174 RED DEER. 



easy to stride across, yet it is full of trout. 

 Running with a quick tinkle over red stones, 

 the shallow water does not look as if it would 

 float a fish, but they work round the stones 

 and under hollows of the banks. The lads 

 have not forgotten how to poach them ; 

 such knowledge is handed down by tradition, 

 and will never be lost while a stream flows ; 

 it will be familiar when the school-books are 

 dust and mildew. 



They tickle the fish as it lies under a 

 stone, slightly rubbing it underneath to keep 

 it still, and then quickly run a sharpened 

 kitchen fork through the tail, and so secure 

 the slippery trout. They tie a treble hook, 

 like a grapnel, to a stout piece of twine, 

 and draw it across the water till under the 

 fish, when giving a sudden snatch one of 

 the hooks is sure to catch it at the side. 

 Trout can also be wired with a running loop 

 of wire. Groping for trout (or tickling), 

 still practised in the rivers when they are 

 low so that the fish can be got at, is tracing 



