58 Trout. 



running stream, but have made a small pool beside 

 it, with which no doubt it communicates, for the pool, 

 or ' dipping place,' is ever full of cool, clear, limpid 

 water. The plan is not without its advantages, 

 because the stream itself, though usually clear, is 

 liable to become foul from various causes such as a 

 flood, when it is white from suspended chalk, or from 

 cattle higher up above the gully coming to slake their 

 thirst and stirring the sandy grit of the bottom. But 

 the little pool long remains clear, because the water 

 from the stream to enter it has to strain itself through 

 the narrow partition of chalky rubble. 



So limpid is the current in general, that the idea 

 of seeing trout presently when it shall widen out 

 naturally arises. But before then the soil changes, 

 and clay and loam spoil the clean, sandy, or gravelly 

 bottom trout delight in. In one such stream hard by, 

 however, the experiment of keeping trout has been 

 tried, and with some success : it could be done with- 

 out a doubt if it were not that after a short course all 

 the streams upon this side of the downs enter the 

 meadows, and immediately run over a mud bottom. 

 With care, a few young fish were maintained in the 

 upper waters, but it was only as an experiment ; left 

 to themselves they would speedily disappear, and of 

 course no angling could be thought of. 



On the opposite side of the range of hills, where 

 they decline in height somewhat, but still roll on for 

 a great distance, the contrary is the case. The springs 

 that run in that direction pass over a soil that gives a 

 good clear bottom, and gradually assume the charac- 

 ter of rivers ; narrow, indeed, and shallow, but clear, 

 sweet, and beautiful. There, as you wander over 



