SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN 



bird is less readily enticed into the two decoys on 

 the Berkeley estate, and its numbers are there- 

 fore less rapidly reduced along the Severn. The 

 fact that the wigeon is a day-feeder may partly 

 account for its shunning the decoys. The 

 decoys also affect the distribution of mallards 

 for the wild-fowler at certain periods, especially 

 when the foreign birds begin to arrive. A 

 certain number of mallards and teal stay on the 

 Severn waters all night, and may be attracted 

 with the aid of wooden decoy ducks combined 

 with the notes of call-ducks. Artificial calls 

 have been tried for them but without suc- 

 cess. The call-notes of wigeon imitated by 

 the human mouth bring down these birds to 

 the water. 



Curlew also may be attracted by imitations 

 of their call-notes. The only species of wading- 



birds that appear in numbers worth considering 

 are the Curlew (Numenius arauata), the Dunlin 

 (Tringa alpina\ the Lapwing (Vantllut vu/garis), 

 and the Golden Plover (Charadrius pluvia/is), 

 although at times or in limited localities there 

 may be fair numbers of the Ringed Plover 

 (Aegialltis hiaticola) ; of the Whimbrel (Numenius 

 phaeopui) in spring-time ; of the Knot (Tringa 

 canutui) near Avonmouth ; and of the Red- 

 shank (Tetanus calidris) as wanderers from Mon- 

 mouthshire. Curlews are easily shot at their 

 flight-time, which is as each tide covers the 

 mudbanks and forces the birds inland. 



Golden plover are most numerous when hard 

 weather drives them from the fields to feed on 

 the sands or mud-shores, and they are best shot 

 when their heads arc up-wind and kept intent on 

 some moving object. 



ANGLING 



With regard to angling Gloucestershire is a 

 most disappointing county. It lies within the 

 watershed of four of our rivers, the Severn, Wye, 

 Bristol Avon, and Thames. It has small rivers 

 and brooks without number, yet with one single 

 exception the angling is of a very second-rate 

 order. In the Severn itself there is practically 

 none ; the tide runs up as far as Tewkesbury 

 near the northern border, and with the ex- 

 ception of some fishing at the navigation weirs 

 and a little bottom-fishing here and there, there 

 is really no angling worth mention. A some- 

 what similar state of things exists on the Wye, 

 which forms the western boundary of the county. 

 Although a number of salmon are taken by net 

 in that part of the river which divides Gloucester- 

 shire from Monmouthshire there is practically no 

 salmon angling, such sport as exists being of 

 much the same nature as that on the Severn. In 

 the brooks that run down from the Forest of 

 Dean to the Wye and Severn there used to be 

 plenty of small trout, these waters being very 

 similar in character to the Welsh streams ; but 

 the trout have greatly decreased of late years. 

 This is due to two causes : (i) the increase of 

 coarse fish, and (2) the increase of pollution. 



There are still some streams where a fine 

 basket of small trout can be caught, but they 

 are few and difficult to fish, the banks of most of 

 them being overgrown with bushes. 



Pollution arises from the mines and manu- 

 factures in the Forest of Dean. In some places 

 the brooks are so befouled that no fish can pass 

 up or down ; such, for instance, is the case in 

 the Lydney Pile. Another tributary of the 

 Severn on the west bank, the Leadon, runs 

 from Dymock to Gloucester, and affords a 

 certain quantity of coarse fish, but the river is 

 small, runs low in summer, and is much choked 

 up with weeds. Something might be made of the 



Leadon, but at present it is not worth mention 

 as an angling stream. 



On the east bank the Bristol Avon has nothing 

 in its Gloucestershire part but coarse fish, and 

 not too many of them. There is some bottom- 

 fishing, but it is hardly worth considering. From 

 the Cotteswold Hills to the Severn there arc a 

 number of small brooks which ought to hold 

 some good trout, and no doubt some of them do 

 so. But they are not long enough to carry any- 

 thing like a good stock of fish, and many of them 

 are horribly polluted by the cloth works, the 

 water being dyed a deep bluish black. Here 

 again there is no angling worth the name. 

 There is some good coarse fish angling, chiefly 

 roach, in the Gloucester and Berkeley Canal 

 which runs from Gloucester to Sharpness, and a 

 skilful roach fisher may at times make a good 

 bag. Above Gloucester the brooks are few and 

 do not contain many fish. At Tewkesbury the 

 Warwickshire Avon falls into the Severn, and 

 the stream is in several places the boundary 

 between Gloucestershire and Worcestershire. 

 In the Avon there is very good coarse fishing, 

 mainly roach, chub, and bream. Some pike are 

 also caught. Dace have died out, and the 

 number of perch has largely decreased. But in 

 spite of all drawbacks the angler who under- 

 stands bottom-fishing will find fair sport in the 

 Avon. The great drawback is the number of 

 anglers from Birmingham. Some of the clubs 

 have rented water from the farmers and others, 

 and claim, rightly, their monopoly of it. The 

 continued fishing by the Birmingham Club 

 makes the fish far shyer than they used to be, 

 with the result that the takes are smaller. There 

 are various legends of monster fish in the Avon, 

 chiefly of pike ; one of them is said to be so 

 large that he can only turn at one place on the 

 river, so he swims up and down to get to it ! As 



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