146 SPRING-TIDE. 



the solitary snipe which hurries away to 

 some more secure retreat. Out on the 

 man, I say, who finds all his. pleasure in 

 destroying ! The river-side rambling of the 

 fly-fisher affords more real enjoyment to 

 a contemplative mind than all other sports 

 of the field. 



J. You are right ; though other sports 

 have their interest and their excitement, 

 none yields such a quiet pleasure as ours ; 

 none furnishes such opportunities for the 

 study of Nature. I have seen to-day a 

 dozen nooks which I would fain transfer 

 to my sketch-book. 



S. Very pleasant are such memorials of 

 a fishing ramble ; but we still want the 

 accessories, the voices of birds, the hum 

 of insects, the ripple of the pebbly stream, 

 and the sound most grateful to the an- 

 gler's ear, the plash of the greedy trout as 

 he launches at the struggling fly borne on 

 the eddying current ; while high over head, 



