Spring on a Hill-stream 29 



The sun withdraws, its rays die out of the pool, 

 and the winter apathy returns. The fly at this time 

 of year are even more responsive to sunshine than 

 the trout. When an April night brings two or 

 three inches of snow, as happens now and then, a 

 sprinkling of blue duns will appear upon the water 

 in the midday sunshine, before the snow has quite 

 vanished in the quick spring thaw, and while the 

 grey snow-broth still keeps the trout stubbornly 

 inactive. 



Many kinds of insects are attracted in early April 

 to the scented blossoms of the sallow ; and the 

 insects attract the birds to the same boughs. Often, 

 while we fish a pool overhung by one of these trees, 

 a small party of birds will gather in the golden 

 blossoms and search busily overhead. The blue, 

 marsh, and cole tits are in earlier weeks the most 

 numerous species in the sallow-boughs ; and the 

 blue tit's bright head makes the most vivid picture 

 amongst the yellow blossoms under the sky. After 

 the willow-wrens come, the sallow blossoms seem 

 to supply them with a great part of their food, 

 while the still naked boughs of most other trees 

 offer them small hospitality. Once the trees are 

 in leaf the restless and secretive willow-wren is 

 seldom seen again so easily. With its quiet tints 

 and delicate form, it makes a striking contrast 

 to the sturdy bodies and bold markings of the 

 tits ; and its notes are as delicate as its shape. The 

 blue tit's note, like a little bell shaken, is the most 

 musical of all the songs of its tribe ; but it rings 

 metallic and mechanical after the liquid cadence 



