A SURREY RIVER. 109 



about ; they are rightly named fresh-water smelts. 

 This particular stream is noted for very fine ones : 

 it is a good food-stream, and there is a vast differ- 

 ence in waters, as regards this ; in some the fish 

 are small, owing to the scarcity of nourishment. 

 For one thing, this one is well sheltered ; and insect 

 life, in one shape or another, is abundant. The 

 gudgeon, being a bottom feeder, grubs away at 

 all the small creatures that are to be found in so 

 favourable a locality. Bright flashes of sunlight 

 come through the foliage and the tree-trunks ; on 

 the sandy places close to the edge the beautiful 

 yellow wagtails are daintily tripping and pecking 

 at the insects. On one of the willow-branches that 

 nearly dips into the water a kingfisher is perched, 

 his head cocked knowingly on one side, waiting 

 for a fish of the right size to come near him. As 

 we move on, a bird shoots off from some stones 

 and pebbles. It is the summer snipe of the miller 

 and his son — properly speaking, the common sand- 

 piper. Not that it is common about here ; he is 

 so called to distinguish him from his near relative, 

 the green sandpiper, which bird I have seen in the 

 same locality. 



