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the rick pastures are aglow with kingcups and wild hya- 

 cinth, whilst the air is laden with the perfume of May 

 blossom. 



" How little dream the crowd 

 'Midst the city's tumult loud, 

 How much pure and soothing bliss 

 May be found in scenes like this." 



The man who could wander by the Darenth side on such 

 a morning as this without being impressed with the natural 

 beauties of his surroundings must be a curmudgeon un- 

 worthy of our gentle craft. You and I, my friend, sitting 

 on a fallen tree, and smoking a matutinal pipe — for no 

 saints are we — look about us and declare that, in spite of 

 the sin, sorrow, and misery which afflict mankind, the 

 world is still as fresh and beautiful as when our first parents 

 gazed upon it in the Garden of Eden. That happy mother 

 water hen, with her tiny brood of dabchicks paddling 

 around her in the sunny nook yonder, by the bed of "wild 

 iris, is one of the prettiest sights we have seen for a long 

 time, and we presently turn our attention to a baby water- 

 rat breakfasting on the bank within a few yards of us. 

 What a dainty young rascal it is, and what airs he gives 

 himself, as, between the courses, he performs his morning 

 toilet quite oblivious of our presence ! Was that a trout 

 which caused the splash in the pool, beneath the old over- 

 hanging pollard ? No, a flash of turquoise blue, and another 

 splash in the stream shows very plainly that a kingfisher 

 is breakfasting. W© will not begrudge him his meal, for 

 he is one of the few scarce birds of Kent that has survived 

 the brutal instinct of extermination which prompts "Vel- 

 veteens " to kill anything and everything that is rare. 

 Here come the scouts of the May-fly army, and these 

 stragglers show that the " rise " will soon begin, so let us 

 catch one of the " green drake " and do our best to find an 

 artificial fly to match him, as we saunter leisurely to the 

 sheltered stretch of water where the fish rise earliest. 

 These May-flies are creatures of slow growth, remaining a 

 whole year (some people say two years) under water before 

 they attain to a perfect state ; a gauze-winged beautiful 



