in MAY-DAY ON THE EXE 51 



mile there may not be a rise, and then one 

 may come upon another pool where they 

 are on the feed. At times the Exe trout 

 appear to be curiously local in their habits ; 

 I have known them to be on the feed in 

 every other half mile of water, while in 

 the intermediate stretches they would not 

 look at anything. 



Our friend passes on from pool to pool, 

 mostly getting fish too small to keep, but 

 now and then one over the limit, until he 

 reaches a bridge about a mile and a half 

 from the village. Here he is on the same 

 side as the road, which crosses the river at 

 this point, and as the stream is shallow and 

 not very promising he walks along the road 

 until he shall come to some more pools. 

 Presently he finds himself, as it were, in the 

 middle of the moor, which rises straight up 

 from the road. 



Hitherto the hill behind him has been 

 covered with fields and trees, but now all 

 signs of cultivation cease for a while, and 

 there stretches out before him a vast expanse 

 of heather and fern with here and there a 

 point of rock standing boldly out, and here 

 and there a patch of vivid green which 



