other, but they did not Loth share the .same fate — the 

 second oraylin*)- went into my basket ! That man on whose 

 advice I returned the first fish had a bad ten minutes when 

 we met in tlie smoking-room that evening". 



lu the middh^ reach of the river, which is showTi in, 

 our second ilhistration, I had some very pretty fishing with 

 an oak fiy — a gaudy, waspish-coloured artificial I 

 spotted a nice little colony of medium-sized trout feeding 

 beneath a stunted overhanging oak tree, which was swarm- 

 ing with the flies which take the name of the tree they feed 

 on. I had not got the artificial, for they are unknown in, 

 our southern streams, but I doubled back to a local man, 

 lower down stream, and he gave me fwhat I wanted. 

 Three brace of trout were taken wdth these oak flies out of 

 a very short length of water, and a very nice little bit of 

 fishing it was. At the upper end of the dale, shown in 

 our third illustration, the water was too low for sport, but 

 the beauty of the place amply compensated us for explor- 

 ing it. 



Bird life in Dovedale is very interesting, and the habits 

 and customs of the water ousel especially interested me. 

 They are wonderfully tame and confiding, are these ousels 

 of the Derbyshire dales, and we watched them as they 

 walked under water, in search of snails and caddis flies. 

 Some persons say these birds eat trout spawn, but I have 

 never seen any evidence in support of the charge. Even 

 if it was true, I would not lose these pretty companions of 

 the angler for the sake of a few trout. 



Have you ever had the good fortune to surprise a brood 

 of young sandpipers, or summer snipe ? If yon have not, 

 then there is something still worth living for — presuming 

 that 3'ou care anj^thing for the curiosities of natural history. 

 Unhap])ily the bulk of mankind know little and care less 

 for such things, I fear, but to thf>se who take delight in 

 matters relating to minute natural history, nothing could 

 be more delightful than to come suddenly upon Mother 

 Sandpiper and her brood of little ones. It has not been 

 my good fortune to do it often, but on this occasion, in 

 Dovedale, I passed round a big- rock and saw Mrs. S. and 



