FIN AND FUR ON SURREY HILLS. 71 



CHAPTER III. 



FIN AND FUR ON SURREY HILLS. 



The moorland rills, in which live the pigmy trout, 

 gathering force and volume, unite and become 

 streams. After running though the upland woods 

 they widen in the woodland meadows, forming ponds 

 which are nearly surrounded by copse growth. In 

 these, fine trout thrive and grow fat ; not the long- 

 bodied trout that live in the swift stream, but short 

 thick fellows, silvery in colour, red spots dappling 

 their bright sides. " They be hog-backed uns, an' 

 no mistake,'' said a rustic fisher, as I was passing 

 along the edge of the wood one evening. 



This man was cutting extraordinary capers with 

 his heavy hob-nailed boots on the grass, threshing 

 away most vigorously at the same time with his hat. 



