NATURE NOTES 
130 
Between the stream and the house there is an old duck decoy, 
which some day may again be brought into use, though this 
would involve considerable cost. The iron work over the four 
pipes is still in place and the remains of the netting too. At 
this time of the year the pool itself is nearly dry, the sluices that 
admit the water from the stream being out of repair and the 
channels silted up. The side, too, towards the Rectory is 
exposed, and a screen eight feet high and seventy yards long 
would have to be made. 
Beyond the stream and half a mile distant are the beautiful 
ruins of a grand monastery that have often been described by 
the pens of antiquaries. And again beyond, on the hill above 
the ruins, stands a noble church, in the adjoining village, which 
was restored at considerable cost about twenty years ago. A 
little further on one sees more ruins, remains of the fort that 
once guarded the monastery below, with large ramparts, inside 
which most of the village now lies. This church and the ruins 
are hidden from my friend’s rectory by a clump of trees which 
will be cut down and turned into firewood this winter. The 
other side of the rectory are several sycamores remarkable alike 
for their beauty and their size ; while close bj' is a cover which 
forms part of the glebe, and is full of game of different kinds, 
for every inch of the country round is carefully preserved. At 
one end of the lawn there is a dry pit some fourteen feet deep in 
which bushes, nettles and the like are allowed their own sweet 
way. Here a gadwall reared her young last spring, and a pair 
of turtle doves are now nesting. 
It was in this charming spot that I found myself one after- 
noon the middle of Jul}^ the guest of S. and his delightful and 
accomplished spouse. I had barely swallowed a hasty meal 
when I was invited to try my hand at the trout. “ No thanks, 
not just yet ; I really cannot wade in these clothes and my port- 
manteau will not be here for an hour or two with proper ‘ tog.’ ” 
Indeed, I was only too glad of an excuse to see the performance 
of a master in the gentle art, and so prevailed upon him to catch 
a fish for dinner. As we neared the stream I noticed a quantity 
of large water docks, whose ancestors may once have fed the 
larvae of the large copper butterfly, now alas extinct. Then 
from the side of the stream there rose two green sandpipers, so 
easily recognised by their white tails and noisy cry. This pair 
must have nested there, as they were often to be seen close by, 
or on some fallen tree trunk in the decoy itself. The stream, at 
no time a large one, besides being shallow was low and very 
clear. The weeds, too, in that part had just been cut, .so any 
fish on the feed could be seen at once. I have been on several 
streams in my life, but never have I seen a grander show or 
better class of trout. It was a case of looking at pounders till 
one tired and picked out something half as heavy again. Indeed, 
in one small bend of the river, a little deeper than the rest, I 
should say I saw forty fish averaging i lb. a piece. Almost 
