THROUGH FIRS AND HEATHER. 289 



stop and look intently, for on the leaf-mould edge 

 we see some holes bored, some being smaller than 

 others. Other signs also there are, which tell us 

 these rills are the dining-places of woodcock and 

 snipe. As to the water-courses at the bottom into 

 which these rills empty themselves, they are full of 

 trout. About the trout I have a few words to say, 

 or rather about their travelling habits, and this con- 

 cerns all the trout family. The small ones, about 

 the size of sprats, leave the main water-courses and 

 shoot up these small hillside runs. They are in 

 clover there, unless some creature, furred or feath- 

 ered, goes for them ; for they shoot into the first 

 small pool the descent is very gradual dart out 

 of that up the run a few feet, and in some parts 

 only a few inches, into the next hole ; have a rest, 

 and off they go again. In this manner they will 

 work half-way up the hillsides. It is actually 

 startling at times, when turning over a pool in 

 the runs with your stick, in order to find how deep 

 the mould at the bottom is, to see a small strip 

 of gold and silver flash up out of it with a leap, 

 wriggle down the run into the next hole, and 

 spring from thence again, to proceed as before, 



