134 WITHIN AN HOUR OF LONDON TOWN. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



BY THE MILL-STREAM. 



OUR mill-stream the Tillingbourne, in point of fact, 

 at first a mere rill, having its source on the top of 

 the moor, hidden in many places by a tangled growth 

 of fern, heath, and rushes as it grows, forms here 

 and there small pools, clear as crystal dipholes, as 

 the cottagers call them. Almost from its source 

 you will see trout in it if you look well, small ones 

 but very lively, the largest weighing, perhaps, three 

 ounces. Where the run of water is clear of under- 

 growth, you may see them rush up in a shoal when 

 startled. Either from want of food, or perhaps 

 from overcrowding, they do not grow larger here. 

 With the exception of a black-cock or a wood-pigeon 

 coming to drink, and that not often, little of bird- 

 life is to be seen. 



