H MY NATURE NOTEBOOK. 



And the advance is all along the line. In spite of its 

 ugly " cleaned " banks, and the cutting of most of its 

 water-weeds, even the trout-stream begins to recover 

 some of its lost attractions. The fish are on the 

 move, travelling always upwards apparently ; for if 

 you stand back in the shadow of a tree and watch 

 some spot where the drastic " winter-cleaning " has 

 left a belt of shallow, with no cover at all, you shall 

 see dark forms, generally in couples, quickly dart 

 across it from the dark pool below to the dark pool 

 above. In a heron-haunted stream the fish know all 

 about the risk of day-lit shallows ; though in water 

 which is fished neither by man, beast, or bird, you 

 may see them lying by preference in its shallows, 

 apparently enjoying the sunlight. I doubt, however, 

 whether this is the governing motive. When fish 

 have learned that they have nothing to fear from 

 enemies outside the water, they naturally seek shallow 

 retreats where monsters of their own kind cannot get 

 at them ; for fish live in an upside-down world com- 

 pared with ours, since it is the little ones that can 

 venture farthest towards the banks, where it is " out 

 of depth " for big ones to follow. 



THE FEARSOME OTTER. 



With the fish there have returned one or two 

 welcome kingfishers arrowy specks of turquoise, 

 that almost seem to leave a streak of light along the 

 bee-line of their flight from one fishing-perch to 

 another. By another coincidence, it is usually about 

 this time of the year, and in similar weather, that an 

 otter pays our stream a visit. It is not always the 



