THE ANGLERS SOUVENIR. 



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seven lakes, or meres, of various sizes. The largest 

 is at Ellesmere, and gives its name to a very quiet 

 and sleepy town on its banks. It is about 120 acres 

 in extent, and although it is a good deal fished, yet 

 it still abounds in all kinds of fish that love still 

 waters. In our younger days the meres were our 

 favourite places of resort. In no other place was 

 there so much natural history to be done, so many 

 interesting facts to be observed, and so much sport 

 to be had. We boated on their waters ; we caught 

 large pike and perch out of their weedy depths ; 

 and in their tall marginal reeds the reedwren built 

 its purse-like nest, the coot and the wild-duck bred 

 there ; and the untidy, soaking-wet nests of the 

 great-crested grebe were not uncommon. Over the 

 adjoining woods the osprey and peregrine had been 

 known to seek their prey ; the woodpecker and the 

 wryneck, the sparrow-hawk, the kestrel, and the jay 

 all nested in the old trees ; and the keepers were 

 indulgent to well-behaved boys such as, of course, 

 we were. Hence our visits to the meres were very 

 frequent ; and whether we floated on their stilly 

 bosoms on hot summer days, or skated around their 

 margins, watching the tracks of wild creatures on 

 the snow, we always came away having learnt some- 

 thing fresh and reaped some new enjoyment. 



Hence a holiday in their neighbourhood could 

 not be spent without again visiting them, for the 

 sake of auld-lang-syne. We wished, too, to show 

 the Gipsy the pleasant haunts of our boyhood, of 



