112 SOUTH COUNTRY TROUT STREAMS 



country of pasture and woodland, and in many 

 places is overgrown with alders. There are no 

 clubs on this water, which is entirely in the hands 

 of private individuals. I am told by a friend 

 who formerly knew the district that the wood- 

 cock nested now and again on the banks of this 

 stream ; but that was many years since. 



The Arle or Meon is a pretty and but little 

 known trout stream, rising at East Meon and 

 The Arle running by West Meon, Exton, Drox- 

 or Meon ^^^.^^ Wickham, and Titchfield, where 

 it divides into two streams, formerly called the 

 Old River and the New River. A few miles lower 

 down it enters Southampton Water. The direction 

 oftheArleis almost exactly similar to the direction 

 taken by the Test and the Itchen. It flows first 

 in a westerly direction, and then turns gradually 

 round and flows south to Southampton Water. 

 The three streams, of which the Arle is by far 

 the smallest, flow parallel with one another, the 

 Itchen being in the middle, and the distance which 

 separates the Test from the Itchen and the Itchen 

 from the Arle is, as the crow flies, nowhere much 

 more than ten miles, and sometimes less. The 

 Arle flows through some very pleasant scenery, 

 which is particularly pretty about the village of 

 Wickham. From the hills around Wickham there 

 is a fine view of the Solent and the Isle of Wight 

 on a clear day, and altogether this is a country 

 worth seeing. Above Wickham the Arle, which 

 may certainly be described as a chalk stream, is 

 small and very much overgrown in parts. The 

 best of the trouting is, perhaps, between the village 

 and Titchfield. 



Sport on this stream is not what it once was 



