There beneath the floating leaves great
golden-sided carp and tench floated, and sometimes a fierce-eyed
green-splashed pike, while over all flitted and darted upon gauzy
wings beautiful dragon-flies, chasing the tiny gnats--blue, brown,
golden, and golden-green--and now and then encountering and making
their wings rustle as they touched in rapid flight. Then as he
stood with his hand resting against a tree trunk, peering forward,
a curious little head with bright crimson eyes divided the sedge or
reeds growing in the water, its owner looking out to see if there
was any danger; and as it looked, Robin could see that the bird's
beak seemed to be continued right up into a fiat red plate between
its eyes.
[Illustration: Robin stood with his hand resting against a tree
trunk.]
Then it came sailing out, swimming by means of its long thin legs
and toes, coming right into the opening, looking of a dark shiny
brownish green, all but its stunted tail, the under part of which
was pure white, with a black band across.
Little John told him afterwards that it was a moor-hen, even if it
was a cock bird. It was, not this which took so much of Robin's
attention, but the seven or eight little dark balls which followed
it out along one of the lanes of open water, swimming here and
there and making dabs with their little beaks at the insects
gliding about the top.
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