A NECESSARY FOREWORD 159 



unimportant of our railway systems to the angler ; for 

 the great lines running north, south, and west, with all 

 their connecting loops, have in more recent years opened 

 out the best of our angling districts. Of the small 

 streams near London, the Wandle and the Darent are 

 almost entirely in private hands, but it is many a year 

 since a twelve-pound trout has been seen in the crystal 

 depths of the former. The Cray is ruined; but the 

 Canterbury Stour, not enumerated, has by the intro- 

 duction of new stock and assiduous preservation become 

 an excellent trout-stream. 



The list of Yorkshire rivers is not complete without 

 prominent inclusion of Mdd, Yore, and Cover, but the 

 Calder, and lower Aire, like others in the neighbour- 

 hood of manufacturing towns, are hopelessly polluted. 



Once more I would repeat a note of warning not to 

 accept Blakey as a guide to modern fishing places, 

 either at home or abroad. For reasons which have been 

 explained, his text has not been interfered with ; and it 

 cannot be too strongly impressed upon the reader that 

 many rivers and brooks that once held salmon and trout 

 are now worthless to the angler ; that liberty to angle 

 formerly enjoyed by the angler has long ceased to 

 exist ; and that even some of the names mentioned by 

 Blakey will be found only in old-fashioned maps and 

 gazetteers. 



W. S. 



