96 FLOOD LANDS AND WATER SUPPLY. 



cuts of Bewick without being struck by the bird 

 life in the swamps. Snipe, coots, and all kinds 

 of duck appear to have been numerous on the 

 flood lands of every river in the kingdom. 



THE ANGLER'S OUTLOOK. 



I remember sitting at a Geographical Society's 

 dinner alongside a stranger when good fortune 

 introduced the topic of fly fishing between us. 

 I had been saying what a charming thing it 

 would be to have the lease or the ownership 

 of a long stretch of small brook, and to widen, 

 deepen, and dam it, until it became a trout 

 stream to form your own bends and small 

 weirs, to plant its sides just as you thought 

 would be suited to the fish, and perhaps even 

 to have a hatchery adjoining. 



After listening for some time he quietly 

 remarked that he had just lately done all this 

 ' to a small stream called the Lathkill in 

 Derbyshire.' It all sounded to me as delightful 

 as a fairy tale, read to the children just before 

 bedtime, which you cannot help listening to 

 from the writing table. I told him that in 

 Devonshire we called * a nice fish ' one of eight 

 ounces, and ' a good fish ' one of twelve or 

 over. ' Well, if you will come and fish my 

 water one Saturday and Monday, I have no 

 doubt you will do much better than that. We 

 should use those terms for trout just double the 

 size. My daughter has caught one of nearly 

 two pounds.' 



A few short years afterwards I saw the death 



