Some way down the brook they are so numerous as to have destroyed the vegetation on the banks, excepting a few ferns, by their constant movements and scratching of the sand; so that there is a small warren on either side of the water.

It is said that they occasionally swim across the broad brook, which is much too wide to jump; but I have never seen such a thing but once.

A rabbit already stung with shot and with a spaniel at his heels did once leap at the brook here, and, falling short, swam the remainder without apparent trouble, and escaped into a hole on the opposite shore with his wet fur laid close to the body.

But they usually cross at the bridge, where the ground bears the marks of their incessant nightly travels to and fro.
Passing now in the other direction, up the stream from the bridge, the hedges after a while cease, and the brook winds through the open fields.

Here there is a pond, to which at night the heron resorts; for he does not care to trust himself between the high hedgerows.