240 ON SURREY HILLS. 



furze cover next the banks of the river suits them 

 admirably. 



The dace, in water suited to him, ought to be prized 

 by the angler. Three or four miles of unbroken fish- 

 ing on the same river will, however, show a difference 

 in size and quality of the fish taken which is hard to 

 credit if not personally investigated. A shoal of 

 dace, herring-sized, plump and silvery, well on the 

 feed on a clean wide shallow, give, in my opinion, as 

 good sport as trout. I knew one spot that was noted 

 for fine dace. There was a quiet stretch of water 

 above, gradually lessening in depth as it neared a 

 small island which was covered with the finest feed 

 for cattle. These used to wade into it from the 

 meadows on either side, and graze knee-deep in the 

 rich herbage all the day long. This small bit of de- 

 tached meadow formed two streams that met again 

 before reaching the old bridge, shooting rapidly under 

 the arches on to the broad, bright, gravelly shallow 

 below. As springs abounded here, the water was 

 as clear as crystal. Weeds covered the bottom in 

 places — short velvety green weeds, which are the de- 

 light of the angler, for the larvje of the numerous flies 

 live in the weeds and on the gravel. The various 



