The cattle nibbled their tender tops off, as far as they could reach; farther out they were pushing up straight and pointed.

The rib and groove of the flag so closely resemble those of the ancient bayonet that it might be supposed the weapon was modelled from the plant.

Indoors among the lumber there was a rusty old bayonet that immediately called forth the comparison: the modern make seem more triangular.
The rushes grew nearer the shore of the meadow--the old ones yellow, the young green: in places this fringe of rush and sedge and flag must have been five or six yards wide, and it extended as far as could be seen up the brook.

No doubt the cattle trod in the edge of the firm ground by degrees every year to get at the water, and thus widened the marsh.

It was easy to understand now why all the water-fowl, teal and duck, moorhen and snipe, seemed in winter to make in this direction.
The ducks especially exercised all our ingenuity and quite exhausted our patience in the effort to get near them in winter.