WAYS OF FRESH-WATER FISHES. 169 



exceptions, they were frightened to their hovers, 

 and then groped for. 



Grand fish are caught by our Thames anglers, in 

 a fair fight between man and fish ; and the skill and 

 patience needed to capture a wary Thames trout 

 can only be appreciated by those who have fished 

 for them. That style of angling is unknown to the 

 rustic, yet I have seen a farm-labourer catch a first- 

 rate lot of fine trout with rods and lines that were 

 not worth twopence. 



The silvery quick dace is a great favourite with 

 me, not only on account of his sporting and edible 

 qualities, but for a still stronger reason. He brings 

 back some of the happiest of my angling memories. 

 I see again that bright stream that ran into our 

 river. Huge burdocks, water - docks, and great 

 masses of purple loosestrife, together with sedge 

 and meadow-sweet, grew on the banks. Its sandy 

 margin was the feeding and playing ground of the 

 nimble sandpipers that ran about and flirted their 

 bodies up and down, the whole day long. In that 

 lush tangle I have seen rare specimens of moths 

 and butterflies. The clear-winged hawk-moth was 

 not rare in the perfect little jungle of aquatic growth. 



