24 FISHING FOR PLEASURE 



straight and swift as a leaden plummet, it 

 dropped out of the silvery bell it lived in and 

 attacked it at the head. The falces were prob- 

 ably thrust into the body between the head and 

 the prothorax, for almost instantly the struggle 

 ceased, and in less than three seconds the victim 

 appeared perfectly dead." 



In Chapter XIII reference is made to the 

 abundance of swifts, and herein our author 

 makes a statement with which I am unable to 

 agree. He tells us that the May Fly has been 

 decreasing, and in places disappearing altogether 

 from some of the Hampshire streams. That is 

 true I know, for I have fished the Itchen many 

 consecutive seasons, especially in the May Fly 

 time; but our author ridicules the idea that the 

 swallow is in any measure responsible for their 

 decrease. He attributes it wholly to the swift, 

 because he happened on one evening in June, 

 1902, to have seen swifts snapping up every 

 insect that appeared on the water. Therefore, 

 he concluded that " the swift and not the swallow 

 is the chief culprit." I regard them as Arcades 

 atnbo one as bad as the other. Sometimes I 

 have seen the river covered with swallows and 

 martins all in pursuit of and clearing off every 

 May Fly that appeared; at other times I have 

 seen swifts alone (as did our author) occupying 

 themselves with this destruction; and again at 

 other times I have seen all three species engaged 



