42 DAYS IN DOVE DALE 



discovered that my great landed proprietor, 

 " having made the gentle art his intense study 

 for years," supplies the best of flies dressed 

 from nature by himself at two shillings a 

 dozen, etc. 



I was rather sold, but still had confidence 

 in these nature-copied flies, and I worked away 

 with my new cast. I got two rises, and one 

 4-oz. trout, which I returned to his native 

 element, and then I returned home with my 

 usual wet feet ; and so my third day's angling 

 was over. 



This morning I decided to give the trout a 

 rest, devoting it instead to a quiet, contempla- 

 tive walk. I strolled over to the pretty village 

 of Ham, and sauntering by the margin of the 

 river " Manifold," I again encountered my little 

 friend the water ouzel; this time he was not 

 at all shy, he hopped along from stone to stone, 

 now dipping his head into the water, now 

 disappearing for a few seconds altogether, then 

 emerging 1 he would make me a few pretty 



1 According to Maunder, Bewick says the little bird 

 ' ' possesses the power of walking in quest of prey on 

 the pebbly bottom of a river." Waterton, commenting 

 on this statement, says that from the specific gravity of 



