CHAPTER III 



A LITTLE CHALK STREAM 



It would be hopeless to attempt a celebration of 

 all the carriers and drains which have given me hours 

 of delight on the Itchen, Test, or Kennet, though 

 they come under the category of little streams. 

 Each several one would tempt me on to a lingering 

 description of its features. There are carriers whose 

 every yard almost has some special significance to 

 me, as the scene of the capture, or loss, or sight of 

 some particular fish. It may be noted that a fish 

 which one has only seen may live quite as long in 

 memory as a fish which has actually been caught. 



I could, too, dwell lovingly on memories of the 

 small upper reaches of one or two of the lesser chalk 

 streams, such as the fascinating Gloucestershire 

 Coin round about Ablington, the Lambourn near 

 Boxford, Driffield Beck above Sunderlandwick, or 

 the Dun at Hungerford. They all have delightful 

 characteristics and each would require a volume 

 to do it justice. The art of catching trout in a 

 chalk stream wliich runs very shallow over a 

 relatively wide bed — the upper Coin and the Dun 



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