, children are less naturally +careful about poisonous plants than those in England, to whom risks of +this kind are usually and properly made part of the "black list" of the +nursery-book of "Don'ts." The seeds will even poison poultry, if they pick +them up after they have dropped from the pod. Laburnum is of comparatively +recent introduction into Britain, or it would probably earlier have been +accorded a place among the severely poisonous plants, dreaded by all. + +Of these the deadly nightshade and hemlock are the best known in story, +while the yew is most dangerous because far more common. In one case the +Rector of a Berkshire village was made very ill by eating honey which had +been partly gathered from yew flowers. Green hellebore and monkshood are +also classed in the list of the ranker poisons. Deadly nightshade is +rather a rare plant, yet it may be seen often enough on the sides of woods +where there are old walls. It is poisonous throughout. The flowers are +large, single, purple bells, and the berries black and shiny like a black +cherry. It is said of this dangerous plant that the roots are computed to +be five times more poisonous than the berries, that human beings have been +found more susceptible to it than animals, and carnivorous animals more so +than others. Children suffer more in proportion to the quantity of poison +taken than do adults. But cases of nightshade poisoning are very rare, +though two were reported some three years ago. Possibly the berries often +fail to ripen, and so are less attractive in appearance. The poisonous +hemlocks are two, one of which, the common hemlock, is said to have been +the plant from which the Athenians prepared their poison for executing +citizens condemned to death; and the other, the water-hemlock, or cowbane, +is particularly deadly when eaten by cattle, to which it is fatal in a +very few hours. Another plant, used for preparing poison in India, which +produces a drug used by some tribes of Thugs for procuring the death of +their victims, datura or stramonium, has now found a place amongst our +wild flowers. It has an English name, thorn-apple, and is said to have +been naturalised by the gipsies, who used the seeds as a medicine and +narcotic, and carried them about with them in their wanderings. Like +henbane, it is often seen on rubbish-heaps and in old brickfields. The +leaf is very handsome, and the flower white and trumpet-shaped. Both this +plant and the henbane retain their poisonous properties even when dried in +hay, and stalled cows have been known to be poisoned by fodder containing +a mixture of the latter plant. + +Cattle have a delicate sense of smell which warns them of the danger of +most poisonous English herbs, though apparently this warning odour is +absent from the plants which kill so many horses when the grass grows on +the South African veld, and also from our English yew. Yew was anciently +employed as a poison in Europe, much as is the curari to-day in Central +America. Dr. W.T. Fernie, the author of "Herbal Simples Approved for +Modern Use," says that its juice is a rapidly fatal poison, that it was +used for poisoning arrows, and that the symptoms correspond in a very +remarkable way with those which follow the bites of venomous snakes. It is +believed that in India there is a poison which produces the same effect. +An Indian Rajah once desired that a notice should be put in a well-known +paper that he did not intend to raise his rents on his accession to the +estates. The proprietor of the paper asked him his reasons for wishing for +such an advertisement. The Rajah said that his grandfather had raised the +rents, and had died of snake-bite; that his father had done the same, and +had also died of snake-bite; and that he concluded that there was some +connection of cause and effect. The notice was inserted, and this Rajah +did not die of snake-bite, or rather of the poison which simulates it. + +[1] "Farm and Home" Year Book for 1902. + + + + +ANCIENT THAMES MILLS + + +Almost the greatest loss to country scenery is the decay of the ancient +windmills and water-mills. The first has robbed the hilltops of a most +picturesque feature, while in the valleys and little glens the roaring, +creaking, dripping wheel sounds no longer, except in favoured spots where +it still pays to grind the corn in the old way. The old town and city +mills often survived longer than the country ones, and those on the Thames +longer than those on smaller rivers. The corn and barley which was taken +to market in the town was easily transferred to the town mill, and thence +by water to the place of consumption. Every Wykehamist remembers the +ancient and picturesque mills of Winchester, with the mill-stream bridged +by the main street. At Oxford some of the most ancient mills remain to +this day, while others have only recently been destroyed, or have +undergone a curious conversion into dwelling-houses, beneath which the +mill-stream still rushes. One of these houses stands near Folly Bridge; +another old mill has just undergone the same process, that close to +Holywell Church. Some of these mills are the most ancient surviving +institutions in Oxford, far older than the colleges--older even than any +of the churches except perhaps one. Some of these--the Castle Mill, for +instance--have ground corn for centuries since the abbeys, for whose use +they were founded, utterly disappeared. Others were standing long before +abbeys or colleges were founded, and were part of their endowments. They +are the oldest link between town life and country life left in Oxford, or +indeed in England. For a thousand years the corn grown on the hills beyond +the Thames meadows has been drawn to their doors. Saxon churls dragged +wheat there on sledges, Danes rowed up the river to Oseney and stole the +flour when they sacked the abbey, Norman bishops stole the mills +themselves. That iniquitous Roger of Salisbury was "in" this, as we might +guess. Roger, who knew that attention to detail is the soul of business, +commandeered this particular mill with others in these parts, and, when +forced to let it go, with a fine sense of humour made it over to the +Godstone nunnery as a pious donor. + +The Knights Templars had another mill at Cowley, and the king himself one +on the Cherwell, which was given to the Hospital of St. John, who +"swapped" it with Merton. Later on these mills helped King Charles's army +vastly, for all the flour needed for the Oxford garrison was ground inside +or close to the walls. + +At present the Thames is mainly visited as a source of rest and +refreshment to tens of thousands of men "in cities pent," and of pleasure +rather than profit. In a secondary degree it is useful as a commercial +highway, the barge traffic being really useful to the people on its banks, +where coal, stone for road-mending, wood, flour, and other heavy and +necessary goods are delivered on the staithes almost at their doors. But +when the old mills were first founded, and for eight centuries onwards, it +was as a source of power, a substitute for steam, that the river was +valued. The times will probably alter, and the Thames currents turn mill +wheels again to generate electric light for the towns and villages on its +banks. The chance of this coming about is enough to make any one who owns +a mill right on the water keep it, even though not useful at present. +First the old roads with auto-cars, then the old mills with hydraulic +lighting and low-power dynamos will come to the front again. Whereof take +the old story of the Oxford river as full and sufficient witness, and +Antony Wood for storyteller. "Oxford," he says, "owed its prosperity to +its rivers," of which there were apparently as many branches and streams +then as now. + +The rivers were "beneficial to the inhabitants, as anon shall be showed," +though the Cherwell was "more like a tide" than a common river sometimes, +and once nearly overflowed all the physic garden. That garden stands there +still. So does the Cherwell still behave "more like a tide than a river," +and the scene at the torpid races a few years ago is evidence that the +rivers have not diminished in volume. What, then, was the "great +commodity" given by them to the city? First and least, a water which was +good for dyeing cloth and for tanning leather; secondly, and by far the +greatest benefit, it turned the wheels of at least a dozen important +mills. As mills were always a monopoly, as much opposition was raised to +the making of a new one as would now be evoked by the proposal to +construct a new railway. + +It was meddling with vested interests of a powerful kind, but there were +so many rivers at Oxford that each turned one or two mills without +injuring any one's water rights. + +Of all these mills, the greatest advantage to the city came from the +Castle Mill. Notwithstanding its name, this was _not_ the property of +the Castle of Oxford, though it stood within arrow-shot of its towers, and +was thus protected from pillage in time of war. It stands under the +remaining tower, the water tower, of the castle still, and on exactly the +same site, and on the branch of the Thames which from the most ancient +days has been the waterway by which barges and merchandise came from the +country to the city, bringing goods from Abingdon or corn and fuel from +the upper river. And it is still called by its old name of the Weir +Stream. "There is one river called Weyre, where hath bin an Hythe, at +which place boatmen unload their vessels, which also maketh that antient +mill under the castle seldom or never to faile from going, to the great +convenience of the inhabitants." So says Antony Wood, adding that it stood +before the Norman conquest. After that it was forfeited to the Norman +kings, and then held in half shares by the burgesses of the town and the +abbots of Oseney, that once wealthy and now vanished abbey, which stood +close by where the railway station now is. They shared the fishery also, +and apparently this partnership prevented friction between the town and +the monks, as each could undersell the other, and prices for flour and +fish were kept down at a reasonable figure. + +Henry VIII. gave the abbey's share to the new bishopric of Oxford, but the +funds of the bishopric were embezzled by some means, and the town +ultimately bought the mill for Ł566. + +St. George's Tower, the only remaining fragment of the castle, is built of +stones and mortar, so compact that though the walls have stood since +Robert d'Oily reared it, late in the reign of the Conqueror, the stones +and mortar had to be cut out as if from a mass of rock when a water-pipe +was recently taken through the walls. It is now the water tower which +holds the supply for Oxford prison. + +Old Holywell Mill was on a branch of the Cherwell, and stood just behind +Magdalen Walks, whence a charming view was had of its wheel and lasher. It +belonged to the Abbey of Oseney, who gave it to Merton College in exchange +for value. Now it is a handsome dwelling-house, below which the mill +stream rushes. + +[Illustration: BOTLEY MILL. _From a photograph by Taunt & Co_.] + +[Illustration: EEL BUCKS. _From a photograph by Taunt & Co_.] + +Merton College seems to have had a fancy for owning mills, for it also +acquired by exchange the King's Mill. Only the house and lasher are left +to show where this old mill stood. It had a narrow but very strong mill +stream, which in winter used to come down in a sheet of solid water like +green jade, a beautiful object among the walks and willows of Mesopotamia. +It was an outpost of the King's forces when Oxford was held for the +Royalists. + +Botley Mill, though on the westernmost of the many streams into which the +Thames divides at Oxford, was outside the walls. It dates from before the +Conquest. This belonged to the Abbey of Abingdon, in the chronicles of +which are some records of an injury done to the "aqueduct, which is +vulgarly called the lake." This name is still the local term for all side +streams and artificial cuts from the Upper Thames. The men of a now +vanished village of Seckworth broke the banks of the "lake" when Odo, +Bishop of Bayeux, was being besieged in Rochester Castle. The lord of the +manor was subsequently sued for this by the abbot of Abingdon, and had to +pay ten shillings damages. Doubtless the men of Seckworth had to +contribute to pay for their indulgence in this mischief, but it looks as +if the abbot's miller had been cheating them. + + + + +THE BIRDS THAT STAY + + +In the Vision of the Lots and Lives, when the souls chose their careers on +a fresh register before taking another chance in the world above, Ulysses +chose that of a stay-at-home proprietor, with a resolve, born of +experience, never again to roam. If Plato had made a Myth of the Birds, he +might have alleged some such reason to explain how it is that while most +of them are incessant wanderers, ever flitting uncertain between momentary +points of rest, so few remain fixed and constant, as if they had sworn at +some distant date never more to make trial of the wine-dark sea. In the +still, November woods, when the vapours curl like smoke among the dripping +boughs, leaving a diamond on each sprouting bud where next year's leaf is +hid; by the moorland river, on bright December mornings, when the grayling +are lying on the shallows below the ripple where the rock breaks the +surface; by the frozen shore where the land-springs lie fast, drawn into +icicles or smeared in slippery slabs on the cliff faces, and hoar frost +powders the black sea-wrack; on the lawns of gardens, where the winter +roses linger and open dew-drenched and rain-washed in the watery +sunbeams--there we see, hear, and welcome the birds that stay. Then and +there we note their fewness, their lameness, and feel that they are really +fellow-countrymen, native to the soil. The list of these home-loving birds +is short; and those commonly seen are only a few of the total. In a winter +stroll by the upper Thames, the absence of the birds which flocked along +the banks in summer and spring, when the May was in blossom and the willow +covered with cotton fleck, is among the first seasonal changes noticed. +The chiff-chaffs, turtledoves, sedge-warblers, whitethroats, coots, +sandpipers, and all the little river birds are gone. So are the greater +number of the blackbirds, thrushes and missel-thrushes. All the fisherman +sees, his daily companions by the deserted river, are the wren creeping in +the flood-drift, the tits working over the alder bushes to see if any +seeds are left in the cones, and the kingfishers. The grayling fisherman +on the Northern streams has the water ousels for his constant and charming +companions, true to the mountain river as in the days of Merlin and +Vivien, busy as big black-and-white bees as they flit up-stream and +down-stream, flying boldly into the waterfalls, dropping silently from +mossy stones into the clear brown eddies, singing when the sunbeams shine +and warm the crag-tops, and even floating and singing on the water, like +aquatic robins. The ousels must have been the sacred birds of Tana, the +Water Goddess, the ever attached votaries of her dripping and rustic +shrines. + +By the winter shore, untrodden by any but the fisher going down at the ebb +to seek king-crab for bait, or by his children, gathering driftwood on the +stones, one little bird stays ever faithful to the same short range of +shore. This is the rock-pipit--the "sea-lark" of Browning's verse. But +that is a summer song. It is not only when the cliff-- + + "Sets his bones, + To bask i' the sun," + +but in the short winter days, that the sea-lark keeps constant to the +fringe of ocean. It is the most narrowly local and stay-at-home of all +birds, never leaving the very fringe and margin, not of sea, but of land, +haunting only the last edge and precipice of the coast, nesting on those +upright walls of granite or chalk, and creeping, flying, and twittering +among the crumbling stones, the water-worn boulders, and the tufts of +sea-pink and samphire. When the winter storms slam the roaring billows +against the cliff faces and the spray flies up a hundred feet from the +exploding mass, the little sea-larks only mount to higher levels of the +cliff, never coming inland or forsaking its salt-spattered resting-place. +Compared with these home-loving birds, all the gulls are wanderers, even +though they do not desert our shores and come fifty miles up the Thames. +Of the rock-fowl, the puffins fly straight away to the Mediterranean, and +the guillemots and razorbills go out to sea and leave their nesting crags. +Only the cormorants stay at home, flying in to roost on the same lofty +crag every autumn and winter night, from the fishing grounds which the +sea-crows have frequented for longer years even than the "many-wintered +crow" of inland rookeries has his fat and smiling fields. + +The discovery that rooks, with their reputation for staunch attachment to +locality, are regular and irrepressible migrants, crossing from Denmark +and Holland to England, and from England to Ireland, has been followed by +other curious revelations about the mobility of what were believed to be +stationary birds. Our own beloved garden robin, whom we feed till he +becomes a sturdy beggar, though he pays us with a song, stays with us, as +we know, because he applies regularly for his rations. But he sends all +his children away to seek their fortunes elsewhere, and on our coasts +flights of migrant robins, whom either their parents, or the bad weather, +have sent from Norway over the foam, arrive all through the autumn. Even +the jenny-wrens migrate to some extent. + +Because we see birds of certain kinds near our farms, gardens, and hedges +it does not follow that these are those which were there in summer and +spring. Such common finches as the greenfinches and chaffinches migrate in +immense flocks, and over vast distances, considering their short wings and +small size. In the gardens and shrubberies round the houses the parent +robins stay. So do some of the blackbirds, the thrushes (except in very +hard weather), the hedge-sparrow, the nuthatch (more in evidence in winter +than at any other time, and a firm believer in eleemosynary nuts), all the +tits, except the long-tailed tit, a little gipsy bird wandering in family +hordes, and the crested and marsh tits (dwellers in the pine forest and +sedge-beds), and the wood pigeon. Occasionally that shy bird, the +hawfinch, is seen on a wet, quiet day picking up white-beam kernels and +seeds. Except this, every one of the garden birds comes to be fed, and is +well known and appreciated. It is in the woods and the hedges of the +rain-soaked meadows that the general absence of bird life in winter is +most marked, and the presence of the few which stay most appreciated. +Those who, on sport intent, go round the hedges in November and December, +or wait in rides while the woods are driven, or lie up quietly in the big +covers for a shot at wood pigeons in the evening, are almost startled by +the tameness and indifference of the birds, eagerly feeding so as to make +the most of the short, dark days. When the hedges are beaten for rabbits +the bullfinches appear in families, their beautiful grey backs and +exquisite rosy breasts looking their very best against the dark-brown, +purply twigs. Another home-staying bird of the hedgerows, or rather of the +hedgerow timber, is the tree-creeper. It has no local habitation, being a +bird which migrates in a drifting way from tree to tree, and so bound by +no ties to mother-earth. But it is in the woods that the stay-at-home +birds are most in evidence in winter. There they find abundant food, and +there they make their home. The woodpeckers, the magpie, and the jay, the +brown owl, the sparrow-hawk, the kestrel, the pheasant, the long-tailed +tit, and all the rest of the tribe; and in the clearings where the teazle +grows, the goldfinches feed. The barn owl and brown owl both stay with us. +So does the long-eared owl. But the short-eared owl is a regular migrant, +coming over in flights like woodcock. No one has satisfactorily answered +the question why there are sedentary species and migratory species so +closely allied in habits and food that the quest for a living must be +ruled as outside the motive for migration. + +If the long-eared owl can remain and find a living all the year round in +the copses on the downs, why should not the short-eared owl make a +practice of what is its occasional custom, and nest in the fens and +marshes? If the kingfisher can find a living and abundant fish in our +rivers and brooks, why does the dabchick migrate? The migration is only a +partial one, for many remain on the Thames all the year round, especially +near the eyots by Tilehurst; but it vanishes from most of the Northern +pools and returns almost on the same date. Perhaps a conclusion might be +hazarded from the behaviour of wild migratory birds which have become +semi-domesticated. In Canada, the largest and best known of the wild geese +is the black-necked Canadian goose. It is a regular migrant. The Indians +believe it brings little birds on its back when it comes. At Holkham, +where a large flock of these is acclimatised, but lives under perfectly +wild conditions, the Canadian geese never attempt to migrate, though they +often fly out on to the sands at ebb-tide. They show less disposition to +leave the estate than the herons in the park. Yet during the winter they +feed every day with flocks of wild geese in the marshes. These geese fly +every spring away to the Lapland mountains or the tundras, and could show +the Canada geese the way northwards if they wished to follow. The +conclusion is that the Canada geese have no desire for change; and the +reason that other birds do not migrate is probably the same. + + + + +ANCIENT HEDGES + + +In the upper Thames valley, both in May and autumn, one of the prettiest +sights is the great hedges which divide the meadows. In spring, those +above Oxford look as though covered with snow, and in early October they +are loaded with hips and haws, just turned red, with blackberries, +elderberries (though the starlings have eaten most of these), with crab +apples, with hazel nuts, scarlet wild guelder-rose berries, dog-wood +berries, and sloes. Except the fields themselves, our hedges are almost +the oldest feature with which Englishmen adorned rural England. They have +gone on making them until the last parish "enclosures," some of which were +made as late as thirty years ago, and when made they have always been +regarded as property of a valuable kind. When Christ's Hospital was +founded in Ipswich in Tudor days, partly as a reformatory for bad +characters, "hedge-breakers" were more particularly specified as eligible +for temporary domicile and discipline. "Hedges even pleached" were always +a symbol of prosperity, care, and order. "Her fruit trees all unpruned, +her hedges ruined," a token that something was amiss in our country +economy. + +One untidy habit, which the writer remembers as very common, has been +discontinued in this connection. Twenty years ago the linen drying on the +hedge, which Shakespeare evidently regarded as a "common object of the +country," was constantly seen. It was always laid on well-trimmed hedges, +or otherwise it would have been torn. Now it is always hung on lines, +possibly because the hedges are not so well trimmed and kept. Bad times in +farming have greatly helped the beauty of hedges. They are mostly +overgrown, hung with masses of dog-rose, trailed over by clematis, grown +up at bottom with flowers, ferns, and fox-gloves, festooned with +belladonna, padded with bracken. The Surrey hedges are mostly on banks, a +sign that the soil is light, and that a bank is needed because the hedge +will not thicken into a barrier. But these, like most others, are set with +the charming hedgerow timber that makes half England look like a forest at +a distance of a mile or so. It is difficult to reconstruct our landscape +as it was before the hedges were made. But any one curious as to the +comparative antiquity of the fields can perhaps detect the nucleus or +centre where enclosure started. Those having the ditch on the outer side +are always the earlier, the ditch being the defence against the cattle +that strayed on the unenclosed common or grazings outside. + +The finest garden hedges in England are at Hall Barn, in Buckinghamshire. +They must be thirty feet high, are immensely thick, and are clipped so as +to present the smooth, velvety appearance peculiar to the finest yew and +box hedges. The colour and texture of these walls of ancient vegetation, +contrasting with the vivid green lawns at their feet, are astonishingly +beautiful. One of the peculiar charms of such hedges is that where yew of +a different kind or age, or a bush of box, forms part of the mass, it +shows like an inlay of a different material, and the same effect is given +merely by the trick that some yews have of growing their leaves or shoots +at a different angle from that favoured by others. These surfaces give the +variety of tint which is shown in such fabrics as "shot" or "watered" +silk. Here there is a splash of blue from the box, or of invisible dull +green, or of golden sheen, from different classes of yew. Box hedges of +great size are less common than those of yew, and less durable, for the +box is easily rent from the stem when old. But these two, the yew and the +box, are the "precious" hedges, the silver and gold, of the garden-maker. +Next, representing the copper and brass, are the hedges of beech and +holly. Both are commonly planted and carefully tended as borders and +shelters to the less important parts of gardens; as screens also to block +out the humdrum but necessary portions of the curtilage, such as the +forcing-pits for early plants, minor offices, timber yards, and the like; +and to shelter vegetable gardens (for which the Dutch use screens of dried +reeds). Holly makes the best and most impenetrable of all hedges when +clipped, but it is not beautiful for that reason. Clipped holly grows no +berries; it accumulates dust and dirt, and has a dull, lifeless look. +Beech, on the other hand, should be in greater esteem than it is. If +clipped when the sap is rising it puts on leaves which last all the +winter. From top to bottom the wall of russet shines warm and bright. Its +leaves are harmless in decay, for they contain an antiseptic oil, and no +leaves of spring are more tenderly green or in more ceaseless motion at +the lightest breeze. Privet makes the last and least esteemed of these +"one-tree" hedges. Yet it is the most tractable of all hedge material, and +was almost invariably used to form the intricate "mazes," once a favourite +toy of the layers-out of stately gardens. + +Keeping these hedges in good repair and properly clipped and trimmed is +one of the minor difficulties of the country. In large gardens there are +always one or two professional gardeners who understand the topiary art. +But it often happens that a quite modest garden possesses a splendid hedge +of yew or box, the pride of the place, which needs attention once or twice +every year. These hedges have frequently been clipped by the same man, +some old resident in the village, for thirty or forty years. Clipping that +hedge is part of his regular extra earnings to which he looks forward, and +a source of credit and renown to him in his circle. He knows every weak +place, what parts need humouring, what stems are crowding others between +the furry screen of leaves, and where the wind got in and did mischief in +the last January gale. When in the course of Nature the old hedge-trimmer +dies, there is no one to take his place. The men do not learn these +outside accomplishments as they once did, and the art is likely to be +lost, just as ornamental thatching and the making of the more decorative +kinds of oak paling are in danger of disappearing. + +Mending, or still worse remaking, field-hedges is a difficult, expensive, +and withal a very highly skilled form of labour. The workers have for +generations been very humble men, who have scarcely been honoured for +their excellent handiwork as they deserved. They appear in art only in +John Leech's pictures of hunting in Leicestershire, in his endless jokes +on "mending the gaps" towards the close of the hunting season. In February +and March the scenes shown in Leech's pictures are reproduced on most of +the Thames valley farms in Berkshire and Oxfordshire. The men wear in +front an apron of sacking, torn and plucked by thorns. The hands are +gloved in leather mits with no fingers; in them the hedger holds his +light, sharp billhook, shaped much like the knife of the forest tribes of +Southern India. When a whole fence has to be relaid the art of "hedge +carpentry" is exhibited in its perfection. Few people not brought up to +the business, which is only one minor branch of the many-sided handiness +of a good field labourer, the kind of man whom every one now wants and +whom few can find, would have the courage to attempt it. A ditch full of +brambles, often with water at the bottom, has to be cleared. Then the man +descends into the ditch, and strips the bank of brambles and briars. That +is only the preliminary. When he has piled all the brambles in heaps at +regular intervals along the brow of the ditch, he walks thoughtfully from +end to end of the fence, and considers the main problem, or lets the idea +sink into his mind, for he never talks, and probably never frames for +himself any form of words or conscious plan. In front, with the bases of +the stems bare where the bank is trimmed and slashed, stands the overgrown +hedge which he is to cut, bend over, relay, and transform, to make another +ten or twelve years of growth till it reaches the unmanageable size of +that which stands before him. Most of it is great bushes of blackthorn, +hard as oak, with thorns like two-inch nails, and sharper. These bushes, +grow up in thick rods and stocks, spiny and intractable, from the bank to +a height of perhaps twelve feet. The rest of the fence-stuff is +whitethorn, nearly as ill to deal with as the blackthorn, and perhaps a +few clumps of ash and wild rose. Slashing, hewing, tearing down, and +bending in, he works steadily down the hedge day by day. All the time he +is using his judgment at every stroke. Some he hews out at the base and +flings behind him on the field. Much he cuts off at what will be the level +of the hedge. But all the most vigorous stems of blackthorn and whitethorn +he half cuts through and then bends over, twisting the heads to the next +stocks or uprights, or, where there are no stocks, driving in stout stakes +cut from the discarded blackthorns. When finished the newly mended hedge +consists of uprights, mostly rooted in their native bank, and fascine-like +bundles--the heads of these uprights, which are bent and bound +horizontally to the other uprights or stakes. This is the universal "stake +and bond" hedge of the shires, impenetrable to cattle, unbreakable, and +imperishable, because the half-cut bonds, the stakes, and the small stuff +all shoot again, and in a few years make the famous "bullfinch" with stake +and bond below, and a tall mass of interlacing thorns and small stuff +above. + +During the last era of prosperous farming there was a mania for destroying +hedges and cutting down the timber. If ever prosperity returns it will +smile on a better-informed class of occupier and owner. It is now seen +that the hedges were of the greatest value to shelter cattle, sheep, and +horses, and benefited to some extent even the sown crops, especially at +the blossoming time. As cattle are now the farmer's main reliance, it will +be long before he grubs up or destroys the welcome shelter given by the +hedges from sun, rain, and storm. + + + + +THE ENGLISH MOCKING BIRD + + +One winter an unusual number of peewits visited the flats near Wittenham +and Burcote, and remained there for several months. One or two starlings +which haunted the house in which we stayed, and slept in their old holes +in the thatch, picked up all the various peewits' calls and notes, and +used to amuse themselves by repeating these in the apple-trees on sunny +mornings. The note was so exact a reproduction that I often looked up to +see where the plover was before I made out that it was only the starling's +mimicry. + +A correspondent of the _Newcastle Journal_, writing from Yeare, near +Wooler, in Northumberland, recently described the performances of a wild +starling which has settled near his house. It is such an excellent mimic +of other birds' notes that no one can help noticing its performances. A +record has been kept of the variety entertainments provided by the bird. +Besides its own calls, whistles, and song, it reproduces the song of the +blackbird and thrush absolutely correctly, and mimics with equal nicety +the calls of the curlew, the corncrake, and the jackdaw. + +It is appropriate that this eulogy of the starling should appear in a +Newcastle paper, for Bewick when residing there always regretted the +absence of these birds from the town, and hoped that they might in time +become numerous, as in the South and West. Starlings are such intelligent, +interesting, and really remarkable birds that if they were rare they would +be among the most prized of pets. Their open-air vocal performances are +quite as remarkable as their latest admirer says. They are the British +mocking-birds, able, when and if they choose, to reproduce almost any form +of song. They do this partly, no doubt, because their throats are +adaptable, but more from temperament and a kind of objective mind not very +common in birds. Like parrots, starlings are given to spending a good deal +of every fine morning in contemplating other people, including other +birds, and then in thinking them over, or talking them over to themselves. +Any one who is sitting or working quietly near a room where a parrot is in +its cage alone can fairly follow the train of thought in the parrot's +mind. It is evidently recalling episodes or things which form part of its +daily mental experiences. It begins by barking like the dog, then +remembers the dog's mistress, and tells it to be quiet, as she does. Then +it hears the housemaid, and imitates a window-sash being let down, or some +phrase it has picked up in the servants' quarters. If it has been lately +struck with some new animal noise or unusual sound, it will be heard +practising that. Starlings do exactly the same thing. When the sun begins +to be hot on any fine day, summer or winter, the cock bird goes up usually +alone, to a sunny branch, gable, or chimney, and there indulges in a +pleasant reverie, talking aloud all the time. Its own modes of utterance +are three. One is a melodious whistle, rather low and soft; another is a +curious chattering, into which it introduces as many "clicks" as a Zulu +talking his native language; and the third is a short snatch of song, +either its own, or one which has become a national anthem or morning hymn +common to all starlings, though it may originally have been a "selection" +from other birds' notes. Then, or amongst the rest of the ordinary notes, +the starling inserts or practises its accomplishments. Not all starlings +do this, and only a few attain great eminence in that line. Obviously it +is only personal feeling that induces them to do it, and they get no +encouragement from other starlings, though when kept in cages, as they +very seldom are now, and rewarded and taught, they might develop the most +striking talents. It should be added that, like all good bird-mimics, they +are ventriloquists. They can reproduce perfectly the sound of another +bird's note, not as that bird utters it, but as it is heard, faint and +low, softened by distance. They can also sing over bars of bird-songs in a +low tone perfectly correctly, and repeat them in a high one. + +To give a rather striking example. Last spring the writer was in the +Valley of the Eden, opposite Eden-hall. The vale is a wide one, and on the +north-east side are high fells, Cross Fell among others. On these the +curlews breed, and occasionally fly right over the valley at a great +height to the hills above Edenhall, uttering their long, musical call. +When heard, this call is generally uttered several hundred feet above the +valley. A curlew was heard flying above, and repeating its cry, but was +not discernible. Again the call was heard, but no curlew seen, though such +a large bird must have been visible. In the line of sound was a starling +sitting on a chimney-pot. Again the curlew called, the long-drawn notes +sounding from exactly the same place in the sky. It was the starling, +reproducing with perfect accuracy the call, as it was used to hear it from +the high-flying curlews crossing the valley. Apparently the tradition that +they were good talkers has died out in rural England. It was always one of +the firm beliefs of East Anglia that if a starling's tongue were slit with +a thin sixpence it would learn to talk at once, but that otherwise it +would only mimic other birds. The operation, like most other traditional +brutalities, was absolutely unnecessary. Talking starlings were common +enough, and must have been for many years previous to the time when they +were no longer valued as cage-birds. Has not Sterne in his "Sentimental +Journey" immortalised the poor bird whose one and leading sentiment, had +he been able to find words for it, was "I can't get out! I can't get +out!"? + + * * * * * + +From early spring until after midsummer the starlings have young broods in +more varied places and positions than probably any other birds in England. +They like the homes of men, and build with equal pleasure in thatched +roofs, under tiles, in the eaves and under the leads of churches (though a +recent edict by the Bench of Bishops has forbidden them the towers by +causing wire netting to be placed over the louvre boards), and also in +places the most remote from mankind. In the most solitary groves on +Beaulieu Heath, under the ledges of stark Cornish precipices, and in ruins +on islets in mountain lochs in Scotland, they tend their hungry nestlings +with the same assiduous care. The good done by the starlings throughout +the spring, summer, and autumn is incalculable. The young are fed entirely +on insect food, and as the birds always seek this as close to home as +possible, they act as police to our gardens and meadows. They do a little +mischief when nesting and in the fruit season, partly because they have +ideas. It was alleged recently that they picked off the cherry blossoms +and carried them off to decorate their nests with. Later they are among +the most inveterate robbers of cherry orchards and peckers of figs, which +they always attack on the ripest side. But they have never developed a +taste for devouring corn, like the rice-birds and starlings of the United +States. They have a good deal in common with those bright, clever, and +famous mimics, the Indian mynahs, which they much resemble physically. +This was the bird which Bontius considered "went one better" than Ovid's +famous parrot:-- + + "Psittacus, Eois quamvis tibi missus ab oris + Jussa loquar; vincit me sturnus garrulus Indis." + +The mynahs have also the starling's habit of building in houses, and +especially in temples. There is a finish about the mynah's and the +starling's mimicry which certainly beats that of the parrots. + +In their attendance on sheep and cattle the starlings have another +creditable affinity. They are very like the famous rhinoceros-birds of +Africa, to which also they are related. The rhinoceros-birds always keep +in small flocks, every member of which sits on the back of the animal, +whether antelope, buffalo, or rhinoceros, on which it is catching insects. +The starlings do not keep so closely to the animal's body, though they +frequently alight on the back of a sheep or cow and run all over it. But +when seeking insect food among cattle the little groups of starlings +generally keep in a pack and attend to a single animal. Mr. J.G. Millais, +watching deer in a park with his glasses, saw a starling remove a fly from +the corner of a deer's eye. When they have run round it, and over it, and +caught all the flies they can there, they rise with a little unanimous +exclamation, and fly on to the next beast. Their winter movements are also +interesting. By day they associate with other birds, mainly with rooks. +Gilbert White thought they did this because the rooks had extra nerves in +their beaks, and were able to act as guides to the smaller birds searching +for invisible food. Probably it is only due to the sociable instinct. +Towards night they nearly always repair in innumerable flocks to some +favourite roosting-place, either a reed-bed or a wood of evergreens, where +they assemble in thousands. One of these communal sleeping-places is the +duck island in St. James's Park. In hard weather they feed on the saltings +and round the shore, especially where rotten seaweed abounds, with great +quantities of insect life in it. At such times they roost in the crevices +of the great sea cliffs. Under Culver Cliff, for instance, they may be +seen flying along the shore and coming in to bed in the frost fog with the +cormorants and other fishers of the deep. + + + + +FLOWERS OF THE GRASS FIELDS + + +Just before hay-time, the crowning glory of the Thames-side flats is given +by the flowers growing in the grass. Their setting, among the uncounted +millions of green grass stems, appeals not only by the contrast of colour, +but by the sense of coolness and content which these sheltered and softly +bedded blossoms suggest. The meadows which they adorn are best-loved of +all the fields of England; but they would never be as dear to Englishmen +as they are were it not for the flowers which deck them. The blossoms and +plants found in the tall grasses differ from those on lawns and grazing +pastures. They are taller, more delicate, and of a more graceful growth. +The daisy, so dear to pastoral poets, is not a flower of the hayfield. The +myriads of springing stems choke the daisy flowers, which love to lie low, +on their flat and shallow-rooted stars of leaves. The daisy is a lawn +plant that loves low turf, and only in early spring on the pasture-fields +does it whiten the unmown grasses. The turf glades of the New Forest, +grazed short by cattle for eight hundred years, are very properly called +"lawns"; and on these the daisies grow in thousands, showing that they are +true lawns, and not grassfields mown yearly by the scythe. What makes a +flower of the grasses it is difficult to say. Bulbs flourish among them, +and clovers, trefoils, and vetch. White ox-eye daisies love the grass, and +many orchids, and in shady places white cow-parsley, and blue wild +geraniums, and all the buttercups. Others, like the yellow snapdragon and +the scarlet poppy, will have none of it, but love a dry and dusty fallow +or a cornfield that has run to waste, shimmering with heat and drought. Up +the valley of the Pang, you may see acres of poppies on a fallow as +scarlet as a field-marshal's coat, and not one in the meadows by the +stream. Even before the sheltering grass stems shoot upward and around +them, drawing all the flower-life skywards as trees draw other trees +upright towards the light, there are plants which are found only growing +in the meadows, springing from the turf carpet, and happy in no other +setting. Chief of these are the wild daffodils or Lent-lilies, the +ornaments of old orchards and of the green meadows of Devon and the Isle +of Wight. Why they, like the snowdrops, and in other parts of Europe the +narcissi, should choose the turf in which to flower, instead of the woods, +where grass does not grow, is one of the secrets of the flower-world. So, +too, the wild hyacinths grow not in the meadows, though the fritillaries, +the chequered red or pale "snake flowers," are grass-lovers, and grow only +in the alluvial meadows by the streams and brooks of the valleys. Early +though the fritillaries are, they are a real "grass flower," flourishing +best where there is some early succulent growth around them, for they like +the shelter so given. This they enjoy even early in the year, because +their favourite home is in meadows over which flood-waters run in winter, +and there the grass grows fast. With the cowslip comes the early common +orchis, with its red-purple flower, and later the masses of buttercups, +and the ox-eye daisies. Both these flowers are increasing in our meadows, +the former to the detriment of the grass itself, and to the loss of the +butter-makers, for the cows will not eat the buttercups' bitter stems. +Like the ox-eye daisy, the buttercup is a typical meadow flower, tall, so +that it tops the grasses and catches the sun in its petals, thin-foliaged, +for no real grass-growing flower has broad or remarkable leaves, and with +a habit of deep, underground growth far below the upper surface of the +matted grass roots. You cannot easily pull up a buttercup root, or that of +any flower of the meadows. The stems break first, for they draw their +sustenance from a deep stratum of earth. Most of the meadow flowers and +blossoms in the mowing grass belong to the beautiful, rather than to the +useful, order of plants. They are fitted to weave a garland from rather +than to distil into simples and potions. As Gerard says of the butterfly +orchis, "there is no great use of these in physicke, but they are chiefly +regarded for the pleasant and beautiful flowers wherewith Nature hath +seemed to play and disport herselfe." Herein they differ from the roadside +plants and the blossoms of waste-lands and woods, for these, especially +the former, swell the list of the medicinal plants, the garden not of +Flora, but of Aesculapius. It is these which have been gathered for +centuries by the wise men and wise women of the villages from the +Apennines to Exmoor, while, if we may infer from the story of agriculture, +the flowers of the grassfields are in a sense modern and artificial. They +owe their numbers to the discovery of the art of haymaking. Before men +learnt to cut, dry, and stack hay, which, after fermenting partly in the +stacks under pressure, becomes a manufactured food, it may be concluded +that there were no such flower-spangled fields, in this country at least, +as now form such a striking feature of rural England. Cattle and sheep +wandered all over the common pastures, and ate the grass down, or trampled +it under foot. Consequently, it never grew long, or formed the protecting +bed in which the flowers now lie, and many of the meadow plants could +seldom have flowered at all. The hungry cattle would graze down all the +soft, juicy young buds and leaves, wandering at will over the valleys, +under charge only of the herdsman. When haymaking became general the +cattle were confined in spring and early summer, and the fields of "mowing +grass" appeared, and nourished year by year the plants peculiar to this +form of cultivation. The proof that this is so may be seen in the New +Forest. There the private fields, carefully protected during the spring, +from the tread or bite of cattle, and mown yearly in the summer, have all +the wealth of flowers peculiar to our hay-meadows. Outside, in the forest +itself, these flowers hardly exist, except by some pool-side, or on the +meadow-like border of a bog. They are only natural in the second sense, +because our mowing grass is a natural product of enclosed ground, when +cattle are excluded. Some flowers just invade the meadows, venturing out a +few yards from the hedges or woods, but never spreading broadcast over the +sun-warmed central acres. Such are the blue bird's-eye, which just colours +the mowing grass in shady spots and patches near the fence, and +occasionally the bee-orchis and the butterfly-orchis. The latter does not +grow tall in the meadows as it does in the woods, but affects a humbler +growth. Blue wild geraniums also flourish in patches in the meadows, and +sometimes cranesbill and campion. But campions do not seed well among the +thick grasses and seldom hold their own, as they do where a copse has been +cut down, or on a hedgeside. And, though it is not a flower, there is the +"quaking grass" beloved of children, though useless as cattle food, and a +sign of bad pasturage, but the only grass which cottage people gather to +keep, as a memento of the hayfields. + +[Illustration: ORCHIS. _From photographs by E. Seeley_.] + +Flowering plants form a large part of the actual herbage from which the +hay is made. The bottom of a good crop of mowing grass springs from a +tangle of clover and leguminous plants, all owning blossoms, and many of +them of brilliant hues and exquisite perfume. Chief among these is the red +meadow-clover, the pride of the hayfields. Few plants can match its +perfume, or the cool freshness of its leaves. With this is mixed the +little hop-clover, and the sucklings, and other tiny gold-dust blossoms. +Meadow vetchling, and the tall meadow crowfoot, with rich yellow blooms +and dainty leaves, are set off by the pinks of the clover and the crimson +of stray sainfoin clusters. All these blossoms with the various flowers of +the grasses, tend to ripen and come to perfection together, the heats of +June bringing the whole multitude on together as in a natural forcing-pit. +It is then that the mowing grass is said to be "ripe," when all the +blossoms are shedding their pollen, and giving hay-fever to those who +enter the fields. It must be cut then, wet or fine, or the quality and +aroma of the hay passes away beyond recovery. Perhaps it is an accident +that most of our meadow flowers are white or yellow. The two most striking +exceptions are from foreign soil, the purple-blue lucerne and the crimson +sainfoin. But yellow is not the universally predominant hue of the flowers +of grasses, for in Switzerland and the Italian Alps the hayfields are as +blue with campanulas as they are here yellow with buttercups. The turf on +our chalk downs shows flowers more nearly approaching in tint the flora of +the Alps. The hair-bells with their pale blue, and the dark-purple +campanulas, give the complement of blue absent in the lower meadows, while +the tiny milkwort is as deep an ultramarine as the Alpine gentians +themselves. But the turf of the chalk downs, never rising to any height, +and without the forcing power of the valley grasses, yields no such wealth +of colour or perfume as the meadow flowers lavish on our senses in the +early weeks of June. + + + + +RIVERSIDE GARDENING + + + "And a river went out of Eden to water the garden." + + +A Recent addition to the country house is the "water garden," in which a +running brook is the centre and _motif_ of the subsidiary ornaments +of flowers, ferns, trees, shrubs, and mosses. Nature is in league with art +in the brook garden, for nowhere is wild vegetation so luxuriant, and the +two forces of warmth and moisture so generally combined, as by the banks +of running streams. The brook is its own landscape gardener, and curves +and slopes its own banks and terraces, sheltered from rough winds and +prone to the sun. + +Many houses near the Thames, especially those under the chalk hills which +fringe much of the valley, have near them some rill or brook running to +the main river. On the sides of the chalk hills, though not on their +summits, these streams cut narrow gullies and glens. Wherever, in fact, +there is hilly, broken ground, the little rills form these broken ravines +and gullies, often only a few yards in width from side to side. Usually +these brooklet valleys are choked with brambles or fern, and filled with +rank undergrowth. Often the stream is overhung and invisible, or dammed +and left in soak, breeding frogs, gnats, and flies. The trees are always +tall and beautifully grown, whatever their age, for the moisture and +warmth force vertical growth; the smaller bushes--hawthorn, briar, and +wild guelder-rose--also assume graceful forms unhidden, for they always +bow their heads towards the sun-reflecting stream. Part of the charm of +the transformation of these brookside jungles into the brookside garden +lies in the gradual and experimental method of their conversion. Every one +knows that running water is the most delightful thing to play with +provided in this world; and the management of the water is the first +amusement in forming the brook garden. When the banks have been cleared of +brambles to such a distance up the sides of the hollow as the ground +suggests, and all poor or ill-grown trees have been cut away to let in the +only two "fertilisers" needed--air and sun--the dimensions of the first +pool or "reach" in the brook garden are decided upon. This must depend +partly on the size and flow of the stream. If it is a chalk spring, from +six feet to six yards wide, its flow will probably be constant throughout +the year, for it is fed from the reservoirs in the heart of the hills. +Then it needs little care except to clear its course, and the planting of +its banks with flowers and stocking of its waters with lilies, arums, +irises, and trout is begun at once. But most streams are full in winter +and low in summer. On these the brook gardener must take a lesson from the +beavers, and make a succession of delightful little dams, cascades, and +pools, to keep his water at the right level throughout the year. Where +there is a considerable brook these dams may be carried away in winter and +ruin the garden. Stone or concrete outfalls are costly, and often give +way, undermined by the floods. But there is a form of overflow which gives +an added sparkle even to the waterfall, and costs little. Each little dam +is roofed with thin split oak, overlapping like the laths of a Venetian +blind when closed. This forms the bottom of the "shoot," and carries the +water clear of the dam into the stream below. As the water runs over the +overlapping laths it forms a ripple above each ridge, and from the +everlasting throb of these pleats of running water the sunlight flashes as +if from a moving river of diamonds. Beside these cascades, and only two +inches higher than their level, are cut "flood-overflows" paved with turf, +to let off the swollen waters in autumn rains. With the cutting out of +undergrowth and the admission of light the rank vegetation of the banks +changes to sweet grass, clovers, woodruffe, and daisies, and the flowers +natural to the soil can be planted or will often spring up by themselves. +In spring the banks should be set thick with violets, primroses, and the +lovely bronze, crimson, and purple polyanthuses. Periwinkle, daffodils, +crocuses, and scarlet or yellow tulips will all flourish and blossom +before the grass grows too high or hides their flowers. For later in the +year taller plants, which can rise, as all summer wood-plants do, above +the level of the grasses, must be set on the banks. Clumps of everlasting +peas, masses of phloxes, hollyhocks, and, far later in the year, scarlet +tritomas (red-hot pokers) look splendid among the deep greens of the +summer grass and beneath the canopy of trees. For it must be remembered +that the brookside garden is in nearly every case a shaded garden, beneath +the tall trees natural to such places. All beautiful flowering shrubs and +trees, such as the guelder-rose, the pink may, the hardy azaleas, and +certain of the more beautiful rhododendrons will aid the background of the +brook garden, and flourish naturally in its sheltered hollow. There is one +"new" rhododendron, which the writer saw recently in such a situation, but +of which he does not recollect the name, which has masses of wax-like, +pale sulphur flowers, which are mirrored in a miniature pool set almost at +its foot. This half-wild flower garden pertains mainly to the banks of the +brook gully, and not to the banks of the brook itself. It is in the +latter, by the waterside, that the special charm of these gardens should +be found. It is the nature of such places to have a strip of level ground +opposite to each of the curves of the stream. All the narcissi, or +chalice-flowers, naturally love the banks of brooks-- + + "Those springs + On chaliced flowers that lies." + +These will grow in great tufts and ever-increasing masses, multiplying +their bulbs till they touch the water's edge. Not only the old +pheasant's-eye narcissus, but all the modern and splendid varieties in +gold, cream, white, and orange, grow best by the brookside. By these, but +on the lower ground almost level with the water, big forget-me-nots, +butterburs, and wild snake's-head lilies should be set, and all the +crimson and white varieties of garden daisy. Lily-of-the-valley, despite +its name, likes more sun than our brook garden admits except in certain +places; but certain of the lilies which flourish in the garden beds grow +with an added and more languid grace on the green bank of our +flower-bordered brook, and the American swamp-lily finds its natural +place. Then special pools will be formed for the growth of those plants, +foreign and English, which love to have their roots in water-soaked mud or +the beds of running streams, while leaves and flowers rise far above into +the light. Other pools should become "beds" for the water-flowers that +float upon the surface. In the slang of the rock garden the plants living +and flourishing on upright rocks are called "verticals." If we must have a +slang for the flora of the brook garden we will term them "horizontals"-- +the plants that lie flat on the water surface, and only use their stems as +cables to anchor them to the bottom of the stream. Of these we may plant, +in addition to the white water-lily and the yellow, the crimson scented +water-lily and the wild water-villarsia. White water-crowfoot, +water-soldier, and arrowheads will form the fringe of the pool. But the +crowning floral honour of the brook garden is in the irises set in and +beside its waters, chief among which are the glorious irises of Japan-- +purple, blue, rose-colour, and crimson--the pink English flowering rush, +big white mocassin flowers, New Zealand flax, and pink buckbean, and bog +arum. The great white arum of the greenhouse is quite hardy out of doors +if it is planted eighteen inches below water, and blossoms in the brook. + +[Illustration: WATER VIOLET AND WILD IRIS. _From photographs by E. +Seeley_.] + +The brook garden is like a colony. It is always extending its range, +following the course of the stream. Each year adds a little more to the +completeness of the lower pools, and each year some yards of the upper +waters and their banks are brought into partial harmony with the lower +reaches. In one perfect example of this kind of garden, under the +Berkshire downs, the succession of trout-pools, water gardening, half-wild +banks, and turf-walk stretches for nearly a mile among the fields in a +narrow glen, unseen from either side, except for its narrow riband of +tree-tops among the fields; but within its narrow limits it is glorious +with flowers, cascades, pools full of trout, set with water-plants in +blossom, and the haunt of innumerable birds. Even the wild ducks ascend to +the topmost pools, and are constantly in flight down the narrow winding +vistas of grass, water, and trees, which they, like the kingfishers and +water-hens, seem to think are set out for their especial pleasure. + + + + +COTTAGES AND CAMPING OUT + + +This is supposed to be a "business" country, but one wonders why new wants +which accompany any change of daily habit are so slowly realised. Take, +for instance, the annual migration to the Thames Valley, which has assumed +proportions never reached before. Beyond the enlargement of the riverside +inns, little has been done to meet this new taste of English families for +rustic life in place of the seaside; and though the thousands of visitors +to the "happy valley" of our largest river do contrive to enjoy a maximum +of fresh air and outdoor life, this is often accompanied by a needless +sacrifice of comfort. If any improvements in the conditions of life by the +river can be suggested and put into practice, these will certainly benefit +other districts. The profits accruing to intelligent provision for such a +demand should also be considerable. But the first condition is that the +wants and wishes of those who take their pleasure in this way should be +properly understood. + +The boating part of the river life is quite well organised; indeed, it +would be difficult to improve upon it. Its convenience and elasticity is +remarkable. The way in which the leading boatbuilders provide craft of all +descriptions, which may be left by their hirers at any point on the river, +to be brought back to Oxford or Reading by train, is beyond all praise. It +is a triumph of good sense and management. But boating is only part of the +amusement of the holiday, just as bathing is at the seaside. The real +object with which an ever-growing number of visitors have adopted the +river life is in order to spend the utmost length of time out of doors and +in beautiful scenery. To this end they need accommodation of a special +kind. The large hotel, with its inducements to spend much time over meals +and indoors, is wholly out of place for such a purpose. What is needed is +a cottage which can be rented either wholly or in part, or actual camp +life under tents. The latter is now not confined to boating-men travelling +up or down the river. It is enjoyed partly as an annexe to up-river +houseboats; more often as "camping out" for its own sake, the tents being +pitched near the river, but in complete detachment from any other +habitation, fixed or floating. In these tents whole families of the +well-to-do classes now elect to live, sometimes for weeks; rising early, +bathing in the river, sometimes cooking their own food, or more often +employing a servant or local man-of-all-work to do this, taking their +meals in the open, and using the tents only to sleep in, or as a shelter +from rain. Even little children now share the delights of this _al +fresco_ life, which realises their wildest dreams of adventure, and is +by general consent as wholesome as it is entrancing. Whether their elders +derive as much pleasure as they might from the same environment is +doubtful. The business is not properly organised, and only half understood +by the greater number of those who are nevertheless so well pleased by the +experiment that they are anxious to repeat it. Sporadic camping out +involves too much fetching and carrying. Tradesmen do not "call" at +isolated tents in a riverside meadow, and all commodities have to be +fetched by the campers. On the other hand, sociable camping out, when +several groups set up their tents in proximity, needs proper arrangement. +Philosophers may see in it the evolution of the social life from its +primitive elements, with the growth of division of labour and reciprocal +good offices. English families would usually prefer the sporadic tent, if +it were not for the hard work involved. But if camping out is to be a real +success, such understandings and arrangements must be made. Where this is +not done the result is a failure, obvious to the passer-by. Separate and +unsightly fires for cooking, and untidiness, because there are no "hours" +for performing the light but necessary domestic work, are common objects +of individualism on the camping ground. Yachts, which are +self-maintaining, never have clothes hanging in the rigging after 8 a.m. +when in harbour, and the self-respecting camp must not fall behind this +example. + +The camp in the country should have its communal kitchen in a wooden +movable house, in which meals can be cooked, and from which it should be +possible to purchase food as required. Here is an opening for commercial +enterprise. The tourist agencies might rent camping grounds and supply +tents on hire, with kitchens and all proper necessaries for living under +canvas. They do this with great success for travellers in the East, and at +a moderate cost. In England tents, if not so luxurious as those provided +from Egypt for life in Palestine, are very cheap, and need no transport +animals. But such a firm could easily make them removable by arranging for +them to be called for and taken up river a few stages, as the boats are. +The hire could be fixed at so much per tent, and a camp servant could also +be provided. Commissionaires and ex-soldiers with good characters could be +found employment in the early autumn, when they now find it difficult to +earn a wage. They thoroughly understand not only the management of tents, +but the duties of a camp. Rain-proof tents with movable board floors would +be provided from London in uncertain weather on the receipt of a wire, for +life under canvas is quite pleasant even if the hours are not all serene, +if the interior is kept dry. + +Though a new departure in this country camping out is part of the ordinary +and well-understood amusements of the eastern cities of the United States. +The whole State of Maine is practically a State reserve for this, the most +popular form of holiday-making in America. Its forests, rivers, and lakes +are one vast playground and public sporting domain, which is enjoyed +almost entirely by means of camping out and boating. The rivers teem with +State-reared trout, of which as many are allowed to be caught as can +possibly be consumed by the party. The woods are free to shoot in, with a +limit for deer and caribou; State-provided guides are employed at a fixed +wage. At regular intervals along the rivers are the camping grounds, each +under the control of a camp agent, who arranges for the comfort and +convenience of the travelling host of tent-dwellers. Each "base" is +properly organised and supplied, and visitors can purchase necessaries, in +addition to the fish and birds which fall to rod and gun. Ladies and +children are among those who enjoy the pastime most keenly, amusing +themselves by the river and among the woods while the husbands hunt or +fish. + +The "residential cottage" is perhaps the safer basis for the complete +outdoor life, though it tends to reduce the number of hours spent in the +open. Habit is too strong when once we are under a roof. It is evidence of +the habitable nature of many of our much-abused cottages that in the +Thames-side villages a great proportion are now occupied for several +months in the year by people who, though willing to pay for simple +accommodation, will not tolerate dirt, squalor, or want of sanitation. To +their surprise they have found hundreds of cottages, homely, but not +uncomfortable, kept with scrupulous neatness, and furnished by no means +badly. Nearly all have ample kitchen accommodation, fair beds, and an +equipment of glass, china, and crockery, which shows how cheap and good +are the necessaries of life in England. The well-to-do agricultural +labourer and his wife, whose children are out in the world, the village +artisans, small tradesfolk, and "retired" couples are the owners or +occupiers, and now let their rooms at from Ł1 to Ł1 10s. per week, from +June till the middle of September. The results are good in every way. +Visitors are pleased at what seems a cheap holiday, and the letters of the +rooms save money for the winter, and realise in a pleasant way that their +later years have fallen on good times. It is also an encouragement to +landowners to build good and picturesque cottages. For the first time they +see their way to charging a fair rent on their outlay. The town comes to +help the country, and the country sees in the movement a hopeful future. + + + + +NETTING STAGS IN RICHMOND PARK + + +About the opening of the year I went to see the big stags netted in +Richmond Park for transfer to Windsor. Last season this unique and ancient +hunting had to be put off till February. There was too much "bone" in the +ground to make riding safe. When the frost gave, the stags were more than +usually cunning, and were helped by more than their usual share of luck. +One fine stag charged the toils at best pace, and, happening to hit a +rotten net, burst through, and went off shaking his antlers as proudly as +if he had upset a rival in a charge. Another took to the lake, and after +playing Robinson Crusoe on the island for some time, swam across to the +wood, took a standing leap out of the shallow water on the brink over the +paling, and laid up in Penn Wood. + +It was on a lovely mellow January morning, after just a touch of frost, +with haze and mist veiling the distant woods, a winter sun struggling to +make itself seen, and all the birds, from the mallards on the lakes to the +jackdaws in the old oaks, beginning to talk, but with their minds not +quite made up as to whether they should take a morning flight or stop +where they were, when the business of setting up the toils began. + +This, which is probably managed in exactly the same way as when Queen Dido +arranged to give a day's sport to good Aeneas, is carried out according to +the ancient and unvarying tradition of this royal and ancient park. Nor +were we allowed to forget that in this case, too, the stags were being +taken by the servants of a queen. Everything was ready for the transport +of the stags to Windsor, and in the foreground was a good strong wooden +cart, painted red and blue, and inscribed in the largest capitals with the +words, "Her Majesty's cart." + +The art and practice of taking the stags in the toils is carried out in +this wise. A body of mounted men, under the orders of the superintendent +of the park, ride out to find the herds of red deer. They then ride in and +"cut" out the finest stags, and, spreading out in a broad line, chase them +at the utmost speed of horse towards that quarter of the park where the +nets are spread. Some two hundred yards in front of the nets two +deerhounds are held, and slipped as the stag gallops past--not to injure +or distress him, but to hurry him up and distract his attention from the +long lines of nets in front. + +The stags were known to be full of running, and resourceful; consequently +the number of riders who had been asked to help was rather larger than +usual. Even so they had to make a wide sweep of the Southern Park before +they found their deer, and had a racing burst of more than a mile and a +half before they brought them round. Meantime, while they are away on +their quest, let us inspect the ancient contrivance of the toils. They are +heavy nets of rope, thick as a finger, and with meshes not more than ten +inches square--very strong, and to our eyes almost too solid and visible. +Partly to render them less conspicuous, the line--at least one hundred +yards long--is set in a long, narrow depression or shallow drain, running +from a wood on the Richmond side of Penn Pond down to a small pool. Just +in the centre of this line is a most ancient pollard oak, the crown of +which will hold eight men easily, ready to spring down to earth and seize +the deer as the nets fall on him. In this most appropriate watch-tower the +keeper in command at the toils, and several of his helpers, ensconced +themselves. The Richmond stags, though so constantly in the sight of the +crowds of visitors to the park, are among the boldest and gamest of all +park stags. One, who was more especially the object of the day's chase, +jumped a paling 6 ft. 3 in. high the day before, merely for amusement. +Those sometimes transferred to the paddocks at Ascot for hunting with the +Royal Buckhounds were noted for their courage and straight running. +Perhaps the most famous was old Volunteer, whose latest exploit was to +give a run of nearly thirty miles, at the end of which he was not taken. +Having had his day out, and not being taken up in the cart as usual, he +made his way home by night, jumped into his paddock, and was found there +next morning! + +Holloaing, long and loud, was now heard from the east. Keen was the +keeper's glance as he looked, not to the sound, but along his line of +nets, the top at least eight feet from the ground, lightly hitched on +thick saplings, while an ample fold of some four feet more lay upon the +ground. Before and behind, the dead and tangled bracken broke the line; +the props were of natural wood, and the tawny nets themselves made no +break in the general colour of the hillside. Then the shouting came louder +down the wind. Where were they? Not coming "up the straight" certainly, +for no stags were visible and the hounds were not slipped. Suddenly from +above us three big red stags came galloping obliquely down the hill, not +as they are represented in pictures with muzzles up and horns back, but at +high speed for all that; and though they carried their horns erect, their +sides were heaving and the smoke coming out of their nostrils. They saw +the nets, but determined to push through them. One charged them gallantly +head first, and as the thick meshes fell tumultuously over his head and +back, the second jumped the falling toils twenty yards to his left, taking +them most gracefully, as if he were doing a circus trick. Down from the +tree sprang the keeper and his men, and seized the helpless stag, while +the second, which had jumped and won, stood panting and looking over his +shoulder to see what curious game this was. The third broke back and +disappeared. + +Perhaps the most strange thing was the calm self-possession of the netted +stag. The astonishing catching power of a net held him enmeshed at all +points. His muzzle was held by one mesh, his horns by three or four; all +four feet were caught also. In addition, about eight men kindly caught +hold of his horns, legs, and back, to prevent him hurting himself. This he +was far too clever to do. He just lay quiet, calmly regarding the fun with +his upper eye, and wondering when the deuce they were going to take him +"out of that." In a very few minutes his feet were buckled together by +soft straps, and a saw trimmed off his antler tops, for which we felt +sorry, but there was not room for them in the "compartment" he was to +travel in. It is only when a stag lies close before you on the ground that +you realise that he is not a "slab-sided," flat-ribbed animal, but a +bulky, well-rounded beast. It took six men to lift him on to the bed of +fern in "Her Majesty's cart," and when there he quickly twisted round, and +lay couched, bound but not subdued, calmly regarding the scene over the +side of his cart. A nice lot of chopped mangold root had been put in his +box, and we hope he enjoyed his lunch in the train on his way to Windsor. + +[Illustration: A NETTED STAG. _From a drawing by Lancelot Speed_.] + +The next drive was far more rapid, and its results more exciting. The +stags were again brought round from above Penn Pond, then through the oak +grove below White Lodge, and came galloping up the long side of the slope, +straight for the nets. Then the brace of deerhounds, which, like the +keeper, seemed to know the game thoroughly, were slipped, and most +beautiful they looked, one laying out, lithe and low, just parallel with +the haunch of one stag, the other driving the brace below. The single stag +charged the nets and was enveloped as before, but the other brace broke +back and escaped. + +Four in all were taken during the day, without accident or mishap. One of +the keepers did have an accident of a rather curious kind, when assisting +to catch stags at Buckhurst Park in Kent. He was galloping as hard as he +could, driving a stag, when his horse cannoned up against another deer +which was lying crouched in the fern, as deer sometimes do. The horse went +a complete somersault, and its rider was badly bruised and hurt, though no +bones were broken. + + + + +RICHMOND OLD DEER PARK + + +If Henry VII.'s palace at Richmond still stood by the riverside, we should +have a second Hampton Court at half the distance from London. It was +almost the first of the fine Tudor palaces in this country, built very +stately, with a prodigious number of towers, turrets, cupolas, and gilded +vanes, on a site as fine as that of Wolsey's competing pile higher up the +river. But though the palace has gone, the park is left. It is the +precinct now called the Old Deer Park, in which not one in ten thousand of +those who visit and enjoy the park on the hill which we call Richmond Park +has ever set foot, except in the corner furthest from the river to see a +horse-show or a cricket-match. Old it certainly is. The park on the hill, +venerable as it looks now, is only a thing of yesterday in comparison with +it. Charles I. made the latter, and the Penn Ponds were dug by the +Princess Amelia. The Old Deer Park was a Royal demesne when the Saxon +Kings had their palace at Sheen, before it was given its new name of +Richmond by the first Tudor, after the Castle in Yorkshire from which he +took his title when a subject. In the middle of this ancient and forgotten +park, forgotten because it is neither reserved for the pleasure of the +Sovereign nor thrown open for the enjoyment of his subjects, it was lately +proposed to build a scientific laboratory, to supplement the work of the +observatory, which is mainly employed in magnetic observations and in +testing thermometers and chronometers. The proposal is an instance of the +mischief which may be done by precedent, and of the way in which Royal +favour may be misused quite unconsciously by persons who forget that the +circumstances which lent grace and propriety to a concession at one time +may be so altered later that to presume on it is an error of judgment. +George III. instructed Chambers, the architect, who had been doing work +for him at Kew, to erect an observatory in the Old Park. It was a +thoughtful act, at a time when there were no public funds for the +encouragement of science, and when the study of astronomy was still +regarded partly as something peculiarly under Royal patronage because its +practical use was to keep and make records to ensure the safe navigation +of his Majesty's ships. + +The application to erect new buildings was refused, for a place like the +Old Deer Park, if kept open and wild, and not built upon, has a present +and future value to the health and happiness of millions of people beyond +any calculation or power of words. + +It does not need much imagination to make this forecast. But as few people +have ever made what, in the old words of forest law, was called a +"perambulation" of the park, some description of its present condition and +appearance may help to form an opinion. It is the largest and finest +riverside park in England. It covers nearly four hundred acres, but this +great area, as large as Hyde Park, is shaped and placed so as to gain the +maximum of beauty and convenience from its surroundings. On the London +side it has for neighbour the whole depth of Kew Gardens, from the road at +the back to the river at the front--two hundred and eighty acres of garden +and wood. But whoever first acquired the land for the park, whether Norman +or Saxon, very rightly thought that the feature to be desired was to make +the most of the river-front, where the Thames, pushing into Middlesex, +cuts "a huge half-moon, a monstrous cantle, out." Whether by accident or +design, the park is like a half-open fan, narrowest at the back, which is +the ugly or plain side, near the road, and with its widest part unbosoming +on the Thames. From back to front it is some half-mile deep; but the +Thames front extends for a mile along one of the most beautiful river +scenes in England. + +On the Kew Gardens border it lies against what was, until a few years ago, +the wild and private part of Kew. To this it served as an open park, where +all the birds drew out to sun themselves and feed. So they do still. Along +the margin are scattered old beech trees, and a wilderness of long grass +and flowers, where wood-pigeons, thrushes, pheasants, crows, jays, and all +the smaller birds of the gardens may be seen sunning themselves. The +narrow end or "stick" of the "fan," near the road, is leased to a cricket +club, and cut off from the greater area by a belt of young plantation. In +this a brood of partridges hatches nearly every year, though what becomes +of the birds later is only conjectured. Beyond this cross-belt the whole +area of the park stretches out, ever widening, and with an imperceptible +fall, to the Thames. It is studded here and there with very large and very +ancient trees, and is one of the largest and least broken areas of ancient +pasture, whether for deer or cattle, in England. Until lately the old +observatory was the only building upon it, and the turf was unbroken. But +recent years have added two disfigurements. One is a large red building +with skylights, connected with the games and athletic sports, which have +found a more or less permanent home in the upper part of the park, where +the annual horse-shows are held, uses for which that part of the ground is +well suited. The other is a permanent and very deplorable blemish, made +purposely, in the interests of the popular game of the hour. The greater +part of this fine park has been leased to a private golf club. Golf, as +every one knows, originally flourished on sand dunes, which are about as +completely the natural opposite of an old flat park of ancient pasture as +can be found in this country. The golf club have been allowed to do what +they can to remedy this defect of Nature by converting the Old Park into a +sand dune, and this they have done by digging holes and throwing up +dozens, or scores, of bunkers. But the margins of the park are quite +unspoilt, and the river-front is the wildest and the freest piece of +Nature left near London. It is completely bounded by an ancient moat, +beyond which lies the towing-path, and beyond that the river and the +ancient and picturesque front of Isleworth. The path between the moat and +the river is set with ancient trees, mostly horse-chestnuts and beech, in +continuous line. Under their branches and between their stems the visitor +in the park sees a series of pictures, framed by trees and branches, of +the Queen Anne houses and rose-gardens of Isleworth, the old church with +its tower and huge sun-dial, the ferry and the old inn of the "London +Apprentice," the poplars and willows of the Isleworth eyots, the granaries +and mills where the little Hounslow stream falls in, and further +Twickenham way the gardens of the fine villas there, while towards London +the pavilions and park of Syon House begin. At the present moment the +margin of the Old Deer Park and its moat give a mile of beauty and +refreshment. No one has troubled to mow the grass or cut the weeds, or +clear the moat, or meddle with the hedge beyond it. So the moat, which is +filled from the river when necessary, and is not stagnant, is full of +water-flowers, and quite clear, and fringed with a deep bed of reeds and +sedges. In it are shoals of dace, and minnow, and gudgeon, and +sticklebacks, and plenty of small pike basking in the sun. The largest and +bluest forget-me-nots, and water-mints, and big water-docks and burdocks +flourish in the water, and the hedge beyond is full of sweet elder in +flower, and covered with wild hops. Huge elms, partly decaying, and a dark +grove of tall beeches line the park near the moat, and besides water and +flowers there is shade and the motion of leaves. If the proposal to build +on such a site leads to a better knowledge of what this ancient park +really is, and its value to the amenities of the capital, it will have +done good, not harm. The late Queen recently presented the cottage in the +reserved part of Kew Gardens and its precincts for the use of the public. +It would seem that a similar sacrifice has been made by Royalty in the +case of the Old Deer Park, but that the public are excluded by the Office +of Woods and Forests, which has charge of it, and the park neglected and +disfigured. If it were put on the same footing as Richmond Park upon the +hill, and communication were open between the park and Kew Gardens at +proper hours, an unequalled domain, still the property of the Crown, but +enjoyed within reasonable limitations by every subject, would be open from +Kew Green practically to Kingston. The line from the boundary of the Old +Deer Park is taken on by Richmond Green, and the towing-path to the +Terrace Gardens, formerly the property of the Duke of Buccleuch, and now +of the Richmond Corporation, thence by the terrace and the open slope +under it to Richmond Park, through Sudbrook Park to Ham Common, a series +of varied scenery unrivalled even in the valley of the Thames. + + + + +FISH IN THE LONDON RIVER + + +The capture of a 4-lb. grilse in the Thames estuary in December, 1901, +raised some hopes that we might in course of time see salmon at London +Bridge. Mr. R. Marston, a great authority, in an article on "The Thames a +Salmon River," in the _Nineteenth Century_, has given many reasons +why he fears that this will not be realised. The question is not so much +whether the salmon can come up, as whether the smolts, or young salmon, +could get down through the polluted water. But the experiments made are +interesting and deserve every encouragement, and it may be hoped that +money will be forthcoming to make more. + +As regards other fish than salmon, their return has been going on steadily +since 1890; and their advance has covered a distance of some twenty +miles--from Gravesend to Teddington. The first evidence was the +reappearance of whitebait, small crabs, and jelly-fish at Gravesend in +1892. In 1893 the whitebait fishermen and shrimp-boats were busy ten miles +higher than they had been seen at work for many years. The condenser tubes +of torpedo-boats running their trials down the river were found to be +choked with "bait," and buckets of the fish were shown at the offices of +the London County Council in Spring Gardens. It was claimed that this +evidence of the increased purity of the water was mainly due to the +efforts of the Main Drainage Committee of the London County Council. There +is abundant evidence that this claim was correct, for instead of allowing +the whole of the London sewage to fall into the Thames at Barking and +Crossness, the County Council used a process to separate all the solid +matter, and carried it out to sea. The results of the first year's efforts +were that over two million tons were shipped beyond the Nore, ten thousand +tons of floating refuse were cleared away, and the liquid effluent was +largely purified. It was predicted at the time that if this process was +continued on the same scale it would not be long before the commoner +estuary fishes appeared above London Bridge, even if the migratory salmon +and sea-trout still held aloof. Unfortunately there has been some +deviation from the methods of dealing with the sewage, a change from which +we believe that some of the officials concerned with the early +improvements very strongly dissented, that has to some extent retarded the +advance of the fish. But in 1895 a sudden "spurt" took place in their +return. Whitebait became so plentiful that during the whole of the winter +and spring the results were obvious, not only to naturalists, but on the +London market. Whitebait shoals swarmed in the Lower Thames and the +Medway, and became a cheap luxury even in February and March. They were +even so suicidally reckless as to appear off Greenwich. Supplies of fresh +fish came into the market twice daily, and were sold retail at sixpence +per quart. The Thames flounders once more reappeared off their old haunt +at the head of the Bishop of London's fishery near Chiswick Eyot. Only one +good catch was made, and none have been taken since; but this had not been +done for twelve years, and there is a prospect of their increase, for, in +the words of old Robert Binnell, Water Bailiff of the City of London in +1757, we may "venture to affirm that there is no river in all Europe that +is a better nourisher of its fish, and a more speedy breeder, particularly +of the flounder, than is the Thames." Eels were also taken in considerable +numbers between Hammersmith and Kew; but the main supply of London eels +came from Holland even in the days of London salmon. In a very old print +of the City, with traitors' heads by the dozen on London Bridge, "Eale +Schippes," exactly like the Dutch boats lying at this moment off +Billingsgate, are shown anchored in the river. Besides the estuary fish +which naturally come _up_ river, dace and roach began to come +_down_ into the tideway, and during the whole summer the lively +little bleak swarmed round Chiswick Eyot. Later in the year the roach and +dace were seen off Westminster, and several were caught below London +Bridge, and in 1900 roach were seen and caught at Woolwich, but were soon +poisoned and died. In August the delicate smelts suddenly reappeared at +Putney, where they had not been seen in any number for many years. Later, +in September, another migration of smelts passed right up the river. Many +were caught at Isleworth and Kew, and finally they penetrated to the limit +of the tideway at Teddington, and good baskets were made at Teddington +Lock. + +[Illustration: BREAM AND ROACH. _From a photograph by E. Seeley_.] + +This additional evidence of the satisfaction of the fish with the County +Council does not quite satisfy us that the London river is yet clean +enough to give passage to the migratory salmon. It is encouraging to the +County Council, who deserve all the credit they can get; but there is +little doubt that the best evidence that the river is fit for the salmon +would be the spontaneous appearance of the salmon themselves. + +Since the middle of June, 1890, large shoals of dace, bleak, roach, and +small fry have appeared in all the reaches, from Putney upwards. A few +years ago hardly any fish were to be seen below Kew during the summer, and +these were sickly and diseased. Last year they were in fine condition, and +dace eagerly took the fly even on the lower reaches. Every flood-tide +hundreds of "rises" of dace, bleak, and roach were seen as the tide began +to flow, or rather as the sea-water below pushed the land-water before it +up the river. At high water little creeks, draw-docks, and boat-landings +were crowded with healthy, hungry fish, and old riverside anglers, whose +rods had been put away for years, caught them by dozens with the fly. +Sixty dozen dace were taken, mainly with the fly, in a single creek, which +for some years has produced little in the way of living creatures but +waterside rats. I counted twenty-two "rises" in a minute in a length of +twenty yards inside the eyot at Chiswick. During one high tide in July a +sight commonly seen in a summer flood on the Isis or Cherwell was +witnessed not sixty yards from the boundary stone of the county of London. +The tide rose so far as to fringe several lawns by the river with a yard +or two of shallow water, and the fish at once left the river and crowded +into this shallow overflow, their backs occasionally showing above it, to +escape the muddy clouds in the tidal water. There were hundreds of fish in +the shoals, of all kinds and sizes, from dace nine inches long, with a few +roach, to sticklebacks. These fish are probably the descendants of spawn +laid in the _tidal_ parts of the river, on the gravel-beds and weeds. +Doubtless the quantity of fresh water from the spring rains contributed +something to the result, but the spawn must have hatched far more +successfully than usual. + +[Illustration: A GRAMPUS AT CHISWICK. _From a drawing by Lancelot Speed_.] + +Rivermen on the tidal Thames always distinguish between eels and "fish." +The former are also increasing greatly. The sole survivor of the "Peter +boats" left on the river is saved from disappearing like the rest of the +race by eel-fishing. Formerly these boats, whose owners lived and slept on +board them for six months in the year, were quite successful in catching +eels and flounders. In the Chiswick parish registers a number of those +married or buried are entered as being "fishermen," which clearly means +that that was their business in life. The number of professed eel +catchers' boats gradually dwindled to one, and the owner of this catches a +fair quantity of most excellent eels, those taken off Mortlake, opposite +the finish of the University boat-race, being especially fine in flavour. +Another eel-like fish, formerly taken in great numbers, and of the finest +quality, but now almost forgotten, is also returning. This is the lampern. +Lamperns, unlike eels, come into the rivers to spawn, and go back to the +sea later or to the brackish waters. Men employed in scooping gravel out +of the river at Hammersmith, lately noticed numbers of lamperns coming up +on to the gravel-beds at low-water, and moving the gravel into little +hollows, previously to dropping their spawn. Twelve years ago the great +body of the migrating lamperns were all poisoned by the river, and lay in +tens of thousands in the mud at Blackwall Point. As they have now +succeeded in getting up to spawn, the shoals may be seen next year in +something like their old numbers. The flounders have not yet reappeared to +stay. Porpoises come up above London nearly every year. The first I saw +were two above Hammersmith Bridge early on that momentous May morning in +1886, when Mr. Gladstone's first Home Rule Bill was thrown out. I had been +up with a friend to hear the result of the division, and had seen the wild +joy which followed its announcement in the lobby, and then walked home at +dawn, and so met the early porpoises. A few years later a fine grampus was +found one night lying half dead by the bows of one of the torpedo-boat +destroyers at Chiswick. Its "lines" struck the expert minds there as so +good that it was carefully measured, and the results were found to +correspond almost exactly with a mathematical curve--I think called a +curve of sines. The hollow over the blow-hole was filled up with mud and +measured over, and here there was a little discrepancy. The mud was +removed, and the measurement taken over the surface of the hollow, and the +figures found to be what were expected. + + + + +CHISWICK EYOT + + +It has been said that Thames eyots always seem to have been put in place +by a landscape gardener. Chiswick Eyot is no exception to the rule. It +covers nearly four acres of ground, and lies like a long ship, parallel +with the ancient terrace of Chiswick Mall, from which it is separated by a +deep, narrow stream, haunted by river-birds, and once a famous fishery. + +A salmon, perhaps the last, was caught between the eyot and Putney in +1812, though the rent of the fishery used to be paid in salmon, when it +was worked by the good Cavalier merchant, Sir Nicholas Crispe. The +close-time for the fishery was observed regularly at the beginning of the +century, the fishing commencing on January 1st, and ending on September +4th. There are those who believe that with the increased purification of +the Thames, the next generation may perhaps throw a salmon-fly from +Chiswick Eyot. In the early summer of 1895 a fine porpoise appeared above +the island. At half-past eight it followed the ebb down the river, having +"proved" the stream for forty miles from its mouth, and being apparently +well pleased with its condition. At Putney it lingered, as might be +expected of a Thames porpoise, opposite a public-house. Two sportsmen went +out in a boat to shoot it; instead, they hit some spectators on the bank. +Flowers abound on the eyot. The irises have all been taken, but what was +the lowest clump, opposite Syon House, has lost its pride of place, for +now there are some by the Grove Park Estate below Kew Bridge. The centre +of the eyot is yellow with patches of marsh-marigold in the hot spring +days. Besides the marsh-marigolds there are masses of yellow camomile, +comfrey, ragged robin, and tall yellow ranunculus, growing on the muddy +banks and on the sides of the little creeks among the willows, and a vast +number of composite flowers of which I do not know the names. Common reeds +are also increasing there, with big water-docks, and on the edge of the +cam-shedding of the lawn which fronts my house some of the tallest giant +hemlocks which I have ever seen, have suddenly appeared. I notice that in +Papworth's views of London, published in 1816, arrowhead is seen growing +at the foot of the Duke of Buckingham's water-gate, which is now embedded +at the back of the embankment gardens at Charing Cross. There is still +plenty of it opposite Hammersmith Mall, half a mile below Chiswick Eyot. +The reach opposite and including the eyot is the sole piece of the natural +London river which remains interesting, and largely unspoilt. I trust that +if urban improvers ever want to embank the "Mall" or the eyot, public +opinion will see its way to keeping this unique bit of the London river as +it is. Already there have been proposals for a tram-line running all the +length of the Mall, either at the front or behind it. The island belongs +to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. There is a certain sense of the +country about the eyot, because it is rated as agricultural land, though +its lower end is inside the London boundary. The agriculture pursued on it +is the growing of osiers. These, frequently inundated by high tides, and +left dry when the ebb begins, are some of the finest on the Thames. At the +present moment (January 5, 1902) they are being cut and stacked in +bundles. In the spring the grass grows almost as fast between the stumps +as do the willow shoots. This is cut by men who make it part of the year's +business to sell to the owners of the small dealers' carts and to costers. +Formerly, when cows were kept in London, it was cut for their use. During +the year of the Great Exhibition milk was very scarce, and this grass, +which was excellent for the stable-fed cows, fetched great prices. In the +summer the willows, full of leaf, and exactly appropriate to the flat +lacustrine outline of the eyot and the reach, are full of birds, though +the reed-warbler does not always return. He was absent last year. He is +locally supposed to begin his song with the words "Chiswick Eyot! Chiswick +Eyot!" which indeed he does pretty exactly. Early on summer mornings I +always see cuckoos hunting for a place to drop an egg. In the summer of +1900 a young cuckoo was hatched from a sedge-warbler's nest, and spent the +rest of the summer in the gardens opposite this and the next houses. All +day long it wheezed and grumbled, and the little birds fed it. In the +evenings it used to practise flying, and at last flew off for good. + + + + +CHISWICK FISHERMEN + + +"Please, sir, a man wants to know if he can see you, and he has brought a +very large fish," was the message given me one very hot evening at the end +of July, at the hour which the poet describes as being "about the flitting +of the bats," plenty of which were just visible hawking over the willows +on the eyot. Thinking that it was an odd time for a visit from a +fishmonger, I was just wondering what could be the reason for such a +request when I remembered a talk I had had at the ferry a week or two +before on the subject of the continued increase of fish in the London +Thames. It turned out to be as I expected; my visitor was one of the last +local fishermen, and brought with him a splendid silver eel, weighing +nearly 4 lb., taken in his nets that evening just opposite Chiswick Eyot. +It was the largest eel taken so low down for some years, and when held up +at arm's length, was a good imitation of one of Madame Paula's pythons in +the advertisement. He was anxious that I should come out for an evening's +netting and see for myself how clear the water now is, and how good the +fish. The previous summer, about the same date, I had asked him to see +what he could catch in an evening as specimens; he had returned with over +ninety fish, dace, roach, eels, barbel, and smelts, many of which were +exhibited alive the next day before a good many people interested in the +purification of the Thames. As a further proof I forwarded the big eel to +the previous chairman of the London County Council, under whose sceptre +the marked improvement in the river began first to be felt, and begged his +acceptance of it as a tribute from the river. Then I arranged to be at the +old ferry next day at 6.30 p.m. + +It was the end of a blazing hot London day when I went down the hard to +the water's edge, among the small, pink-legged boys, paddling, and the +usual group of contemplative workmen, who smoke their pipes by the landing +place. The river was half empty, and emptying itself still more as the ebb +ran down. The haze of heat and twilight blurred shapes and colours, but +the fine old houses of the historic "Mall," the tower of the church, and +the tall elms and taller chimneys of the breweries, which divide with +torpedo boats the credit of being the staple industries of Chiswick, stood +out all black against the evening sky; the clashing of the rivetters had +ceased in the shipyard, but the river was cheerfully noisy; many eights +were practising between the island and the Surrey bank, coaches were +shouting at them, a tug was taking a couple of deal-loaded barges to a +woodwharf with much puffing and whistling, and bathers, sheltered by the +eyot willows, were keeping up loud and breathless conversations. "Not +exactly the kind of surroundings the fishermen seeks," you will say; but, +apparently, London fish get used to noise. Our boat was what I, speaking +unprofessionally, should call a small sea-boat, but I believe she was +built years ago at Strand-on-the-Green, the pretty old village with +maltings and poplar trees that fringes the river below Kew Bridge. She was +painted black and red, and furnished with a shelf, rimmed with an +inch-high moulding inboard and drained by holes, to catch the drip from +the net as it was hauled in. We were at work in two minutes. The net was +fastened at one end to two buoys; these dropped down with the ebb, and +formed a fixed, yet floating, point--if that is not a bull--from which the +boat was rowed in a circle while one of the brothers who own the boat +payed out the net. Thus we kept rowing in circles, alternately dropping +and hauling in the net, as we slipped down what was once the Bishop of +London's Fishery towards Fulham. There are still no flounders on the +famous Bishop's Muds, but other fish were in evidence at once. Though the +heat had made them go to the bottom, we had one or two at every haul. The +two fishermen were fine specimens of strong, well-built Englishmen. The +pace at which they hauled in the net, or rowed the boat round, was great; +the rower could complete the circle--a wide one--in a minute, and the net +was hauled in in less time, if the hauler chose to. Dace were our main +catch--bright silvery fish, about three to the pound, for they do not run +large in the tideway; but they were in perfect condition, and quite as +good to eat, when cooked, as fresh herring. For some reason the Jews of +London prefer these fresh-water fish; they eat them, not as the old +Catholics did, on fasts, but for feasts. They will fetch 2d. each at the +times of the Jews' holidays, so our fisherman told me, and find a ready +sale at all times, though at low prices. Formerly the singularly bright +scales were saved to make mother-of-pearl, or rather, to coat objects +which were wished to resemble mother-of-pearl. After each haul the fish +were dropped into a well in the middle of the boat. A few roach were +taken, and an eel; but the most interesting part of the catch was the +smelts. These sea-fish now ascend the Thames as they did before the river +was polluted. We took about a dozen, some of very large size; they smelt +exactly like freshly-sliced cucumber. I stayed for an hour, till the +twilight was turning to dark, and the tugs' lights began to show. We had +by then caught seventy fish, or rather more than one per minute; a hundred +is a fair catch on a summer evening. In winter very large hauls are made; +then the fish congregate in holes and corners. In summer they are all over +the river. When the net happens to enclose one of these shelter holes, +hundreds may be taken. Consequently the two fishermen work regularly all +through the winter. Sometimes their net is like iron wire, frozen into +stiff squares. In a recent hard winter the ice floated up and down the +London Thames in lumps and floes; yet they managed to fish, and made a +record catch of two thousand in one tide. I believe that if the +Conservancy and the County Council go on as they are doing, we shall see +the flounder back in the river above bridges, and that possibly sea-trout +may adventure there too; though unless the latter can get up to spawn, +there can be no regular run of sea-trout. But they probably also act like +grey mullet, and run up the estuaries merely for a cruise.[1] + +[Illustration: SMELTS. _From a photograph by E. Seeley_.] + +The last of the "Peter-boat" men mentioned in a previous chapter, has +other claims to notice than that of being the only survivor of an ancient +outdoor industry. He has given evidence before more than one committee of +the House of Commons on the state of the river and the condition of its +waters, and is the oldest salesman in that curious survival of antiquity, +the free eel market held at Blackfriars Stairs on Sunday mornings; and, in +addition, he has added to his original industry another branch of +"fishing" of a different kind, of which he is acknowledged to be the +greatest living exponent. He is an expert at grappling and "creeping" for +objects lying on the bed of the river, work for which his life-long +acquaintance with the contours of the bottom and the tides and currents +makes him particularly well fitted. Consequently he is now regularly +employed by many firms and shipping companies to fish up anything dropped +overboard, whether gear or cargo, which is heavy enough to sink. The +oddest thing about this double business is that all the summer, while he +lies and sleeps in his "Peter-boat" at Chiswick, he is in receipt of +telegrams whenever an accident of this kind chances to happen, summoning +him down river, to the Docks or the Pool, and these telegrams are +delivered to him (I think by the ferryman) on his "Peter-boat." But the +regular time for this other Thames "fishery" is in winter. Then the eels +"bed," _i.e._, bury themselves in the mud, and the eel man goes +either "gravelling," that is, scooping up gravel from the bottom to deepen +any part of the channel desired by the Conservancy, or doing these odd +salvage jobs. Getting up sunken barges is one side of the business. These +are raised by fastening two empty barges to them at low tide, when the +flood raises all three together, owing to the increased buoyancy. But of +"fishing" proper he has had plenty. He hooked and raised the steamship +_Osprey's_ propeller, which weighed six tons. This was done by +getting first small chains and then large ones round it, and fastening +them to a lighter. Half-ton anchors, casks of zinc, pigs of lead, copper +tubes, ironwork, ship-building apparatus, and the like, are common "game" +in this fishery. Other commodities are casks of pitch, cases of pickles, +boxes of champagne, casks of sardines in tins, bales of wool, and even +cases of machinery. + +This form of Thames fishery increases rather than diminishes. Years ago he +picked up under London Bridge a case of watches valued at Ł1,500. He was +only paid for the "job," as the loss was known and it was not a chance +find. Another and more sportsmanlike incident was an "angling +competition," among himself and others in that line, for some cases of +rings which a Jew, who became suddenly insane, threw into the river off a +steamer. He caught one case, and another man grappled the other. Sometimes +in fishing for one thing he catches another which has been in the water +for months, as, for instance, a whole sack of tobacco, turned rotten. I do +not know who "that young woman who kept company with a fishmonger" was, +though he assumes that I do. But he certainly rescued her, and a gentleman +who jumped off London Bridge, and several upset excursionists on various +parts of the river. Also, as will be guessed, he has caught or picked up a +good many corpses. I hear, though not from him, that on the Surrey side +five shillings is paid for a body rescued, and on the Middlesex side only +half-a-crown; so Surrey gets the credit of the greater number of the +Thames dead. His life-saving services have been very considerable, though +he does not make much account of them. He was instrumental in saving two +women and six men on one occasion, and on another "three men and a +soldier." The distinction is an odd one, but it holds good in the riverine +mind. + +[1] At the close of the season 1901-1902 in March, one of the men tells me +that it has been the best year he has known. He caught sixteen eels one +night with the net only. Very fine bream have also appeared as low as +Hammersmith. + + + + +BIRDS ON THAMES RESERVOIRS + + +Now that every large town and many small ones are adding new reservoirs, +often of great size, to hold their water supply, these artificial lakes +play an important and increasing part in the wild life, not only of the +country, but of cities, and even of London itself. Immense reservoirs have +been made near Staines, and others are being added close to the London +river. These quiet sheets of water, carefully protected from intrusion for +fear of any pollution of the water, form artificial sanctuaries which not +only fill with fish, which the water companies encourage, to eat the weeds +and insects bred in the weeds, but attract wild-fowl of very many kinds in +ever-increasing numbers. In Hertfordshire the artificial lakes near Tring +made to supply the Grand Junction Canal are carefully preserved, and have +a large and resident population of wild-fowl (we believe a bittern bred +there recently, and the great crested grebe is common), and some of the +new London reservoirs are rapidly attracting a stock of wild-fowl. Thus +civilisation is in some measure restoring the balance of wild life, and +offers to the most persecuted of our birds a quiet and secure retreat. I +was able at the close of February, 1902, to witness a striking example of +the results of wild-bird protection in increasing some species of +wild-fowl which for half a century had steadily dwindled and disappeared, +and were practically unknown anywhere in the neighbourhood of London. The +scene was on the very large new reservoirs which lie between the grounds +of the Ranelagh Club and the Thames, on what was some seven years ago a +tract of market gardens and meadows. The construction of these lakes was +so ably planned and carried out that in two years from the turning of the +first sod four wide pools, covering in all one hundred acres of ground, +were ready to be filled, and at the end of 1898 the ground was +metamorphosed into the largest area of water in the London district, with +the exception of the Serpentine. + +It is so rare for changes of this magnitude to take place in any other way +than by covering what was open ground with bricks and mortar, that the +advent of a kind of reservoir flora and fauna so close to the greatest +city of the world was looked for with some curiosity. All the waste ground +not covered by the water or filtering-beds produced quantities of +brilliant flowers, as waste ground enclosed and left to itself generally +does. The banks and broad walks between the lakes were sown with good +grass, which was regularly made into hay. The reservoirs themselves soon +filled with fish, which came down the mains from Hampton, where the water +is taken in from the river. What these reservoir fish found to live upon +at first is not clear. No weeds are allowed to grow either in the water or +on the banks, which are concreted. But the bottom becomes covered with the +suspended matter deposited from the unfiltered water, and probably a +considerable number of the minute _entomostraca_ beloved of all fish +breed in this. The Barnes reservoirs do contain a growth of weed, which is +carefully removed every year. Whatever their sustenance may be, these +reservoirs are very full of fish, both the old ones at Barnes and the new +lakes near Ranelagh. The supply of fish, and the open and strictly private +extent of water, then attracted a number of wild duck or water birds of +some kind, which the writer was invited to see and identify, as it did not +seem probable that they could be the ordinary wild duck, which are +vegetable feeders, and would need an artificial supply of grain, which is +provided on the Serpentine, but is not given to any of these reservoir +ducks. They have appeared entirely uninvited. The scene over the lakes was +as sub-arctic and lacustrine as on any Finland pool, for the frost-fog +hung over river and reservoirs, only just disclosing the long, flat lines +of embankment, water, and ice; the barges floating down with the tide were +powdered with frost and snow-flakes, and the only colour was the long, red +smear across the ice of the western reservoir, beyond which the winter sun +was setting into a bank of snow clouds. It was four o'clock, and nothing +apparently was moving, either on the ice or the water, not even a gull. In +the centre of the north-eastern reservoir was what was apparently an acre +of heaped-up snow. On approaching nearer this acre of snow changed into a +solid mass of gulls, all preparing to go to sleep. If there was one there +were seven hundred, all packed together for warmth on the ice. It is on or +about these reservoirs that the London gulls now sleep. Sometimes they are +there in thousands; but the sealing of so much of the water with ice had +sent a great proportion of them down the river to the more open water of +the Essex marshes. Beyond the gulls, which rose and circled high above in +the fog with infinite clamour, were a number of black objects, which soon +resolved themselves into the forms of duck and other fowl. Rather more +than seventy were counted, swimming on the water near the bank or sitting +on the ice. These were the self-invited wild duck, so tame that with very +little trouble they were approached near enough for their colour and form +to be distinctly visible. The result of a look through the glasses was +something of a surprise. They were not mallard, teal, or widgeon; but +three-quarters of the number were tufted ducks, a diving-duck species, +which haunts both estuaries and fresh water, but preferably the latter. It +is a very handsome little black-and-white duck, seen in great numbers on +certain large lakes in Nottinghamshire, and has greatly increased of late +years in the county of Norfolk. But so far it has not appeared in any +numbers either on the Surrey ponds or in Middlesex, and its assembling on +this London reservoir is a remarkable proof of the tendency of wild-fowl +to increase in this country. + +The cock birds were in brilliant winter plumage, with large crests, white +breasts, and white "clocks" on their wings. Some were sleeping, some +diving, and others swimming quietly. When approached, the whole flock rose +at once, and flew with arrow-like speed round the lakes and twice or +thrice back over the heads of their visitors, of whom they were not at all +shy, being used to the sight of the man who keeps the reservoirs' banks in +order. They swept now overhead, now just above the ice, like a flock of +sea-magpies or ice-duck playing before some North Atlantic gale. As +several birds had not risen, we ventured still nearer, and saw that most +of these were coots, some ten or eleven, which did not fly, but ran out on +to the ice. Two large birds remaining, which had dived, then rose to the +surface, and to our surprise and pleasure proved to be great crested +grebes. These birds, which a few years ago were so scarce even in Norfolk +that Mr. Stevenson despaired of the survival of the species as a native +bird, have bred for three seasons in Richmond Park. But their presence so +close to London shows that we need not despair of seeing wild-crested +grebes appear on the Serpentine. These birds are so wedded to the water +that they rarely fly. But this pair rose and flew, not away from, but +towards us, passing within fifteen yards. With their long necks stretched +out, feet level with the tail, and plumage apparently painted in broad, +longitudinal stripes, they presented a very singular appearance. + +The East of London owns a crowded wild-fowl sanctuary at Wanstead Park, +which quite a different class of ducks frequent. It is now the property of +the public, and very carefully administered by trustees. The lake there is +very narrow and winding, which causes it to freeze easily. On the other +hand, it is full of long, densely wooded islands, some almost enclosing +pools of water. These islands shelter the birds, and when the lake is +covered with ice the islands are crowded with wild duck and widgeon. +Wanstead is a curious example of the faith of wild-fowl in a sanctuary, +for the lake is so narrow that you could toss a stone among the fowl from +the bank. Suburban houses are close by on all sides but the meadows by the +little river Roding. Yet the fowl come to the lake as confidently as they +do to great sanctuaries like Holkham. As there is a large heronry and +rookery on the trees on the islands, the variety of life there is very +great. The writer saw in weather like that in the second week of February, +1902, about a hundred and fifty wild duck, thirty or forty widgeon, a few +teal, a pochard, and a great number of water-hens. Mallard, teal, +dabchicks, and moorhens breed there regularly, and in hard weather a +number of rarer birds drop in. Snipe are often seen by one of the +shallower ponds, and occasionally such divers as goosanders appear and +give an exhibition of fish-catching. These, like the tufted ducks and +grebes, are entirely self-supporting. The wild duck are pensioners, being +fed artificially, though they are wild birds, or descended from birds +which were wild, just as are the London wood-pigeons. + + + + +THE CARRION CROW + + +Those familiar with the valley of the Thames and with the wild population +both of the riverside and of the adjacent hills, will set down the carrion +crow as the typical resident bird of the whole district. On the London +Thames as high as Teddington it keeps mainly to the line of the river +itself, on the banks of which and on the market gardens and meadows it +finds abundant food, while the elms of large suburban residences give it +both shelter and a safe nesting place. The bird is also commonly mistaken +for a rook, and so shares the privileges of those popular birds. Higher up +the river it swarms all along the Oxfordshire and Berkshire banks where +not killed down by keepers, and a perfect army of them has for years +invaded and been settled in the elm-bordered meadows of the Vale of White +Horse. Thence it has spread on to the downs, where since the gradual +abandonment of cultivation on the highest ground, and the removal of the +scattered population of carters and keepers from a very large area, it now +has matters all its own way. But it always haunted these heights, as the +name "Crow Down," recurring more than once on the Ordnance maps, shows. +The "Crow Down" with which the writer is less acquainted is on the very +high, wild land north of Lambourn. There they have grown so confident that +a nest was found in a thorn bush not ten feet high, at a place called Worm +Hill, a good old Saxon name denoting that snakes abound there. There is no +doubt that the crows kill and eat the young snakes, one having been seen +carrying a snake in its beak recently. + +The habits of the carrion crow are so independent and peculiar, and its +resourcefulness so great, that it is not to be wondered at that it holds +its own well within and around London, while the rook is gradually being +edged out. It is generally regarded as a criminal bird, which it is to +some extent in the spring. From that point of view the following facts may +be cited against the crow. He is keenly on the look-out for all kinds of +eggs about the time that his own nest is building. Consequently he is a +real enemy to pheasants, wild ducks, plovers, moorhens, and other birds +which lay in open places before there is cover. Nothing is more +exasperating than these exploits to people who know where birds are +nesting on their property, and wish to see them hatch safely. A wild +duck's nest in a large copse was found by some persons picking primroses. +In that copse was a crow's nest. The crows found out that the +primrose-pickers had discovered something interesting, and a few hours +later the "Quirk! quirk!" of the crows announced that they were enjoying +life to an unusual degree. It was found that they had removed all seven +eggs from the duck's nest. In an adjacent reclaimed harbour they took the +eggs of ducks, plovers, redshanks, and even larks. In the Vale of White +Horse they seem to take most of the early wild pheasant's eggs, besides +stealing hen's eggs from round the farms. They are particularly fond of +hunting down the sides of streams and canals in the early morning, where +they find three dainties to which they are particularly partial,-- +moorhen's eggs, frogs, and fresh-water mussels. They swallow the frogs +_in situ_, and carry the moorhen's eggs and mussels off to some +adjacent post to eat them comfortably. The shells of both eggs and mussels +litter the ground under these dinner-tables. In Holland they are so +mischievous that little "duck-houses" are made by the side of all the +ornamental canals in private grounds for the ducks to nest in, a +convenience of which they, being sensible birds, avail themselves. These +duck-houses, or laying bowers, are still regularly made by the half-moon +canal at Hampton Court, a survival probably of the days of William of +Orange's Dutch gardeners. + +[Illustration: THE LOBSTER SMACK INN, CANVEY ISLAND. _From a photograph by +R. B. Lodge_.] + +[Illustration: THE STEPPING STONES AT BENFLEET. _From a photograph by R. +B. Lodge_.] + +During the day they are very quiet birds, keeping much to the trees; but +towards evening in March and April, their disagreeable croaking caw may be +heard from all quarters where they are numerous. Just at dusk they become +less wary than in the day. The writer for many years used to organise a +few evening "drives" of the crows to try to thin them down before their +ravenous families were hatched. Several guns used to hide in different +parts of the valley near nests, and on to this "blockhouse line" the crows +were driven. A few were generally shot before they discovered the plot. +Solicitude for the nest seldom leads them into danger, but one pair met +their fate in this way. The first bird came flying to the nest, in which +there were eggs, as soon as a shot was heard in the distance. It was +killed, and hardly had the spark of the flash disappeared when the other +bird dropped down out of the gloom straight on to the eggs, and met the +same fate. Forty young chickens were taken by a pair of crows from a farm +in one spring. It was objected by some young ladies who were "interested" +in the farm that the crows were "such sneaks." They used to come at +luncheon-time up a line of trees extending from the wood to the farm. They +were not in the least afraid of any one with a cart, apparently knowing +that the horse could not be left, but would go straight for the chicken +yard. A pair of sparrow-hawks near would seize a chicken now and then, but +in a bold way as if they had a right to them. A few crows contrive to nest +in Kensington Gardens. In the early mornings they always hunt the west +banks of the Long Water, and are credited with taking a good many ducks' +eggs, as well as ducklings. + +Crows make one of the best nests constructed by the larger English birds. +Usually it is placed, not out on the small branches, where rooks prefer to +build them, but on the fork made by a large bough starting from the main +trunk. This aids in concealment, and is a protection against shot, though +probably the birds do not reckon on this contingency. The bottom of the +nest is made of large, dead sticks. Upon and between these smaller twigs, +often torn off green from willow-and elm-trees, or stolen from faggots of +recent cutting, are laid and woven. Then a fine deep basin is made, woven +of roots, grass, and some wiry stalk like esparto, the secret of where to +find which seems a special possession of crows, and on this often a lining +of bits of sheep's wool and cow's hair. There are sometimes as many as six +eggs, and rarely less than four. They are quite beautiful objects, of a +bright blue-green marked variously, but in a very decorative way, with +blotches and smears of olive and blackish-brown. Two or three clutches of +these eggs, with some of the splendid purple-red kestrels' eggs, and +sparrow-hawks of bluish white, blotched with rich chestnut, make a very +handsome show after a day's bird-nesting on the hills. The first eggs are +laid very early, sometimes by the second week in April. A nest recently +analysed consisted mainly of green ash taken from faggots and cuttings in +the wood. One piece was a yard long, and as thick at the base as the +little finger. The nest was _felted_ with cow's hair, and quite +impenetrable to shot. These nests last for years, and often have a series +of tenants, kestrels, squirrels, brown owls, or hobbies. If the first nest +is destroyed, the crow makes another. In his conjugal relations the +carrion crow is a model bird. He pairs for life, and is inseparable from +his mate. If one croaks, the other answers instantly, but usually they +keep within sight of one another all day. In the evening the pair, seldom +more than a few yards apart, may be seen hunting diligently in the meadows +for slugs, which, so long as the weather is not too dry, form the regular +supper of the birds. + +A remarkable instance of the crow's courage in defence of its mate +occurred some years ago on Salisbury Plain when a party were out +rook-hawking. A falcon was flown at one of a pair of crows on favourable, +open ground. The two birds mounted in the usual spiral until the falcon +stooped, bound to the crow, and the pair came to the ground together. Just +as the horseman rode in to take up the hawk the other crow descended +straight upon the falcon, knocked her off its prostrate mate, and the two +flew off together to cover before the falcon had realised whence the onset +came. This crow not only showed great courage in facing both the falcon +and the sportsman, but timed its interference with the greatest judgment +and precision. + +Probably a tame crow would make an amusing pet. Its intelligence must be +very considerable, though the shape of its head does not so clearly +indicate brain as does that of a raven. Among the crows which haunt the +banks of the London river there are some highly educated pairs. One has +maintained itself on the reach opposite Ham House for thirteen years, if +the evidence used to identify them is reliable. These birds were noticed +at that distance of time ago to have learnt to pick up food floating on +the water. To see a big black crow hovering like a gull, and picking up +bread from the bosom of the Thames, is so unusual that it always excites +remark, and the writer was informed only last summer that these Ham House +crows were seen doing this constantly. Not many years ago a crow nested in +a plane-tree in St. Paul's Churchyard, and a pair also reside on the +island in Battersea Park. But the great headquarters of London crows are +the grounds of Ranelagh, and the reservoirs and market gardens of Barnes +and Chiswick. They flock to the manure heaps in the latter, where the +gulls now join them, and several pairs spend all day nearly all the year +round on the reservoir banks at Barnes, and on Chiswick Eyot. The Eyot +crows seems to find a good living there, and never leave it till their +young, which are annually hatched in a tree at some distance on the +Middlesex side, can fly. But the crows haunting the great Barnes +reservoirs, where the tufted ducks now assemble in winter, are a bad lot. +Last winter they were seen to single out and attack any gull separated +from the flock which usually came there to roost. A sick or wounded gull +was soon caught, killed, and eaten, the small black-headed gulls being no +match for the crows. It was characteristic of their cunning that by the +river itself they did not molest the gulls. + +[Illustration: HAULING THE NETS FOR WHITEBAIT. _From photographs by R. +B. Lodge_.] + + + + +LONDON'S BURIED ELEPHANTS + + +The amount of river gravel left in the part of the Thames Valley on which +West London is built is extraordinary. It is all round, and mostly red, +and as there are no rocks like the stone which makes up most of this +gravel anywhere in the modern valley, it is puzzling to know where it came +from. I went to see the digging of the foundations of the new South +Kensington Museum, and the great excavation, which was like the ditch of a +fortress, and the stuff thrown out, which was like the rampart, was all +dug in, or made of, river gravel. In this the men had found, lying +higgledy-piggledy, with no two bones "belonging," quantities of bones of +the beasts which used to graze on what I suppose was the Kensington +"veldt," or perhaps flats by the riverside, during the time when the +river's drift and brick earth was being deposited. The Clerk of the Works +was much interested in these discoveries, and had caused them to be +carefully collected. These were bones of the great stags then common, of +the elephant, and of the primaeval horse, creatures which lived here +before the Channel was cut between England and France, though not, +perhaps, before man had appeared in what is now the Thames Valley, for +flint implements are often found with the bones. Dr. Woodward, to whom +some of the remains were taken, said that they reminded him of the great +discovery of similar remains in the brick earth at Ilford, in Essex, +thirty-seven years ago, when he personally saw, dug from the brickfields +of that almost suburban parish, the head and tusks of one of the largest +mammoth elephants in the world. These river-gravel and brick-earth buried +bones are rather earlier than those found in the peat and marl. The latter +belonged to creatures which, though they no longer exist in England, are +still found in temperate Europe--beavers, bears, bison, and wolves. But +the Thames gravel and the London clay are in places full of the bones of +another, and earlier, though by no means primaeval, generation of mammals, +some of which are extinct, while others are found at great distances from +this country, in remote parts of the earth. Judging from the places where +they are found and from the position of the bones, large animals must have +swarmed all over what is now London, just as they do on the Athi plains +and near the rivers and forests through which the Uganda Railway runs. + +There was the same astonishing mixture of species, a mixture which puzzles +inquirers rather more than it need. Hippopotamus bones are found in great +numbers, and with the hippopotamus remains those of creatures like the +reindeer and the musk ox, now found only on the Arctic fringe and frozen +rim of the North, which lived on the same area and with them the Arctic +fox. Judging from the great range of climate which most northern animals +can endure, there is no reason to think this juxtaposition of a creature +only found in warm rivers and of what are now Arctic animals is very +strange. The London "hippo" was just the same, to judge from his bones, as +that of the Nile or Congo. But the reindeer of North America, under the +name of the woodland cariboo, comes down far south, and in the Arctic +summer that of Europe endures a very high temperature. The Arctic fox does +the same. If there were Arctic animals in Kensington and Westminster, that +is no evidence that they lived in an Arctic climate. Looking over the list +of bones, skulls, teeth, and tusks found, it is interesting to try to +reconstruct mentally the fauna of greater London just previous to the +coming of man. There were, to begin with, some African animals, either the +same as are found on the Central African plains, and were found on the +veldt of South Africa, or of the same families. The present condition of +the country between Mount Kilimanjaro and the Victoria Nyanza shows quite +as great a mixture of species. There, for instance, are all the big +antelopes, rhinoceroses, zebras, lions, elephants, hyaenas, and wild dogs, +and though there are glaciers on Kilimanjaro and the great mountains near +the central valleys, the river running out of the Great Rift Valley is +full of crocodiles and hippopotami. There is heather and, higher up, also +ice and snow on the mountains, from whose tops the waters come that feed +these crocodile-haunted streams. So on the London "veldt" there were +lions, wild horses (perhaps striped like zebras), three kinds of +rhinoceroses--two of which were just like the common black rhinoceros of +Africa, though one had a woolly coat--elephants, hyaenas, hippopotami, and +that most typical African animal the Cape wild dog! All these, except the +elephants and hippos, can stand some degree of cold; and there is not the +slightest reason why the two last may not have flourished in some deep +river valley, very many degrees hotter than the hills above. To take an +instance still remaining nearer to Europe than the Great Rift Valley. The +Jordan Valley is very deep and very hot. Many species of birds are there +found which are resident in India, and not anywhere nearer. It is a kind +of hot slice of India embedded in the Palestine hills. The very large deer +and immense bison and wild oxen probably fed on the same low veldt as the +African animals. The bison were the same as those found in Lithuania, but +far larger. Numbers of the skulls, of quite gigantic size, have been found +in the brick earth. In the British Museum there is a tooth of the mammoth +found in 1731, at a depth of 28 feet below the surface, in digging a sewer +in Pall Mall. This Pall Mall mammoth might well figure in Mr. E. T. Reed's +prehistoric series in _Punch_. Another tooth was found in Gray's Inn +Lane. The mammoth was evidently not confined to the present region of +clubland. + +Besides these European and African groups of animals, a third class ranged +the London plains, probably at a greater height and in a still colder +temperature than the large grass-eating mammals mentioned. These +creatures, whose bones are found plentifully in the drift, are now living +in a country even more specialised than the African veldt. They are the +creatures of the Tartar steppes and the cold plains of Central Asia. Their +names are the suslik (a Central Asian prairie dog), the pika, a little +steppe hare, and an extremely odd antelope, now found in Thibet. This is a +singularly ugly beast with a high Roman nose, and wool almost as thick as +that of a sheep when the winter coat is on. It must have been quite common +in those parts, for I have had the cores of two of their horns brought to +me during the last few years. + +These dry bones are not made so astonishingly interesting by their setting +in the gravel as are some far more ancient remains in England. The gravel +is a mere rubbish-bed, like a sea-beach, in which all things have lost +their connection. I was recently shown a set of fossils far more ancient, +possibly not less than 2,000,000 years old, which were all found and may +be seen exactly as they lay and lived when they were on the bottom of a +prehistoric river which flowed through Hampshire, across what is now the +Channel, over South France, and then fell into the Mediterranean. This +river crosses the Channel at Hordwell cliffs on the Solent. There is the +whole section, of a great stream two miles wide, with the gravel at its +edges, the sediment and sand a little lower down the sides, and the mud at +the bottom. On each lie its appropriate shells. Some are like those in the +Thames to-day, but many more like those of a river in Borneo. They are so +thick that out of a single ounce of the mud 150 little shells were +obtained. In this, too, were found the tooth of a crocodile and the bones +of a spiny pike, and in other masses of clay the very reeds and bits of +the trees that grew there. These sedges of the primitive ages were quite +charming. Even some of their colour was preserved, and all their delicate +fluting and fibre, in the fine clay. One of the branches of a tree, now +turned to lignite, had possessed a thick pith. This pith had decayed, and +water had trickled down the hollow like a pipe. The water was full of iron +pyrites, and had first lined the tube with iron crystals and then filled +up the whole hollow with a frosted network of the same. There is a +striking contrast between the presence and realism of these once living +things still preserving the outer forms of life and the vast and +inconceivable distances of "geological time." + + + + +SWANS, BLACK AND WHITE + + +A few pairs of black swans have been placed upon the river. Some of these +rear broods of young ones, and appear to be quite acclimatised. The black +swan was known to the traders of our own East India Company nearly a +century before Captain Cook and Sir Joseph Banks discovered Botany Bay. +The first notice of it appears in a letter, written about the year 1698, +by a Mr. Watson to Dr. M. Lister, in which he says, "Here is returned a +ship which by our East India Company was sent to the South Land, called +Hollandia Nova," and adds that black swans, parrots, and many sea-cows +were found there. In 1726, two were brought alive to Batavia, which were +caught on the West Coast of Australia, near Hartop Bay, but no good +account of their habits was ever written till Gould put together the facts +he had seen and learnt on the spot. + +The habits in their native land of birds which we only see acclimatised +and domesticated, sometimes give a clue to what can be done to domesticate +other breeds. This swan is only found in Australia, and only locally +there, in the south and west. There it takes the place occupied by the +Brent goose in our northern latitude, both as a water bird and as a source +of food to the natives. "Wherever there are rivers, estuaries of the sea, +lagoons, and pools of water of any extent the bird is generally +distributed," says Gould. "Sometimes it occurs in such numbers that flocks +of many hundreds can be seen together, particularly on those arms of the +sea which, after passing the beachline of the coast, expand into great +sheets of shallow water, on which the birds are seldom disturbed either by +the force of boisterous winds or the intrusion of the natives. In the +white man, however, the black swan finds an enemy so deadly, that in many +parts where it was formerly quite numerous it has been almost, if not +entirely, extirpated. + +"This has been particularly the case on some of the larger rivers of +Tasmania, but on the salt lagoons and inlets of D'Entrecasteaux's channel, +the little-frequented bays of the southern and western shores of that +island and the entrance to Melbourne Harbour at Port Phillip, it is still +numerous." This was written in 1865, when to voyagers to the new continent +the black swans of Melbourne Harbour were sometimes a first and striking +reminder that they had reached a new world. One of the most deadly means +of killing off the black swans was to chase them in boats, and either to +net or club them, when they had shed all their flight feathers. This is +what Mr. Trevor Battye saw the Samoyeds doing to the Brent geese on +Kolguev Island. Thousands were driven into a kind of kraal, and killed for +winter food. Next to the pelagic sealer, the whalers and ordinary +seal-hunters are the worst scourges of the animal world. They killed off, +for instance, every single one of the Antarctic right whales, and nearly +all the Cape and Antarctic fur seals. But it is not generally known that +they succeeded in almost killing off the black swans in some districts. +They caught and killed them in boatloads, not for the flesh, but to take +the swans' down. Black swans have white wings, though as they are nearly +always pinioned here, a stupid habit which our people have learnt from the +ancient and time-honoured brutality of "swan upping," we never see them +flying. They are then very beautiful objects, with their plumage of ebon +and ivory. + +In Australia they begin to lay in October, and the young are hatched and +growing in January. They are very prolific birds, laying from five to +eight light-green eggs with brownish buff markings. Some years ago a +splendid brood of six jolly little nigger cygnets were hatched out by the +black swans at Kew. But the most successful breeder of black swans in this +country was Mr. Samuel Gurney, who began his stock with a pair on the +river Wandle, at Carshalton. He bought them in Leadenhall Market, in 1851. +They did not breed till three years later, and laid their first egg on +January 1st. + +This is very interesting, because it shows that so far these birds were +not acclimatised, but kept more or less to the seasons of reproduction +proper to their native land. They were laying in what is the Australian +summer and our mid-winter. It was a most severe winter, and the young ones +were hatched out in a severe frost, which had lasted all the time that the +birds were sitting in the open. The cygnets lived--it is not stated how +many there were--and later on, the parents continued to breed, till in +1862, eight years after, they had hatched ninety-three young ones, and +reared about half the number. The most extraordinary thing about the +original pair was that they seem to have taken on both our seasons and +their own, laying both in our spring and in the Australian spring, and so +hatching two broods a year. They bred sixteen times in seven years--or +probably seven and a half--and in that time laid one hundred and eleven +eggs. The interest of this story is very considerable, because it shows +the imperfect and exhausting efforts which Nature causes animals to make +to adapt their breeding time to a new climate. Black swans which are +descended from young birds bred in this country conform to the ordinary +nesting-time of our hemisphere. + +[Illustration: FISHING BOATS AT LEIGH. _From photographs by R. B. +Lodge._] + +I notice that among the white swans on the Thames the cock-bird will fight +to preserve his lady from intrusion, but he never thinks of taking her any +breakfast, or of bringing her food of any kind, even though he may be fed +most liberally himself. His only idea of helping her actively is by +minding house while she goes off to feed and also while she is making her +toilet. Not long ago, a swan who had a nest by the Thames so far forgot +his mate as to fall in love with a young lady, whom he constantly tried to +persuade to come and join him on the river. She was in the habit of +feeding both swans every day, but as the lady swan was on the nest for the +greater part of the time, the cock swan came in for most of the attention. +In time he became tame enough to feed from her hand, and would come out on +to the bank; but he preferred to sit on the water and to be fed from a +boat-raft. After being fed he wanted to see more of his friend, but could +not understand why she preferred stopping on such an uncomfortable place +as the land when all she need do to enjoy his society, and to be happier +herself, was to step down into the water. He would swim away slowly, +looking over his shoulder to see if she was coming. As she usually wore a +white dress, there is very little doubt that the swan thought she only +wanted a few feathers to be quite a presentable swan, and suited for life +on the river. When he found that she did not follow, he would return, and +stretching out his neck would take hold of her dress and pull her towards +the water, not in anger, but with a kind and pressing insistence, as +showing her what was best. This he did usually when he had finished the +food she brought, and when she left the bank would swim up and down, +waiting to see if she were coming back. + +The time-honoured brutality of swan-upping is now mitigated by law, its +cruelty being obvious. It would be far better to leave them the use of +their wings, which would enable them to seek food at a distance in winter, +and to escape the ice, which sometimes breaks their legs. Several of these +flightless swans were starved to death in 1902. + + + + +CANVEY ISLAND + + +Down near Thames mouth is the curious reclamation from the river mud known +as Canvey Island. It is separated from the land by a "fleet," in which the +Danes are recorded to have laid up their ships in the early period of +their invasions, and the village opposite on the mainland is called +Benfleet. Though on the river, it is a half-marine place, with the typical +sea-plants growing on the saltings by the shore. In summer I noticed that +the graves below the grey sea-eaten, storm-furrowed walls of the church +have wreaths of sea-lavender laid upon them. But there is not the same +rich carpet of sea-flowers as at Wells or Blakeney. Nor is the deposit so +rich, so soft, so ready to be covered with smiling meadows as those of +North Norfolk, built up from the mud-clouds of the Fen. Canvey Island +itself is a heavy, indurated soil in parts, now well established, and +producing fine crops. But is it the kind of ground which would pay a fair +return on the cost of "inning it" to-day? The wheat is good, the straw +long, and the ears full. The oats are less good, perhaps because the soil +is too heavy. The beans are strong and healthy; clover, which does not +mind a salty soil, thrives there; and there are strong crops of mangold. +But it is not like the Fenland; it cracks under the sun, "pans" upon the +surface, and is not adapted for inexpensive or for intensive cultivation. +Such was the writer's impression from a careful view of the farms in the +middle of harvest. But as a fact in the history of English agriculture, +and in its relation to the past story of the Thames mouth, and its +possibilities as a future health resort, this work of the enterprising +Dutchmen in the beginning of the seventeenth century is full of interest. +In 1622 Sir Henry Appleton, the owner of the marsh, agreed to give +one-third of it to Joas Croppenburg, a Dutchman skilled in the making of +dikes, if he "inned" the marsh. This the Dutchman did off hand, and +enclosed six thousand acres by a wall twenty miles round. Like many parts +of the Fens, the island was peopled for a time by Dutchmen engaged on the +works, and Croppenburg is said to have built there a church. Two small +Dutch cottages remain, built in 1621. The general aspect of the island is +like that part of Holland near the mouth of the "old" Rhine, but less +closely cultivated and cared for. + +[Illustration: THE LOBSTER SMACK INN, CANVEY ISLAND. _From a photograph by +R. B. Lodge_.] + +[Illustration: THE STEPPING STONES AT BENFLEET. _From a photograph by R. +B. Lodge_.] + +It has always been a separate region. Never yet has it entered the heads +of its proprietors to join it permanently to the mainland. For three +centuries its visitors and people have driven or walked over a tide-washed +causeway at low water, or ferried over at high tide. You do so still, in a +scrubbed and salty boat, while an ancient road-mender is occupied in the +oddest of all forms of road maintenance. He stirs and swirls the mud as +the tide goes down, to wash it out of the hollow way, otherwise it would +be turned into warp-land every day, and become impassable. The Dutchmen's +roads are sound and straight enough on the island. Outside the wall the +samphire and orach beds are wholly marine. Inside the dikes and ditches +are filled with a purely sweet-water vegetation. Further seawards, or +rather riverwards, at a place called "Sluis," they are fringed with wild +rose and wild plum, and the ditches are deep in rushes, in willow herb, in +purple nightshade, water-mint, and reeds. + +Camden gives a curious account of the island in his day. It was constantly +almost submerged. The people lived by keeping sheep on it. There were four +thousand of a very excellent flavour. Evidently this was the origin of +_pré-salé_ mutton in England. Camden saw them milking their sheep, +from which they made ewe-milk cheeses. When the floods rose the sheep used +to be driven on to low mounds which studded the central parts of the +marsh, and these mounds are there still. Some are covered with wild-plum +bushes. One, in the centre of the island, is the site of the village of +Canvey; and on one, at the time of the writer's last visit, two fine old +Essex rams were sleeping in the sun. There was no flood; the island had +not known even a partial one for some years. But true to the instincts of +their race, they had occupied the highest ground, though it was only a few +feet above the levels. There are few land-birds on Canvey Island, because +there are few trees. Some greenfinches, a whinchat or two, almost no +pipits or larks, and very few sparrows. The shore-birds are numerous and +increasing, for the Essex County Council strictly protect all the eggs and +birds during the breeding season. Enormous areas of breeding ground are +now protected in the wide fringe of private fresh-water marshes of this +river-intersected shore. Plovers, redshanks, terns, ducks, especially the +wild mallards, are increasing. So are the black-headed gulls; even the +oyster-catchers are returning. After nesting the birds lead their young to +the southern point of Canvey Island. It is too near the growing and +popular Southend for the birds to be other than shy. But as they are not +allowed to be shot till the middle of August, they are able to take care +of themselves. At the flow of the tide, before the shooting begins, the +visitor who makes his way to this distant and unpeopled promontory sees +the birds in thousands. Out at sea the ducks were this year as numerous as +in the old days before breechloaders and railways. Stints and ringed +plover, golden plover and redshanks were flitting everywhere from island +to island on the mud and ooze; curlews were floating and flapping over the +"fleets"; and all were in security. As the tide flowed, they crowded on to +the highest and last-covered islets, whence, as the inexorable tide again +rose, they took wing and flew swiftly to the Essex shore. The Sluis, +looking across to the Kentish shore, is the home of the seagulls. Many +quaint ships lie anchored there--Dutch eel-boats, which call for +refreshment after selling the cargo; barges; hoys from the Medway bound to +Harwich; and fishing-smacks and timber-brigs. Round these the seagulls +float, as tame almost as London pigeons. They prefer company, at least the +lesser gulls do; the big herring gulls and black-backed gulls keep aloof. + +[Illustration: HAULING THE NETS FOR WHITEBAIT. _From photographs by R. +B. Lodge_.] + +The hope of reclaiming land from the waves exercises a peculiar +fascination over most minds. It presents itself in more than one form as a +most desirable activity. It is something like creation--a form of making +earth from sea. The clothing of the fringe of ocean's bed with herbage, +the reaping of a harvest where rolled the tide, the barring out of the +dominant sea, the vision, not altogether illusive, of planting industrious +and deserving men on the ground so won, all these are alluring ideas. The +undertaker, to use the word in vogue in the Stuart days when such +enterprises were in high favour, always leaves a name among posterity, +generally an honoured name, and in nearly every case one associated with +courage, perseverance, and in some measure with benevolence. The +picturesque and sentimental side will always remain to the credit of the +reclaimers of the waste of Neptune's manor. But if the balance of +profitable expenditure, or of good done to others, is weighed between +winning land from the sea and expenditure in improving the cultivation of +land already accessible, the award should probably be given to the latter. +Intensive cultivation and the improvement of the millions of acres which +we now possess is a more thankworthy task, demands more brains, and should +give greater results than the gaining of a few thousands of acres now +covered by water. This conclusion is not the one which any lover of +enterprise or of picturesque endeavour would prefer. It is a pity that it +is so. Perhaps in days to come when wheat is once more precious the sea +wastes may once more be worth recovery. But even so they are not desirable +spots on which to plant a population. They are by natural causes on the +way to nowhere, and out of communication with the towns and villages. +Brading Harbour, in the Isle of Wight, is an exception, for it ran up +inland. Lord Leicester's marshes at Holkham are narrow though long, and, +while splendidly fertile, are all well within reach of the farms and +villages. But to scatter farms and labourers' cottages on the dreary flats +of a place like Canvey Island is not likely to appeal to the wishes of +modern agriculturists, who feel the dulness of rural life acutely already. +The growth of the Jewish colonies not far off on the mainland, where poor +Hebrews continually reinforce a community devoted to field and garden +labour and content to begin by earning the barest living, seems to +indicate that a population from the poorest urban class might be found for +reclaimed land. But the industrious town artisans of English blood have +not yet found life so intolerable as to be ready to try the experiment. + + + + +THE LONDON THAMES AS A WATERWAY + + +Mary Boyle, in "Her Book," speaking of the time when her father had an +appointment at the Navy Board and a residence in Somerset House, says, "It +was our great delight to go by water on Sunday afternoon to Westminster +Abbey, and there is no doubt we occasionally cut a grand figure on the +river; for when my father went out he had a splendid barge, rowed by +boatmen clad entirely in scarlet, with black jockey caps, such as in those +picturesque old days formed part of that beautiful river procession in +honour of the Lord Mayor, on the 9th of November, over the disappearance +of which pageant I have often mourned." + +It was not until the early days of the present reign that neglect and dirt +spoiled our river as an almost Royal waterway; and we believe that as late +as the days of Archbishop Tait the Primate's State barge used to convey +him from Lambeth Palace to the House of Lords opposite. State barges and +river processions were the standing examples of State pageantry, +thoroughly popular and remembered by the intensely conservative people of +London; and it is a tribute to the feeling that the use of the river was a +necessary part of London life, that the Lord Mayor and his suite on the +9th of November used to take boat at Blackfriars Bridge, and went thence +by water to Westminster Hall, returning in their State barges to the +bridge, where their coaches were waiting for them. We may credit the +founders of the earliest illustrated paper with a knowledge of the popular +sentiment of the day. When the _Illustrated London News_ was +established the title-page of that paper showed the Thames, with the +procession of State barges in the foreground, and the then new and popular +river steamers passing by them. + +In addition to cleanliness something in the form of a restoration of old +conditions of water-level and other improvements by modern engineering +will also be required if the river is to become a popular waterway. Among +the main drawbacks to its present use is the great difference in level +between high and low water. The old London Bridge, with its multiplied +arches and pillars, acted as a lock. It admitted the flood tide more +easily than it released the ebb. The consequence was that when the tide +began to fall the waters above were pent in by the bridge, and the river +was kept at a level of three feet higher than it was below the +obstruction. Even now at flood tide it is a splendid and imposing river. +But the very improvements which add to its dignity when the tide is +flowing, have caused it to remain almost waterless for a longer period +during each day. The dredging and deepening of the channel forces the +waterway to contract its flow, while the embanking of its sides enables +the tide to slip down at great speed. For four hours in each tide the +Thames is not so much a river as a half-empty conduit. It is not in the +least probable that this will be allowed to continue. The success of the +half-tide lock at Richmond has been beyond all expectation. It has secured +a perpetual river, whether on the ebb or flow, with a mean level suited +for boating and traffic at all hours. A scheme for another lock of the +same kind at Wandsworth is now accepted in principle and nearly completed +in detail. When this is built the long stretch of river from Wandsworth, +past Putney, Ranelagh, Hammersmith, Barnes, and Kew, will retain a +permanent and constant supply, augmented at the flood tide, but never +falling below a certain level at the ebb. Then must follow the final and +complete measure for making the London river the greatest natural amenity +in the Metropolis, a half-tide lock at London Bridge, to hold up the water +opposite the historic and magnificent frontage of St. Paul's, the Temple, +Westminster and Lambeth, and upwards to above the embankments at Chelsea. +The result would be an immense fresh-water lake, with an ebb and flow to +keep it sweet and pure, but remaining for the greater part of the +twenty-four hours at a fixed level, and during this period of rest only +moved by a very gentle downward stream, or else practically still when the +water sank level with the sills of the lock. This would make it not only +easy for boats propelled by steam, sail, or oars to move on it at all +hours, without hindrance from the present strong up or down currents, but +also absolutely safe. Any craft, from the outrigger and Canada canoe, to +the improved river steamers which would at once be launched upon its +waters, could float with ease and safety on the London Thames. + +The scene in the near future can be imagined from the analogy of Henley, +though the larger scale of the London river makes the forecast more +difficult to bring into proportion. The intentionally decorative side, +given on the upper river by the houseboats, will doubtless be supplied by +a new service of public or municipal passenger steamers, able to ply +continuously at all hours, independently of the tide, as fast as safety +permits, and absolutely punctual because the stream will be under control. +These should be as brilliantly carved, gilded, coloured, and furnished as +possible, surplus profits only going to the municipal coffers after the +boats have been repaired yearly and thoroughly redecorated. The scheme is +not in the least visionary. The Chairman of one of the tramway companies +obtained recently complete estimates for a fast, luxurious, and beautiful +service of Thames passenger boats, which he was convinced would pay even +now; and though he did not succeed in inducing the shareholders to accept +the idea of this alternative investment, there is no doubt that on the +improved river the improved steamers would pay. A simultaneous and +necessary addition would be the building of numerous broad, accessible, +and beautiful stairs and landing places. Instead of the narrow gangway +through which files of passengers slowly creep there must be long +platforms, on to which the crowds on board the vessels step, as from a +train, all along the length of the ships, so that the touch and departure +may be rapid. The decline of traffic on the river is largely due to the +narrowness and fewness of these points of access, which were gradually +closed as the river was deserted for the road, while their blocking or +neglect discouraged efforts to improve or multiply boats and steamers. + +In 1543 there were twelve large and handsome flights of stairs down to the +river between Blackfriars and Westminster. In 1600, besides these there +were public and private gateways of large size, covered docks for State +and private barges, and every convenience for access to the water. There +were stairs and stages at Essex House, Arundel House, Somerset House, York +House (the water-gate of which still remains, with a frontage of +embankment and garden between it and the river of to-day), Bedford House, +Durham House, Whitehall, and Westminster. The latter were "the King's +Stairs." There are few constructions which lend themselves better to +architectural treatment than water-gates and stairways. They would become +one of the features of the Embankment. On the river itself the City +Companies would once more launch their State barges, and the Houses of +Parliament would have a flotilla of decorative steam or electric launches. +Permanent moorings, now difficult to maintain near the bank on account of +the runaway tide, would hold boats, launches, and single-handed sailing +yachts. No one will grudge the County Council a State barge; while the new +municipalities which border on the river--Westminster, Southwark, Fulham, +Kensington, and the rest--will endeavour to interest their members in the +great waterway by following the example of the Thames Conservancy and +sending their representatives for official voyages to survey its banks and +note suggestions for improvements in their actual setting and +surroundings. No doubt in winter all the minor pleasure traffic would +cease. But there is no reason whatever why a service of ornamental and +well-equipped screw steamers plying at very short intervals, and with +absolute punctuality, should not continue all the winter through. They +would be entirely unlike the "penny boat." Double-storied deckhouses, +glazed and warmed, would afford the passengers more room, purer air, and a +more rapid means of transport than the omnibus, and a far more agreeable +mode of crossing from one side of the river to the other than by railway +bridges, tunnels, or the architecturally beautiful, but crowded, stone +bridges used for ordinary traffic. + + + + +THE THAMES AS A NATIONAL TRUST + + +A movement is on foot among various societies interested in the +preservation of outdoor England to take measures jointly for the +protection of the beauties of the Thames. The subject is one which +attracts more interest yearly, and the time has now come when the nation +should make up its mind on the subject of such splendid properties as it +possesses in "real estate" like the Thames and the New Forest, with +especial regard to their value for beauty and enjoyment. It would be +unfair to expect too much from the Thames Conservancy in this direction. +That body exists to maintain the navigation of the river, and to see that +no impediments are put in the way of its use as a waterway. Its duties +are, in the first instance, those of a Highway Board, which deals with a +river instead of a road. It has to buoy wrecks, and see that they are +raised. It controls the speed of steamers and launches, not, in the first +place, because they are a nuisance to pleasure boats, but because the +"wash" destroys the banks, and this costs money to repair. It arranges for +the dredging of shallows in the fairway, for the embankment of the shores, +and for the repair and maintenance of the locks. Its business is to do +this as cheaply as is consistent with efficiency, and to lay no +unavoidable burden on the trade of the river. The preservation of its +amenities is not, strictly speaking, the object for which the Conservancy +exists. Yet it has done much in this direction, by obtaining from time to +time powers not originally in its jurisdiction. It may be said to be on +its way to become a guardian of the amenities of the river, though these, +which are fast becoming far more important than its use as a means of +traffic, were at first only accidentally objects of solicitude to the +Conservators, and such attention as is by them devoted to this end is +mainly confined to the Upper Thames, and not to the London river. +Legislation to preserve natural beauty, or prevent disfigurement, has +practically only been possible in recent years, and the wish to do so, +though shared by most classes, is not yet so pronounced as it ought to be. +What the Conservancy has been able to do, under these circumstances, has +been done, partly on grounds of health, which are recognised in +Legislation, and partly to preserve the fishery. It has endeavoured to +keep the river from the most disgusting forms of pollution, and lately +from being made the receptacle for minor but objectionable refuse. It has +certainly prevented the Upper Thames being made into a sewer, and also +stopped pollution by paper mills and factories. London's need of pure +drinking water has given immense assistance to the forces which were +working to keep our rivers clean. All the tributaries of the Thames are +now under surveillance, and no village or little country town may use them +to pour sewage into. Country villagers may grumble at being forced to keep +water clean for Londoners to drink. But this Act has done more to preserve +the amenities of the countryside than any other of this generation. It is +so far-reaching, and so frankly expresses the principle of placing public +rights in the "natural commodity" of pure water in our rivers before +private convenience in saving expense, that it is a hopeful sign of the +times. While the existence of this extensive control is a guarantee for +the increasing pureness of the Upper Thames, it is also a precedent for +regulating and increasing the supervision of this national property in the +most beautiful, the largest, and the most pleasant highway in our country, +whose very pavement is a means of delight to the eye, of pleasure to the +touch, and of refreshment to all the senses. The minor regulations for its +maintenance are still more encouraging, for some of these aim directly at +preserving beauty, or objects of natural interest, for their own sake. The +oldest are those which protect the fishery. There is one close-time for +the coarse fish, another for the trout, and a limit of size to the meshes +of the nets which may be used. Such minor disfigurements as the throwing +of ashes from steam-launches into the water or of kitchen _débris_ +from houseboats are forbidden. Recently the Conservators have taken powers +more frankly directed to the preservation of natural beauty, though even +in these cases what may be called direct "taste legislation" has not been +exercised. They have not asked for leave to say definitely: "This or that +object is hideous or disfiguring, and cannot be allowed by the side of our +national highway." But they have said, "This or that object which grows on +or lives by the side of our river-road is beautiful, and gives pleasure to +the public, and therefore it shall not be destroyed." The result has been +that the birds on the river and its banks may no longer be shot, and +certain flowers are not permitted to be plucked. The Conservancy is also +able indirectly to exercise some control over riverside building +operations, and very recently compelled an alteration of design in the use +of a building site on a reach of the Upper Thames. + +[Illustration: FISHING BOATS AT LEIGH. _From photographs by R. B. Lodge_.] + +It may be asked why, if so much has already been done, we should not rest +contented with the present control of the river, trusting that a gradual +increase of powers will be granted to the Conservancy, so that little by +little they may be able to meet all requirements for the preservation of +the Thames as our national river, just as the New Forest is preserved on +the grounds that it was "of unique beauty and historic interest." + +The answer is that, in the first place, this is not the proper business of +the Conservancy, but only an incidental duty; and, in the next, that with +the best of goodwill, as is shown by what they have done, the Conservators +have only been able to mitigate, not to control, a vast amount of +disfigurement and abuse of the river in the past. They were not created +_ad hoc_, and the body has not the position which would enable them +to take a strong line, or powers for expenditure on purely +non-remunerative business, such as might be necessary if a millowner had +to be bought out if about to sell his property for conversion into a +gasworks, like the factory of the Brentford Gas Company just opposite the +palace at Kew, or the foul soapworks which for years disfigured the banks +and polluted the air at Barnes. They have not the funds to maintain a +proper police to stop the minor pollution of the river, or to scavenge it +properly, and anywhere below Kew Bridge they are entirely unable to cope +with bankside disfigurements. Else we cannot believe that for years the +bank opposite the terrace at Barnes and the villas above it would have +been given up to the shooting of dustbin refuse for hundreds of yards, or +that Chiswick and Richmond would have been permitted to pour "sewage +effluent" into what are still two of the finest reaches on the London +river, or that we should see advertisements of "A Site on the River-- +Suitable for a Nuisance Trade," advertised, as was recently done, in a +daily paper. If the London public, for instance, will only make up its +mind in time that the Thames is something really necessary to its +enjoyment of life; that it is the most beautiful natural area which they +can easily reach; that on it may be had the freshest air, the best +exercise, good sport (if the fishery were replenished and the water kept +clean), and constant rest and refreshment for mind and body--it would no +doubt succeed in inducing Parliament to put the river under a strong +Commission with an adequate endowment. But the preservation of the Thames +is more than a local, or even a London, question. It is a national +property and of national importance, and should be managed from this point +of view. Mr. Richardson Evans has made out a good case for national +_property_ in scenery generally. But here the case is stronger, +because the river _is_ a national property already, and anything +which decreases its amenities for private ends damages the property. Like +very much other real estate, its value depends now not on its return to +the nation as a highway (above London, that is), but purely as a "pleasure +estate." Supposing any private owner to be in possession of a beautiful +stretch of river, is it conceivable that, if he could, he would not get a +law passed to prevent gasworks, or hideous advertisements, or rowdy +steamers, or stinking dust-heaps, or sewage works from spoiling any part +of it? Would he let people throw in dead cats and dogs, or set up +cocoa-nut shies on the banks?--all of which things have been done, and are +done, between Syon House and Putney Bridge, on the way by river from +London itself to London's fairest suburbs, Richmond and Twickenham. Or +would he allow himself to be shut off from access to his own river, or +forbidden to walk along the path by its side, supposing that one existed? +Yet the public, whose rights of way on the Thames are as good as those of +any private owner on his own waters, either suffer these things to go by +default, or at most permit and only faintly encourage a body which was not +created to care for this purpose, to undertake it because there is no +other authority to do so. It is no use to leave these things to the local +authority, however competent. There is always the danger that local +authorities--even those representing interests normally opposed to each +other--may agree to press local interests at the expense of the public. +What is needed is that both the New Forest and the Thames shall be created +national Trusts. Both are as valuable, as unique, and as important as the +British Museum, and should be controlled by trustees of such standing and +position that their decision on matters of taste and expediency in +managing and maintaining the natural amenities of the national forest and +the national stream would be beyond question. The decisions of the +trustees of the British Museum are scarcely ever questioned by public +opinion. Could not the national river be placed under similar +guardianship? + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Naturalist on the Thames, by C. J. 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