" On Brignall cliffs, and Scargill brake, 

 The owlet's homilies awake ; 

 The bittern scream'd from rush and flag, 

 The raven slumber'd on his crag, 

 Forth from his den the otter drew, — 

 Grayling and trout their tjo-ant knew, 

 As between reed and sedge he peers, 

 With fierce round snout and sharpen'd ears ; 

 Or, prowling by the moonbeam cool, 

 Watches the stream or swims the pool ; — 

 Perch'd on his wonted eyrie high, 

 Sleep seal'd the tercelet's wearied eye, 

 That all the day had watch'd so well 

 The cushat dart across the dell." 



It may not be irrelevant to mention here, 

 that the happy moments passed in these 

 woods caused me, some years ago, to suggest 

 to my highly-gifted friend, the late Robert 

 Mudie, the composition of a little volume 

 illustrative of British natural history. 



Never before had Mr. Mudie's observant 

 and ingenious mind been directed to that 

 particular branch of popular science ; and 

 to this circumstance we owe his various and 

 valuable contributions on Ornithology. 



TEOUT IN DERWENTWATEB. 



Mr. Editor,— -Let me correct the report 

 which has gone abroad to the effect that the 

 drought has this Spring destroyed both trout and 

 spawn in the breeding streams of the Vale of 

 Der went water. I can assure anglers, who are 

 mourning over the destruction of the finny tribe 

 in the Vale of Keswick, one of the most ancient 

 and beautiful resorts of the rod-fisher, that the 

 trout here have escaped better than probably any- 

 where else in England or Scotland ; for the 

 Derwentwater streams and rivers are what the 

 angler calls " early," and last year the majority 

 of the grey trout had spawned in the tributaries 

 of the Derwent, and gone down to their secure 

 retreats in the depths of the lakes by the middle 

 of October. 



In the middle of l^ovember the breeding 

 streams were empty of spawning trout, so that 

 the watchers of the DerwentwaterAngling Society 

 were then dismissed for the season. You know, 

 Sir, the ova of trout, like those of the other 

 species of the Salmonidse, take from 100 to 110 

 days to be hatched ; so that our small brooks and 

 rivers swarm with the young fry in February and 

 early in March, and have thus this year been 

 enabled in a great measure to escape the effects 

 of the long drought. The newspapers contain 

 accounts of the beds of rivers in various parts 

 of England and Scotland being quite dry; and 

 there, no doubt, young and old trout have pe- 

 rished together; but here, when the rivers are 

 low, the trout retreat to the lakes of Dcrwent- 

 water and Basscnthwaite, which are linked 

 together by a fine angling river only three miles 

 long; and after every flood they issue forth up 

 all the runners, while the early period of the 

 year at which they spawn very much secures the 

 young fry, as it has especially done this year, 

 from the effects of spring droughts. 



While there has been no river fishing, there- 

 fore, anywhere this year, there have been some 

 days of excellent sport in the lakes of Crummork, 

 Buttermere, Bassenthwaite, and Derwentwater; 

 and as soon as we have two or three days' rain 

 our streams will be stocked with the fish which 

 have been secure in the depths of these lakes 

 during the long drought. There can be no doubt 

 that for many years to come the bad effect of 

 this dry spring will be felt by anglers, especially 

 in plain countries; and this leads me to remark 

 that it would be very well for those who reside 

 near " late " to be in communication with the 

 rod- fishers of "early" rivers like those of the 

 Vale of Derwentwater, and in seasons like the 

 present to make timely arrangements for secur- 

 ing a supply of vivified ova, or, when the places 

 were not far apart, even of the young fry. 

 These, with care, might be carried in largo 

 panniers — changing the water frequently on the 

 way. 



But a still better plan would be, to turn out 

 trout ready to spawn in suitable places —such as 

 mill-races — secure from the effects of heavy floods, 

 on the one hand, and from any danger of want 

 of water to cover the ova, on the other, and to 

 dismiss the young fry in spring during suitable 

 states of the rivers. Good and secure spawning 

 beds, either artificial or left to be made by the 

 fish themselves, might be formed in these mill- 

 races, or in similar runners constructed with 

 sluices to regulate the stream, and furnished 

 with the proper gravelly bottom for the purpose. 

 A very little care annually taken, would secure 

 the anglers of any district from suffering the 

 loss of the young trout, either from droughts or 

 floods. The mill-streams of the Tweed, the 

 Spey, and other fine salmon rivers, might be thus 

 used for breeding this royal fish. Placed at 

 regular intervals along the rivers, and under 

 constant surveillance as they are, they would 

 form the finest artificial " rudds " possible. 

 While salmon are monopolised, however, as at 

 present, by great proprietors, near the mouths of 

 rivers, it is quite impossible to expect anglers 

 on upland streams where the salmon breeds, to 

 take any interest in their preservation, and this 

 noble fish is therefore becoming gradually 

 extinct in these islands. To protect the trout as 

 a game fish, and to secure the breed from 

 poachers, floods, and droughts, is an object 

 still attainable by the angler; and, in a county 

 like this of Cumberland, where the rivers and 

 lakes are open to all rod-fishers, it becomes an 

 object well worthy of especial care. 



From the days of Isaac Walton the lovers of 

 angling have generally been lovers of nature, 

 and in a large majority of instances it is the Jove 

 of pure running streams, fresh green fields, and 

 silent colloquy with nature, which lures out the 

 student, the artist, and the man of business. 

 Among these beautiful mountains, lakes, and 

 rivers of Cumberland, the combined attractions 

 exist in a pre-eminent degree, and will no doubt 

 be resorted to so long as — 



" Flowing rivers yield a blameless sport." 

 Derwent-Bank, Keswick, May 20. 



L. 



