ix FESTIVAL OF GREEN DRAKE 145 



a good eddy under either bank. It is at the 

 tail of the shallow that the big trout are 

 almost always caught. In the pool itself 

 there are generally some heavy pike in the 

 winter fish of from twelve pounds upwards, 

 to say nothing of enormous chub and 

 barbel. For this tributary of the Thames is 

 undutiful enough to surpass its parent in the 

 general size and quality of its fish. It is 

 probably the most prolific water in England. 

 But of course with all the coarse fish you 

 must not expect the trout to be very 

 numerous ; if we get one at all I shall be 

 satisfied. 



Just as we have made an end of eating 

 and are filling our pipes we see the first fly. 

 There he sails down-stream, drifting at first 

 with motionless wings upright ; now he 

 begins to flutter, and we watch curiously to 

 see if he will escape to the ampler air or 

 become food for fishes. It is the unexpected 

 that happens, and a swallow skims over the 

 surface and picks him daintily off, just as a 

 belated dace dashes at him from below. 

 The swallows, in truth, probably devour more 

 flies than do the fish. Two or three more 

 flies struggle up to the surface at intervals ; 



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