SOME BRITISH FRESH-WATER FISHES i8i 



indifference to my presence. Evidently, they were 

 too well fed to be lured by any but a very artfully 

 selected and novel bait ; and would have to be 

 netted when required for table. 



However, before long I had an opportunity of 

 catching some carp in a moat encircling a certain 

 house in Kent — a delightful old ivy-covered, two- 

 storied building with a wilderness of out-houses 

 clustered around one side, the three other sides 

 engirdled by velvet lawns, shrubberies, and flower- 

 beds, the whole converted into an islet by a square 

 moat, crossed by a small bridge at its narrowest 

 part. Tall elms, kitchen-gardens, orchards, and 

 lush pasturage fittingly framed the charming 

 picture. 



In the moat were known to be large quantities 

 of roach and eels, while rumour spoke of rudd and 

 carp. It was seldom fished, e.x;cept by the ladies 

 of the moat-house and their visitors, by way of 

 passing the time, and I never heard of their 

 catching anything more than a few roach. 



Strolling about the grounds in the twilight (I 

 admit I was not alone !) I heard at an angle of the 

 moat some little distance from the house, the un- 

 mistakable smack of a carp's lips. Just there the 

 water was deep — an ideal carp-hole — so borrowing 

 an idea' from the French, who in their turn 



