204 REMINISCENCES OF A HUNTSMAN. 



Wolf, that my man had shot rabbits, I discharged 

 him, on some additional proof. 



In the winter I discovered that all the trout in the 

 lake on the lawn ascended the stream which ran 

 throuo-h the village above my house, to spawn ; and 

 that when they did so they became the prey of all the 

 idle boys at the cottage doors. I put up a " stop " at 

 the verge of my premises, in the shape of an upright 

 o-ratincr: but tins, when any flush of rain came, im- 

 peded the stream so much that it flooded the village, 

 and of course I was obliged to take it down. Hav- 

 ino- observed that a trout as well as a deer always 

 got close under the impediment it vrished to jump, I 

 applied the same principle in a "stop" to the fish that 

 I would have used in a fence to deer ; and instead of 

 putting a high perpendicular grating that caught all 

 rubbish and blocked up the water, 1 had a grating 

 made half the size, and slanted it from the bottom, 

 so that the top of it should be a few inches only 

 above the natural height of the stream. This an- 

 swered perfectly : in winter, when the water was 

 clear, I used to see the trout under it, and leaping up 

 ao-ainst it ; but in no one instance did I ever know a 

 fish to back and jump when the fence rose above the 

 Avater. As the flood, when it came, swept right over 

 this without blocking back the water, and as the fish, 

 even in times of flood, always occupied themselves in 

 trying to get up underneath it, instead of drawing 

 back to the extreme verge, it being necessary to give 

 the trout a portion of the shoal water to breed in, I 

 put the fence some little way above my premises. 

 My agreeable landlord, who was living in a small 

 house he had built for himself in the village, in order 

 to annoy me, sent word to say he should take the 



