THE WILTSHIRE STREAMS 129 



water to Warminster, and he has recently re- 

 stocked it with three hundred brace of two-year- 

 old trout. The fish run to a fair size ; some have 

 been taken up to 3 lbs., but this Is of course far 

 above the average. They are excellent to eat, and 

 of a less muddy flavour than some of the fish 

 further down stream. There is May-fly, as a rule, 

 about the first week in June in the lower portion 

 of the Deverlll, and the best artificial flies are 

 thought to be the red spinner, the March brown, 

 and the alder. 



At and below Warminster, where the little Were 

 flows in, the stream is known as the Wylye. It 

 joins the (Christchurch) Avon at Salisbury after 

 passing Heytesbury, Cod ford, Wylye, Wishford, 

 and Wilton. Its chief tributaries are the Nadder, 

 which will be treated of separately, and the Winter- 

 bourne. There are several streams called Winter- 

 bourne^ in this county and Dorset, and they are so 

 called because they only run, or only run fully, in 

 winter. The stream which comes from above 

 Shrewton and flows into the Wylye at Stapleford 

 holds, I am told, some good trout. Lord Heytes- 

 bury's water at Heytesbury is well preserved. 

 Trout are plentiful, running up to 2 lbs. and 3 lbs., 

 whilst an occasional 4-lb. fish is taken. The fish 

 have the reputation of rising pretty freely — not 

 one nowadays by any means too common among 

 chalk-stream trout — and the flies commonly used 

 are alder, hare's ear, grannam, sedge, red spinner, 

 red tag (for grayling), the various chalk-stream 

 pattern of the duns, and the blue upright. The 

 river here runs through alluvial water meadows 

 between chalk hills, and its bed is gravel. There 

 ^ Winterbourne, nailbourne, or bourne. 



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