UNDER GREEN LEAVES 61 
fish has been handled, kill it ; it is only right to do 
so, in order to prevent its future suffering ; for scales 
rubbed off bring misery to fish. When only just lip- 
held, it is another matter. My next throw is above a 
small hole where the water spins round. Hardly a 
moment elapses before there is a tug, and we strike. 
This is a larger fish, and he fights well. Half a pound 
will be all his weight, but he is a nice fish for this 
particular part of the stream. It is a somewhat 
curious fact, but if this stream flowed into a lake or 
pond, the trout would in the larger water become 
large fish ; and if large trout found their way up a 
stream of this kind from a pond or lake, they would 
very soon dwindle down to the size of the pair I have 
just captured. 
Having caught my brace, I make a sketch of them 
and the first boy or girl I meet on the way home will 
become the happy possessor of the fish. Generally, 
when I want to paint fish I have them brought to me 
alive. By giving sufficient notice I manage to get 
these just when I am ready for them. 
As I near my friend's farmyard, I pause for a few 
minutes to look into the mouth of a large culvert that 
carries the stream under the main road before it runs 
through the farmyard. The water at the mouth of 
the culvert is about three feet in depth. A small bay 
