THE BERKSHIRE STREAMS 93 



reaches between Lambourn and Sheffbrd, but about 

 the middle of September the water gets lower and 

 lower, till, finally, about the middle of October it 

 disappears altogether, and the bed of the Lam- 

 bourne forms the playground of the village 

 children till next season ! Below Shefford the 

 water runs low but does not quite vanish. 

 Consequently there is no fishing to speak of higher 

 up stream than Shefford. In February the water 

 begins to rise again. The cause of this peculiarity 

 is well understood by geologists, though it has 

 been much mystified by ingenious theories about 

 syphons, underground passages, and the like. The 

 springs, as the Rev. B. T. Thompson of Eastbury 

 points out to me, run after rainy seasons, and are 

 simply the overflow of surplus water from the 

 chalk. From Shefford downwards the fishing is 

 excellent ; indeed that part of the river which flows 

 from Shefford through Weston, Wclford Park, 

 and Easton to Boxford can hardly in its way be 

 surpassed. The trout, which are paler in flesh 

 than those of the Kennet, are decidedly plentiful. 

 The fish killed would average about i lb., and fish 

 over 2 lbs. are rarely met with, despite village 

 traditions of four- and five-pounders. In the lower 

 Lambourne the May-fly season is sometimes a 

 fairly good one, and there is a big hatch of the 

 grannom on this water, as on the Kennet. A small 

 alder is an excellent fly on this stream, and so in 

 the summer evenings is the sedge. The various 

 dry fly patterns of the duns are all used, and 

 wet fly anglers find the palmers, and covvdung fly 

 useful. The coachman is also, like the sedge, good 

 towards night. There are no angling clubs 



