SURREY, MIDDLESEX, AND SUSSEX STREAMS 63 



and Leatherhead. These swallows are said by some 

 to be gullies leading to fissures in the chalk rock 

 beneath, not absorbing the water but receiving and 

 draining it off in subterranean channels ; yet on 

 the other hand, says Lewis in his Book of English 

 Rivers, there is no positive evidence that the waters 

 thus engulfled are the same as those which spring 

 forth towards Leatherhead. The Mole, as I have 

 mentioned elsewhere, is by no means the only 

 English stream which goes underground at cer- 

 tain points. The Deverell in Wiltshire is noted 

 for the same peculiarity, as are one or two streams 

 in the North of England. The Mole is a favourite 

 stream with various water birds. At Fctcham the 

 coot has established itself, and the kingfisher is 

 constantly to be seen about and above Leather- 

 head. The latter bird is by no means so scarce 

 on our southern streams as some suppose, and last 

 year I was delighted to find it in something like 

 plenty on several waters in the home counties. 



The Tillingbourne was unhappily poisoned a 

 good many years ago, and quite robbed of its trout, 

 but it has been re-stocked, and is now ^j^^ 

 one of the best and most agreeable of Tiiiing- 

 the Surrey angling streams. It is some 

 eight or nine miles long, and rises in Abinger 

 Common. During its course to the Wey, which it 

 joins at Shalford, the Tillingbourne passes Gom- 

 shall and Shere, where it feeds some lakes in 

 Albury Park. The Tillingbourne is easily affected 

 by rain, and soon gets muddy. After being 

 thoroughly discoloured it takes the best part of two 

 days to clear. Its pace is rather slow, and besides 

 trout it contains a few pike, perch, dace, roach, 

 together with gudgeon. The trout killed averaeg 



