24 Wild Life in Wales 



Aug. 4. One of 1 4j ins. 16 oz. From Llafar. 



55 55 55 * 4 55 *" 55 55 55 



55 55 55 *32 55 I " 55 55 55 



55 55 55 I 34 55 *5 55 55 55 



55 55 55 *3 55 *4 55 55 55 



55 55 55 I 3 55 I 3 55 55 55 



55 *V* 55 J 3a 55 I ^2 55 55 55 



55 55 55 *4 55 ^^ 55 55 

 55 



31. 1 6 1 8 Little Dee. 



With the advent of September, the decline in condition was 

 rapid : early in October many of the trout were spawning in 

 the Little Dee and the Eiddon ; in the Lliw and the Llafar 

 they were a week or two later, and in the Twrch and its 

 tributary burns the clearest of the streams hereabouts 

 they did not, apparently, begin laying before November. 



On a warm day in July, when using the finest of tackle 

 and a single fly a small " woodcock-wing-and-hare's-lug " 

 I landed a Pike, near the mouth of the Llafar, of some 

 two and a half feet in length, which took the fly under 

 water, and was hooked literally just "by the skin of his 

 teeth ! " Instances of pike being caught on a largish fly 

 are not very unusual, but to find a large fish taking so in- 

 significant a prey is always apt to strike one as rather extra- 

 ordinary. How unsafe it is to draw inferences in matters 

 of this kind is, however, well demonstrated by the observa- 

 tions of Mr Wilson H. Armistead, who, commenting upon 

 the food and habits of a large number of pike which he had 

 netted in a lake to make room for trout, writes as follows : 

 " In May we were amazed to find neither trimmers nor 

 * otters ' of any use, and the number caught in the nets was 

 less ; and the autopsies showed that the pike were feeding 

 on the fresh- water shrimp (Gammarus pulex). Not only the 

 small jack, but great fellows up to twenty pounds were 

 gorged with them, and during this time they were more 

 delicate in flavour than at any other time. ... It seemed to 

 me a very remarkable thing that such fish as pike, possessed 

 of powerful jaws, a huge mouth, and armed with countless 

 teeth, should condescend to feed on such trifling morsels as 

 fresh-water shrimps. This diet satisfied them all through 



