8 



her family preoniiif^ tliomselves in the sunshine. There 

 was an electrical jump of the Avliole party in opposite direc- 

 tions, and they disappeared as if by magic, altliongli they 

 never took flight, and there was not a bush or bit of cover 

 near them. No one, except those whose eyes have been 

 trained by minute natural historj^ study, would have dis- 

 covered those newly-hatched youngsters. They were 

 lying, apparently dead, amongst the stones, motionless, 

 with closed eyes, and my companion could scarcely be made 

 to see them, even when they were pointed out to him ! 



An old lady, at whose cottage we told a tale of woe of 

 parched and famished fishermen, offered us of her scanty 

 sustenance. But the solids took the shape of sticky tarts, 

 and the liquid was " nettle tea " ! She assured me that 

 this beverage possessed wonderful medicinal properties, 

 that its recuperative powers upon a jaded and exhausted 

 frame were magical. I took one sip of the decoction, and 

 found it the most satisfying liquor I ever tasted in my life, 

 and next to Chinese Samsau I should recommend it for 

 nastiness. My chum threw his lot out of the A\andow, behind 

 the poor old dame's back, and praised it mightily to her 

 face. Declared it reminded him of his boyhood, in the 

 country, when his dear old mother used to make it, and 

 finally got our hostess to give him a recipe for brewing 

 this vile decoction ! She was greatly flattered by liis praise, 

 and finally insisted upon putting a bottle of the stuff into 

 his fishing bag to take home with him. 



In the Islam length of the River Manifold, which runs 

 at the bottom of the grounds attached to the Isaac Walton 

 Hotel, there is excellent fishing for both trout and grayling. 

 It is private water, attached to Islam Hall, and a little 

 lower down this stream becomes merged into the Dove, 

 which in turn empties itself into the Trent. This Manifold 

 River is a mole for a portion of its length, and there are two 

 distinct underground channels through which it flows. I 

 had a few days' good sport on the Manifold, but killed more 

 grayling than trout, and I was much interested in the way 

 in which " Thymallus" took the fly. Casting an alder on 

 the surface of a deep pool, in which the shadow^' forms of 



