SIGHT AND HEARING OF TROUT 167 



speak. Things that hear can generally say summat. 

 Ye cannot be oot in t' fields and t' woods withoot 

 knowen that. Talken and singen's varra smittal 

 (infectious). It aw comes fra what t' scheulmaister 

 used to caw imitation, but what ah caw followen yan 

 another. T' poor troot cannot gie mooth to their 

 pleasures. Tom Sarginson's like t' troot. He was 

 boorn that way withoot any hearing ; but if ye 

 knock hard eneugh at his oald dooer, or walk across 

 his loft, he knows yer aboot withoot seeing ye. 

 Ye'll remimber what ahve often said aboot dampen 

 yer feet on t' banks. That's just like walken on 

 Tom's loft and tells t' fish yer comen as weel as 

 words. Another thing ye'll hev to be careful aboot 

 is rattlen t' big stanes togither when yer in t' watter. 

 T J troot el know as weel as Tom, that yer comen, 

 if ye dea that. Ahve hard it said, that there is a 

 bit of an oald time ear inside o' t' heed o' fish and 

 that it's likely they could hear yance on a time, but 

 it's ower far back for us to havver aboot." 



We used also to ask why we seemed to hook more 

 fish on a sunk than a floating fly. 



E Troot git hoald o' things below t' surface better 

 than on t' top. They're not varra good judges o' 

 distance. In some kinds o' leet they score a lot o' 

 misses for ya bullseye. When they're moven aboot 

 just below t' top they seem 1 to be surer, but when 



