THE ANGLER'S BIRDS. 187 



martin, sand martin, and swift will all take his 

 fly as it blows out in the wind a most 

 distressing 'experience. In the case of the swift 

 it is painful to both parties, for in holding the 

 poor bird to release the hook he drives his 

 sharp claws into the tender skin between your 

 ringers until the pain is almost unbearable. 

 Another experience, which it is pretty to watch 

 and does no harm to the bird, is to see a 

 swallow lift your mayfly off the surface, carry 

 it just a yard, and drop it again. It may even 

 have occurred to some angler that the fly was 

 dropped in front of a good fish out of casting 

 distance. 



On some days the most familiar birds are 

 the sandpiper, the water ousel, and the king- 

 fisher. . On others, the peewits circling over 

 the meadows or the marshes. Perhaps the 

 most ubiquitous of all is. the moorhen; though 

 not all anglers can pretend to be specially 

 pleased with its company. Their sudden 

 starting out of the rushes at your feet, with 

 the totally unnecessary splashing and skurry of 

 their flight across stream, leaves a wake of 

 general disturbance and anathema. It most 

 effectually puts down the fish you have been 

 watching; besides causing a general uneasiness 

 to all others within sight and hearing. Moor- 

 hens too are always deceiving one as to a real 

 rise. You think the noise you heard, or the 

 ring you saw, was a trout, whereas it has been 

 caused by a moorhen suddenly diving. Where 

 you cannot actually see the water under your 



