ALBERT R. MANN LIBRARY New York State Colleges OF Agriculture and Home Economics AT Cornell University THE GIFT OF WILLARD A. KIGGINS Cornell University Library SH 439.S86R An angler's rambles and angling songs. 3 1924 003 700 634 Cornell University Library The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924003700634 AN ANGLER'S RAMBLES AND ANGLING SONGS. EDINBOROH : PRINTED BY THOMAS CONSTABLE, FOR EDM(>NSTON AXD DOUGLAS. LONDON, HAMTLTOX, ADAMS, AND CO. CAMBRIDHE, MACMILLAS AND CO. DfJBLIN, M'llLARHAN AND Gil I. (iLASnOW, JAMES MACLEKOSi:. AN ANGLERS RAMBLES AND ANGLING SONGS BY THOMAS TOD STODDART AITIIOR OF 'the angler's COMPANION TO THE RIVKRS AND LOCHS OF SCOTLAND.' EDINBURGH EDMONSTON & DOUGLAS MDCCCI.XVI. 360675 HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF ROXBURGHE, WHOSE SKILL AND EXPERIENCE AS A SALMON-FISHER ARE ONLY EXCELLED BY THE GENEROSITY HE HAS UNIFORMLY SHOWN TOWARDS THE LOVERS OF RIVER-SIDE SPORTS ; AND TO WHOM, FOR HIS EXERTIONS IN CONNEXION WITH THE TWEED ACTS NOW IN FORCE, BOTH THE ANGLING COMMUNITY AT LARGE, AND THE OWNERS OF SALMON-FISHINGS ON THE BORDER RIVERS, ARE GREATLY INDEBTED, THIS VOLUME IS MOST RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED. CONTENTS. PAGE Prepacb, . . xi Note, . . . ' ... XV An Angler's Rambles among the Rivers and Lochs of Scotland, 3 Sutherlandshire, .... 29 Eulogistic — A Comparison, 43 Morayshire, . . ... 45 The River Nairn — A Retrospect, . '. 49 The Identity of the Pinnock and Orange-fin Smolt, 50 TheFindhorn, ... 54 Song, 66 Perthshire, . . . . 68 Sonnet, . . . . 71 The Taking of the Salmon, . 72 The Angler's DeHghts, 76 The Pirate of the Lakes, .... 98 The Vindication, .... 107 When the Angler goes a-Trolling, . 115 Trolling Song, ... 120 A Picture, ... . . 127 Be Busy, Good Angler, he Busy ! . 132 Angling about Edinburgh Forty Years ago, 134 The Angler's Invitation, 141 Ross-shire, ..... 142 Loch Achilty, 148 Vin CONTENTS. PiOE Deer of Tor Achilty, . 148 A Locli Scene, . 150 The Conon, 152 Sonnet, .... . 154 Loch Achilty— Its Stickleback, . . 160 The Invocation, . 164 Prospects, . . 170 Tyne and Devon, 171 The Holy Well, 176 The Linus of Glen-Devon, . . 182 St. Ronau'a Club, 183 Song, . 190 The Angler's Fly-Stock, 191 The Fairy Angler, 195 Fairy's Song, . 196 St. Mary's Loch, . 197 Song — The Yellow Fins of Yarrow, . 203 Sonnet, . 213 Ettrick Forest, . 213 The Old Wand, . 219 The Shepherd's Dog, 221 The Voice of the Cuckoo, . . 227 At EUeray, . 228 The Brethren of the Streams, . 234 Our Choice, . 241 A StroU by the Waters of the Solway, 242 My Fisher Lad, 247 The Drought of 1864, . . 248 The Drought of 1864, how it AflFeeted the Angler, 251 The Otter of our Borders, . 262 The Laird's Cast, . 270 Otters — continued, . 271 CONTENTS. The Warders of the Waters, Runs -with Salmon , To the Tweed, A Peck o' Troubles,- Pisciculture — A Visit to Mr. Shaw, Dru'mlaurig, The Trysting-Tree, . The Grayling, Tweed for Ever ! . Lochmaben — First Visit, The Greeting of the Spring, Lochmaben — Second Visit, The Heron-Lake, .... The Transplantation of Fresh-Water Fishes, The Jolly Angler, The Transplantation of Fresh -Water Fishes— continued, Musings, .... The Transplantation of Fresh- Water Fishes. — continued, The King o' the Cauld, The Effects of Transplanting Trout, Sea-Fishing, Out of the Gallery of Memory, A Cruel Drinking-Song, Sea-Fishing — concluded. The Farewell Meeting, A Few Observations on the Oharr of our Scotch Lakes, The Otter, . Ross-shire and its Zoology, The Greeting, Serpents and Goats, Fisher Rob, The Water-Ousel, Glee, CONTENTS. PAGt The Wastage. on the Spawning-Beds of the Salmon, . . 365 Sonnet— The Eden, . .371 The Parr-Stock of Tweed and its Treatment, . 37 1 Sonnet — A Reminiscence of Leistering, . . 383 The Feathered Enemies of the Parr-Stock, 386 Epigram, . 387 Sonnet — Irregular, . . . 392 Requirements of Tweed, . - 392 Conclusion, . 400 The Angler's Grave, . . 402 Index, . 405 PEEFACE. Most of the Songs and Poems embodied in this volume were printed in a collected form, along with other effu- sions, several years ago — published I can hardly call them ; for although bearing on the title-page, by express sanction, the imprimatur of a celebrated Edinburgh firm, they laboured under the disadvantage of emanating from a provincial press, were sparingly advertised, and not urged to any great extent upon public attention. From the reviewer, however, in the limited sphere of ordeal to which they were submitted, they met with a flattering reception, which was enhanced, shortly after its issue, by the exhaustion of the impression. Of this success I ne- glected to avail myself, and it was only recently, encouraged by the solicitations of friends, that I entertained the idea of putting that portion of my rhythmical effusions to- gether in a new shape, and blending them at haphazard with a few prose sketches on piscatorial subjects. In carrying this plan into execution, besides introducing original matter, I have subjected my former compositions to a careful revision, pruning them where I discovered redundancies, and investing them, where it seemed both XII PREFACE. in keeping and of advantage, with some new thought or more approved form of expression. So much for the poetical portion of the present volume. In regard to the Prose sketches, several of them appeared a few years ago in the pages of a weekly sporting paper published in London. My intention, when they were commenced, was simply to relate in a consecutive form some of my angling experiences. In doing this, I trusted for assistance to a diary or register kept by me since the spring of 1827, in which have been jotted down, punctu- ally as they occurred, my successes with the rod and line, etc. The connexion, however, formed by me with the journal I have just referred to gave a different turn to the design, and will account to some extent for the rambling and diffusive character of this part of the work. During a residence of nearly thirty years on Tweed- side, I have had ample opportunities for making myself acquainted with the habits of the migratory Salmonidce belonging to our Border rivers. I feel therefore in a position to pronounce unhesitatingly upon several points relating to the natural history of the salar, eriox, and alhis, during their sojourn in the fresh water, which are not generally subscribed to. Throughout the volume wiU be found scattered the views entertained by me upon some of these questions. I have introduced the expression of them, however, not in order to provoke discussion, but simply, and in a casual form, as matter of conviction resting with myself PREFACE. xiii To the requirements of Tweed and its tributaries, under tlie treatment which they are at present receiving, I have also, in the concluding pages, called attention. Through the zealous exertions of his Grace the Duke of Eoxburghe, our Border rivers have been set free from many glaring abuses, and are now under control of Acts of Parliament, which promise to work well for them in future ; but it is impossible not to see, as new exigencies present them- selves, where further reforms are required, and may be set in motion, The suggestions made by me in this direction, I have the gratification of knowing are generally approved of by my angling friends on Tweedside. NOTE. The courtesy of the Angling Club established at the " Nest," in granting the use of their spirited engraving, ' The Water-Ousel/ by Simson, as an appropriate orna- ment to the title-page of these Poems and Sketches, is acknowledged by the Author, with many thanks. AN ANGLER'S RAMBLES AMONG THE RIVERS AND LOCHS OF SCOTLAND. INTRODUCTORY. In the opening stanzas of this Poem, the Rambler, referring to his angling experiences on several of the more prominent rivers and lochs connected with our Highland districts, dwelleth very briefly upon their leading features ; and, at Stanza Fourth, is moved by the recollections of n tour through the wilds of Sutherlandshire, in the year of our Lord 1850, to descant upon some of the sporting waters belonging to that county. AN ANGLER'S RAMBLES AMONG THE RIVERS AND LOCHS OF SCOTLAND. T ' VE angled fqr and angled wide, On Fannich drear, by Luichart's side. Across dark Conon's current ; Have trod by Beauley's silver'd stream, Where flashing through the Forest Dream Hangs the eternal torrent. Among the rocks of blue Maree, O'er whose chafed billows, ever free, Impatient eagles hover ; And where, at Glomach's ruffian steep. The pent stream takes its daring leap Many a fathom over. By Lochy sad and Laggan lake ; Where Spey uncoils his glittering snake Among the hills of thunder ; Dropping at will the witching fly Where swarthy Findhorn hurries by The booming Forest under. AN angler's rambles Where, from his lair of clouds, Ben More Keeps sullen watch o'er sea and shore, — A huge unbending terror ! That in the pauses of the storm Scowling regards his rugged form In Assynt's trembling mirror. With the sad water-nymphs that weave His summer raiment, morn and eve, I've join'd in plaintive chorus ; A hundred voices lent their wail, Moan'd the black tarn and sung the gale In fitful gusts before us. VI. Inver caught up the doleful chaunt. And from the kelpie's reedy haunt Came shapes and sounds unchancy. — Fays, elves and bogles — sobs and chimes — Spell-word and charm and wizard rhymes Woven in the loom of Fancy ; VII. In the grim passes of the West, Where Kirkaig in his fierce unrest Foams like a demon frantic. Tearing his way from Fewn's embrace Through moor and mist — a troubled race — To wed the wild Atlantic ! AND ANGLING SONGS. VIII. Below the corries of the stag, 111 hollows deep o'erhung with crag, In meres whose floating liHes Give shelter to the giant trout — A gleamy chain whose links stretch out From Lairg to Edderachyllis, IX. Chafing the base of bold Ben Stack, And onward through the salmon track Of the famed Laxford twining ; Coy Laxford ! which the sea-nymphs love And lure into their laughing grove With amorous inclining. In Dionard's melancholy strath, Whilom the spell broke on Cape Wrath Of demons in commotion, Scaring from its accustom'd haunt The dank and moody cormorant. Weird watcher of the ocean ! Far in the distance, as I sped Whither the wilful river led, Willing and strong to follow, Loom'd the grand front of cloud and sea, And moans of conflict, stealthily. Crept panting up the hollow. 6 AN angler's rambles xn. In shadow of those summits grey, Where hunted the old lords of Reay, Chasing the antlers royal From sunny Erriboll across With wild halloo through quiv'ring moss To the broad base of Loyal. XIII. In that green valley on whose breast Sings Naver with a lover's zest, All through the tide of summer, — Filling the solitude with life, And soothing the harsh ear of strife With its bewitching glamour. xiV. On Hallowdale, whose moorland blood Grows pale, invaded by the flood Which, when the south winds rally. From huddled storms and sleeping snows- The garner'd thrifts of winter — flows Resistless down the valley. XV. The angler Q^ Thurso, blended with whose name passeth to ' and'^ursueth Live feats of skill approaching fame his calling ^^jj tQ ji,g angler dearer— Talk'd over at the evening board. The wand a rival to the sword. Above the smoking cheerer — AND ANGLING SONGS. XVJ. Talk'd over when the heart is rife, And the strong passion of one's Hfe Takes form in fireside story ; In that rich hour when Fancy sooth Throws her fiower'd mantle over Truth, And elevates to glory ; On Thurso, with whose going forth To face the rough seas of the North Amid the March winds' bluster, Is heard the war-cry from afar Of the 'impetuous' Dunbar, ' Ho ! anglers, to the muster ! ' XVIII. Below the fairy Ess of Shin, Where poised on its elastic fin The salmon breasts the current ; On Brora too, whose pulse throbs fast, Timed by the moaning of the blast, And music of the torrent. He taketh a cast of the wand On Deveron, where the Huntly's tower Tells its own tale of feudal power In grim, barbaric letters ; Among the braes of Rothiemay, And where the Bogie blinks the day Under its flowery fetters. The angler visiteth the rivers of Aberdeen- shire. AN ANGLER S RAMBLES XX. In the broad valley of the Dee, Whose wealth of fish and dearth of tree Find comment in old annal ; And in that strath, to anglers dear, Where Don and Urie blend their cheer In one harmonious channel. He proceed- eth to Forfar- shire and dippeth line In those sweet Esks whose seaward course Seems of persuasion more than force, Yet thralls confess'd of ocean ; Which in the spring-time render up The overflowing of their cup With emulous devotion. He passeth to the High- lands of Perthshire, XXII. Where wed the Garry and the Tilt, In the chosen stronghold of the kilt, Rock-bound and deck'd with heather ; In pools bridged o'er with leafy arch, Birch, hazel, alder, oak, and larch, I've cast the cunning feather. xxin. On Tummel too, whose life is all One fair romance from lake to fall. Soul-moving, eye-delighting ; A story and a vision both Which strangely, in our later growth, Renews Us power inviting. AND ANGLING SONGS. Wild Tummel ! nursed on Rannoch's lap, Where many a legend of mishap Lends to the terrors reigning, And fed in thine expanded course By savage Erocht roaring hoarse What time the moori is waning ! XXV. To thee, confides Schihallion The joys and sorrows of his throne, The sun-gleam and the shadow ; All the strong burthen of his breast Is laid on thine, from steep and crest Down to the enamell'd meadow. The mystery of beauty dwells With thee, unrobing in thy dells. And wantoning round thy fountains ; Winter and summer — fall and spring Works the sweet spell, within its ring Of forests, lakes, and mountains. XXVII. Oft shouldering my trusty wand, The angler I've traversed the stern Grampian land Grampians. Made famous by the Roman, And conjured from grey mound and fosse Pierce cohorts deluging the moss. In shadow of the gloamin' ! lo AN angler's rambles Huge heights that argue deep descents ! Dark dells and gorges hung with rents, And by contention serried — The pylcB of the winds which roam At autumn-tide, with steps of foam And wail of forms unburied ! Toward this source of river life, The angler yearns with spirit-strife And sympathies untiring ; Its skies on him rain harmonies. And from the heath float melodies, At the soul's strong desiring. XXX. Upon his inner ear the chime Of waters, like some cherish'd rhyme, Falls with a power entrancing ; And in its strain the tone recalls Of Love's delighting madrigals — His life and love enhancing. Resist for aye the tide of change, Ye Grampians ! Be the same stem range That hush'd our boyhood's prattle ! Keep in this day your ancient place, And nourish still a fiery race To lead into the battle 1 AND ANGLING SONGS. 1 1 XXXII. No longer I essay to climb Your stormy heights, the hand of Time So sorely on me presses ; But in the valleys now delight, And watch the shadows of their might Dark'ning the green recesses. XXXIII. The impulses which moved the boy Have pass'd away. A graver joy Absorbs the heart's possession ; Lull'd are the ecstasies of youth. The glowing meteors of untruth Extinguish'd at discretion. xxxiv. A wrestler with the winds no more ! The, visionary life is o'er, I steer to safer soundings, And lower the anchor of my lot Far down in some secluded spot Among your grand surroundings. XXXV. Oh ! yalleys of the Grampian mould ! Oh ! valleys red with virgin gold — Rife with the angler's treasure ; With poet's blessings doubly blest. Your memory is a joy imprest, The emphasis of pleasure ! 12 AN ANGLER S RAMBLES He contem- plateth the Tay and its finny trea- sures. Before me, in its brave array, Expands the royal Strath of Tay With castle crown'd and palace ; Emerging through the summer's haze, Magnificent in every phase, Queen of our northern valleys ! XXXVII. The highway of the salmon rolls, Life-throng'd, below thy heathery knolls And resonant with tidings From the far sea — a thoroughfare Whose traffic is the rich and rare, From Nature's secret hidings. XXXVIII. In the chaste keeping of thy bed The shining nuggets of the ' redd' Await the summer's pleasure, A^^^ich coins them into life, and drapes With jewell'd sails their tiny shapes, An argosie of treasure ■! He indulgeth in a train of reflections. XXXIX. Musing on thee, springs frozen long Burst into life with voice of song, Seal'd memories break their bondage ; The strange, resuscitating power Steals o'er me in that rapt'rous hour, Below the wavy frondage. AND ANGLING SONGS. 1 3 XL. The fairy forms of early loves Once more come trooping through the groves, Aglow with their old graces ; In flowers of amaranth deck'd, and fed With nectar and the generous bread Which care and age displaces. XLI. Crowd other shapes into the scene The spirits of great anglers Of Statelier mould and prouder mien, pp^ before A noble band ! renowning The path they trod by charm of song. And the o'erlookings of the throng At their high bidding crowning. XLI I. To these great masters of the art, All nature bow'd the inner heart In generous reliance, And her round wonders gave to light Stoled in the beauty and the might Of Poetry and Science. XLIII. Among them, stateliest of all. Moves Wilson, like a second Saul, Erect with' presence regal ; Flash over whose rapt countenance Alternate with the lion's glance, The lightnings of the eagle. 14 AN angler's rambles No crown wears he of Art's design, No symbol of the right divine His noble form investing ; Those ample brows in fire enshrined Declare the empire of the mind, Its sov'reignty attesting. XLV. A poet in the truest sense, The voice of whose intelligence Prevails o'er hill and hollow ; With lofty impulses and grand Inspiriting our fatherland, — The high priest of Apollo The angler descanteth on the rivers of Fife, and their vicissi- tudes. XLVI. How of thy rivers staid and scared, Robb'd of their life — their song impair' d. Shall I recount the glory, King-honour'd Fife ! whose sturdy thanes Hurl'd back the yellow-bearded Danes Into the surges hoary'? XLVII. Among the beautiful, their names Will live, coeval with the Thames, As tuneful and engaging ; — Leven ! whose liquid syllables Flow forth as from untroubled wells, Heart-moving, grief-assuaging. AND ANGLING SONGS. I 5 Eden ! from Heaven's vocabulary Chosen by the ear of Harmony, At the grand consecration, When the Earth's first deputed lord Named, as instructed by the Word, Each wonder of Creation. XLIX. Of his fair bower, before the Fall, An echo and memorial, — The promise-word of pardon, That to the listening ear of faith Bears tidings of a conquer'd Death, And a celestial garden. Fair names, symbolic of thy life And rural beauty, Royal Fife ! In days, alas ! departed ; When all the juices of the soil Were vigorous, and no hand of spoil Enslaved them, or diverted. LI. Changed as they are, I hold in mind Their better days, when, unconfined, They glided through the valleys ; When on their surface lusty trout Gamboll'd, or put to sudden rout The minnows on the shallows. i6 AN angler's rambles The angler pursuelh his sport and train of thought Where Daer, like a dower'd bride, Strikes league of love with infant Clyde, In hearing of the plover ; Surrendering her ampler power, To the strong impulse of the hour, — The frenzy of the lover ! LIII. All the sad presages that strew Thy history, in the long ago, Rise up, like apparitions, Fair Clyde ! when in thy valley's heart I rest — suspending my loved art, To con thy rude traditions. LIV. Reflected on these waters bright. The image of a val'rous knight With this day-dreaming mingles — The patriot warrior, at whose name Even still, when jealous of her fame. The ear of Scotland tingles. Assertor of his country's rights — The flower and glory of her knights — Our boyhood's hero, Wallace ! With whose high purposes were blent, Stirr'd by the red fires of the tent, Sweet images of solace : AND ANGLING SONGS. 1 7 Welcomed not least the dream of peace,^ A coming period of release, When, like a breast of surges, In the ebb-tide, the Soythron hosts Shall hurry homeward scared by ghosts And wail of fun'ral dirges. LVII. In these anticipated joys. Thy waters held prevailing voice, And lent to the illusion ; Rose up alike to m^d and ear. Old Corra Linn, and haunts as dear Took part in the confusion. All old delights came crowding back Along the consecrated track Where mem'ry holds her treasures. The sports and frolics of the boy Stirr'd up an augury of joy — A sense of coming pleasures. LIX. Doubtless, in musings such as these. Encircled by fond images. The patriot's vigils fleeted ; Predominant throughout thy voice. Laden with promises of joys, And triumphs uncompleted. B AN angler's rambles The angler shiftcth thii scene of his musings to that portion of the land of Burns, LX. Wliere Annan and her sister Nith Toward the Solway's radiant frith, With summer off'rings freighted, Steer, side by side, in maiden glee, Blending with songs of liberty The theme of love requited. Such songs sang Scotland's dearest bard. Brightening the verdure of the sward Throughout his native valleys ; — Gifting the daisy at his feet With charms, and drawing music sweet Out of the blue bell's chalice. LXII. Long may his noble lays assert Their peaceful sway, and stir the heart With melody inviting ; So long as our bright rivers run Seaward, and glisten in the sun, Rejoicing and delighting ! He dwelleth with delight on the happy days spent by him in Eskdale, LXIII. Where nurtured amid pastoral slopes, With merry Esk fair Liddel copes, Fair Liddel ! brimm'd with story Of olden time, when from his hold The Armstrong with his reivers bold Rode roughly to the foray. AND ANGLING SONGS. LXIV. Thy dewy uplands often roll Before me, knoll succeeding knoll, At the mind's invocation, Charm'd Esk ! a panorama bright Which waves before the inner sight In endless fascination. LXV. Thy waters dancing at its feet, Billholm smiles out from its retreat, Lit up with happy faces. And jubilant with merry prate Of children — a dear friend's estate. The bower of the Graces ! LXVI. Year after year, when summer tide Is ebbing, and the river-side Teems with excess of riches, I give surrender to the spells That circumvent thy dewy dells — The beauty that bewitches ; LXVII. Climbing to every vantage ground Of distant prospect, round and round- To their green sources tracing The flowery glens that part the hills — Listening the whisper of the rills Or their starr'd tenants chasing. 20 AN ANGLER'S RAMBLES LXVIII. To the delights that make thee dear, These add their salutary cheer, Thou warbler among rivers ! Companion of the mind, sweet Esk ! Whose course is as the arabesque Of light brok'n into shivers. The angler bendeth his steps to * * " LXIX. Where Dee leaves stealthily his den Of mists to ravish laughing Ken And on her bosom revel ; Appropriating haugh and brae, All through the breadth of Galloway, — Flower'd glade and rushy level. LXX. Below Threave's tragic walls, whose lord " Cross'd with his sovereign speech and sword In insolent ambition. Where Mollance Meg, with \isage swart, To Douglas of the bloody heart Tender'd her fiery mission. He is moved by the recol- lection of his successes, LXXI. On lakes whose depths no glancing oar Disturbs or scares the beaded store Which, in the da\vns of summer, And at the dusks, with widening ring. O'er the lull'd ranges pasturing, Rewake the expiring tremor. AND ANGLING SONGS. 2 1 LXXII. Those massive cisterns hewn of old When the retiring Deluge roll'd Back on its desolations, Leaving in margins broad and rife Memorials of some mighty strife Which bared the 'old earth's' foundations. LXXIII. With few ambitions stretching out Beyond the capture of the trout, In a long life of dreaming, I've made my study to delight The thousand hoards of water-might Among our mountains gleaming. Poets have link'd them with their song To deeds of rapine and of wrong; — To elements of mystery — To the fierce feuds of clan with clan, And the wild wails of Ossian — The cradle-songs of history. LXXV. Painters have studied, soul and heart. Beside them, the enrapturing art Which, at their happiest blending, Or darkest strife, perpetuates, Of heaven and earth, the loves and hates. The union and ttie rending. 22 AN angler's rambles Philosophy hath girt them round, And plied with theories profound Their origin and uses ; The slimy, huge pre-Adamites That in the weary primal nights Lay lurking in the sluices ; Strange forms ! congenial to the haze That wrapt them in their dawning days. When spake the Power Eternal, And chaos fled, and by degrees Establish'd were the harmonies, And seasons harsh and vernal. ' The angler But dearer than all these to me, draweth a comparison. Dcarest of strcams that seek the sea And lave old Scotland's heather, Art thou — the arches of whose skies Spann'd my youth's ardent paradise. And linked its joys together. LXXIX. Tweed ! royal Tweed ! nor less I love The vassal streams that with thee rove In the glad pride of duty. Whose mingling waters swell thy state- Thy tide of song invigorate And amplify thy beauty. land. AND ANGLING SONGS. 23 LXXX. Chief of them all — renown'd not least In Border tale of love and feast, Fierce wooing and rough wedding, Of sudden raid and stubborn siege, Of wizard-craft and sacrilege. Rope, fagot, and blood-shedding, LXXXI. Rolls Teviot, opulent in song, He enlarges ^ ° on Teviot From liquid throat and silver tongue of the Border In the night's list'ning watches And at the sun-break, ere the dove Mellows the chorus of the grove — Pouring his ballad snatches. And ever from his joyous moutn When heaven's breath ambles from the south. Flow measures light and airy. Responsive of those spirit-sounds That link with Roxburgh's dreamy mounds The revels of the fairy. LXXXIII. A river opulent in sport Not less than song — the choice resort And watchword of its lovers ; Whose every stretch and turn abound In scaly life, and all around The feather'd fills the covers. 24 AN angler's rambles LXXXIV. Glorious old Teviot ! I hold faith In thy bright waters to the death — My heart beats to their timing ; They travel with me in my dreams, And greet the ear, when morning beams, With their melodious chiming. LXXXV. For, all the spring and summer long. And in the autumn-tide, my song Upon their banks is chaunted ; And waves untired the angler's wand Where waved of old revengeful brand And rival banners flaunted. LXXXVI. As fair, not dearer, yet as dear. Persuading more the inner ear — The inner vision moving — Ettrick and Yan-ow, hand in hand, — The sisters of the Forest land. Divide my spirit's loving. LXXXVII. With them, as with creations bright Of inexhaustible delight, My boyhood's fancy revell'd ; And loves and friendships too were form'd,- Some chill'd by time and others warm'd, — Some by the mower levell'd. AND ANGLING SONGS. 25 LXXXVIII. In these disturbing memories, This chequer'd page of sympathies, St. Mary's has its holding ; Belovbd lake ! whose fair expanse Before me heaves, in daily trance, With all the hills enfolding ; He revisiteth St. Mary's Loch, LXXXIX. And resting on their heights the skies That watch thee with unwearied eyes, And lull with soft caresses ; All that adorn'd and made thee dear — That fill'd the fisher's heart with cheer, Into the vision presses. xc. An angler's blessing with thee dwellj My hostess, hale and ven'rable, God keep thee long in fettle ! Tibbie ! old friend, whose beaming face Withdrawn, would leave an empty place — A shadow on the settle. and passeth into the old howff. XCI. Nigh forty summers have roll'd by. Since, on an evening in July, By Yarrow's bard directed, I first beneath thy homely thatch Found harbour and an open latch — A welcome unaffected. 26 AN angler's rambles XCII. Often since then, on weary feet Trudging, I've hail'd the loved retreat From Meggat's chimeful river. As relish' d still, the rural fare — The welcome which awaits me there As hearty found as ever. XCIII. No change in this ; but at thy hearth Changes peep out and check the mirth That thoughtless tongues have started Shadows from Grave-land on me wait, And lead me back to meditate Upon the days departed. xciv. Speak out the staid memorials Depending from the rustic walls ; These registers are teeming With memories of friendships dear — Of palmy feasts and olden cheer That set the soul a-dreaming. xcv. Wilson was in his glory then ; The Shepherd flourish'd rod and pen — Guests oft at thy snug shieling, Blythe Tib ! — each in himself a host ; — Then the bards angled, and their toast Aspired to heaven's blue ceiling. AND ANGLING SONGS. 27 XCVI. Waved vigorous wand in these glad days, Aytoun, whose patriotic lays Keep march with Scotland's standard ; Then Gordon moved the list'ning hills With eloquence, and by the rills Sage Ferrier, musing, wander'd. XCVII. With reason may our Scottish North Boast of its joyous wellings forth — Its sea-arms, salmon-haunted — Its tidal flow, which fcetid sewer Hath not disturb'd, nor yet the roar Of engine disenchanted ; — The angler . reverteth to our Norland rivers, and concedeth to them a cer- tain measure of superi- ority. XCVIII. The tarns that with its purpling heights Associate dark, forbidden rites And mysteries illegals Lochans at which the red-deer slakes His noon-day thirst, and, as mom breaks. His matins holds the eagle. xcix. Our I^owland valleys bear to these A world of fair affinities, But want the features awing — The solitude — the rocky tracks Appointed to the cataracts — The morn's grand curtain-drawing. 28 AN angler's rambles C. The voices which from steep to steep Call, when the storm-breath stirs the deep, And winds and waters wrestle ; — The silences profound which brood Upon the mountain solitude, And in the hollows nestle ; — CI. The wonder and amaze which dwell With the sublime and terrible, On edge of chasms wide-yawning ; On brink of precipice, round which Lie coil'd, in luring folds and rich, The mist-bands of the dawning. cm. Freely concede we to the North, And its displays of savage worth, Pre-eminence in splendour ; — The glory which is rapt and free From taint of gross humanity. The excellence of grandeur ! CII. Our valleys are but tame to hers — Our summits stoled in minnivers, With her rough fronts contrasted ; We have few lakes whereof to vaunt ; Our torrents hold no summer chant. Nor rave through forests blasted. AND ANGLING SONGS. CIV. And yet to me, a life and grace He recover- eth ground in Environ them, wliich find no place Border-land, and windeth Apart from human dwelling ; "p ''"=■ The joy of beauty undisturb'd — The sympathy which flows uncurb'd From the heart's fountain welling. cv. Here, on the tryst-ground of regard, Embrace the Angler and the Bard, And interchange their greetings ; Here ; not among the crags and storms, But circled by familiar forms. They hold their kindred meetings. SUTHEKLANDSHIHE. An invitation from the late Mr. Andrew Young to fish the Shin, led me, in 1850, to make arrangements for visiting Suther- landshire, and forming an acquaintance with its numerous rivers and lakes. I had previou.sly met' Mr. Young at the hou.se of my friend, the late James Wilson, Esq., F.R.S.E., brother of Chris- topher North, and listened with pleasure to the account of his experiments in salmon breeding and marking — the results of which, although corroborated by those of similar experiments made at Stormonthfield and elsewhere, are still received with some measure of incredulity on Tweed-side. My quarters, while on Shin-side, were divided betwixt Lairg and Achinduich — the latter a farm-house in connexion with extensive sheep-walks. 30 AN angler's rambles Both weather and water were in a most unfavourable state for salmon-fishing ; the former bright and oppressively hot, the latter small and clear. Moreover, the pest of gnats was at its height ; and no one but he who has had experience of the Sutterland midge can imagine what torture this very insignificant demon puts one to. My take on the upper water, which, owing to the long drought, and the difficulty in consequence the fish had in surmounting the Palls at Shinness, was but thinly stocked, con- sisted merely of three grilses ; but I had the consolation of being told by Mr. Young, that a party of anglers, including ' Ephemera,' had thrashed the same stretch of river for the preceding ten days, and only encreeled a single fin. On the day following, I selected Loch Shin as my field of action, in the high hope of capturing a specimen or two of the Salmo ferox. For this purpose, proceeding to Lairg, I engaged a boat, but failed in securing the services of the ferryman, Mackay, recommended to me by Mr. Young. A puritanical- looking Highlander, however, responding to the name of Donald, was at my disposal ; and save that he lost me a lot of valuable time by insisting on the necessity of providing myself with baits for trolling with out of the small lake which subtends Loch Shin, instead of procuring them, as I showed him how to do, from the feeders of the main, loch, did his work with the oar in good style, and , evidently knew the places where the big trout were likely to be taken. It was not, however, until late in the afternoon that I succeeded in hooking and landing the desired specimen, a, ferox of about six pounds, my fly-rod in the interim having effected the capture of some nice trout, ranging in weight from IJ lb. to half a lb. A portion of the following day was devoted to the examination of Mr. Young's collection, and discussing with its owner certain points in the natural history of the salmon, etc. We were not altogether at one on the habits of the otter ; but I agreed with him to the letter as to the ravages com- AND ANGLING SONGS. 3 1 mitted by the common river trout among the salmon fry and on the salmon ' redds.' In the evening I took a stroll in company with my friend, the then tenant of Aohinduich, to Shinness, with the view of witness- ing the eiforts of the fish to overcome the falls. From what I saw there, and have elsewhere seen, I am quite convinced that a newly-run, well-conditioned salmon, in July and August, can, on reaching, by a spring or leap, the point at which the descent of water breaks, make its way up the neck or compact portion of the fall, let it be ever so perpendicular, by the pushing and steer- ing powers of its fins and tail. Shinness, independent of its scenic attractions, presents, in the month of August, perhaps as good a point of observation as any in Scotland for ascertaining the climbing capabilities of the salmon, and forming an opinion of its determinedness when in quest of eligible breeding-ground. On the 12th of August, I proceeded by mail-gig to Loch Inver, the inn whereof, along with the rod-fishings of the river, were then in the hands of Mr. Dunbar. Arriving there, I fo.und assembled a party of anglers, and among them the late Mr. Fitz- gibbon, the well-known and highly appreciated contributor on fishing subjects, etc., to BelVs Life. We were soou, as may be supposed, on terms of intimacy ; and in the course of the evening stroUed out together, rod in hand, along the banks of the Inver, which, owing to the want of rain, was in a most exhausted state. A sea-trout of two or three pounds' weight was the sum-total encreeled by me, after an hoiir's perseverance. Next day, in company with Mr. Fitzgibbon, I gave trial to some of the most likely pools higher up, but only succeeded in raising two salmon which came towards the fly with seeming distrust, and refused all further recognition of my lures. This indifference, no doubt, proceeded from the reduced state of the river and the prevailing heat ; but it was also evident, and admitted by Mr. Dunbar, that the Inver was poorly stocked ; a conclusion I came to from the 32 AN ANGLER S RAMBLES fact of not observing a sijigle fish plunge throughout the whole stretch of water, extending for at least three miles, fished over by me, up and down, on this occasion. On the 14th I crossed over to the Kirkaig, with old Sandy M'Torq^uil, the pensioner, as my guide ; but beyond basketing a few finnocks achieved nothing. Sahnon-fisiiing was evidently at a stand-still, so resolving in the meantime to give it up, I accepted Mr. Dunbar's kind ofi"er to accompany Mr. Fitzgibbon and myself to the lower end of Loch Assynt ; after testing which, we were promised the opportunity of forming an acquaintance with some of the smaller trouting lochs (there are at least twd hundred belonging to the district) in its vicinity. It became necessary, in order to fish the latter properly, to transport to them a boat — the margins of most of them being unsafe to ven- ture on with the foot ; and all access to where the trout lay being shut up at that season of the year by aquatic vegetation. Their proximity to the Inver, however, at a point where fishing-cobles were kept, made this a matter of little difficulty. In the Angler's Companion I find I have already taken notice of a haul made by Dunbar with the long-net at a bend on the Inver, for the pur- pose of showing us how prolific and fish-sustaining this river really is. The interlude I refer to was performed on our way up, and although Mr. Dunbar expressed himself dissatisfied with the result, in the matter of yellow trout particularly, it quite astonished the lookers-on. I may here mention that, while at Loch Inver, I dedicated two or three hours to the testing of the trouting capabilities of its river. The scene of my operations was at the head of one of its expansions, not very far from Loch Assynt, and as the sky was cloudless and the day calm, I had resort to my favourite summer lure, the worm. In the time above specified, my diary speaks to my having taken twenty-five trout, weighing upwards of eleven lbs. Keverting to our exploring trip with Dunbar, we made trial of AND ANGLING SONGS. 33 Loch Assynt and the lesser lochs holding communication with the Inver, with, as might be expected (certainly at least not to my own disappointment), a very limited measure of success ; but to record the result met with, as affecting the repute of the places tested, would be absurd, — the season, weather, condition of water, and time of day, all operating in prejudice of sport. "While fishing on Loch Assynt, under a cloudless sky, Dunbar called our attention to two eagles of the golden species, hovering in the distance, over a glen or corrie that stretched beyond the hills guarding the south-west extremity of the lake. They were watching, there could be no question, the expiring struggles of a sheep or lamb, accidents to which are common in that quarter, and were preparing to make a descent on the quarry. Above them, at a respectful distance, floated three or four ravens, a number which, during the short time we regarded them (quarter of an hour at the most), was increased to no fewer than nine, the new-comers winging their way at a vast height from their beilds on the craggy side of Ben More. On the day following, I took advantage of the mail-gig to return to Innisindamph, where we had baited on the journey from Lairg, and from which point I had arranged to visit Muloch Corrie, or the Gillarroo Lake ; also to test, by trolling, the repute of Loch Assynt as a /eroa;-containing sheet of water. There, after breakfasting, I engaged a boat arid provided myself with troUing-bait from the Trailigill burn — a matter of no great diffi- culty, as it swarmed with small trout. My successes among the ferocen of Loch Assynt were limited to two specimens, one of sis and another of four pounds; but with the fly-rod I was on the whole fortunate, killing several dozens of fine yellow trout. The best portion of these were taken from a bay or inlet close to Ardvrock Castle, celebrated as the stronghold in which, when taken prisoner by the Laird of Assynt in 1650, the Marquis of Montrose was confined. While fishing from the boat, two golden C 34 AN angler's rambles eagles, male and female, crossed within shot, and a red deer came down to the water's edge and stood unconcernedly within a hundred yards of us. On the 21st, I scrambled up the face of the celebrated lime- stone-rock, and wended my way towards Muloch Corrie, over a tract of ground, the most striking feature of which consisted of a vast range of cone-shaped pits, nine or ten feet in depth, and about the same in diameter. Their purpose I leave to the con- jecture of the antiquarian ; but taking them into combination with other singular features in the same locality, they appeared to me to have been used at one time as human abodes or retreats ; possibly they formed the encampment of an army, or large hunt- ing-party. Before reaching the Gillarroo loch I encountered a fall of snow (the heights of Cannisbe were in white array through- out the forenoon), the air became piercingly cold, and I resigned internally all expectations of capturing a specimen of the gizzard trout. I succeeded, however, in basketing as many as nine — a sufficient number to enable me, on a careful examination of their alleged peculiarities, to form my own opinion respecting them. On descending by the course of the TrailigiU river, which connects Muloch Corrie with Loch Assynt, I caught about two dozen trout, several of which were singularly marked. Of these, three or four exceeded a pound in weight. — (See Angling Com- panion, p. 20.) From Innisindamph I proceeded next day, per mail-gig, to Soourie. The drive is a delightful one ; it compre- hends a stretch of scenery unsurpassed by anything of the sort which can be viewed from a carriage-road in Scotland. Descend- ing the heightsj five or six miles from our starting-point, the eye becomes arrested by Cunaig, — not the dorsal ridge you see at Loch Inver, but its Titan front — a huge frowning precipice, scarred with water-courses, and, in the very centre of its forehead, dis- closing a hollow recess, or orbless eyehole, directed towards the Atlantic, which, at no great distance, is stretched before you in AND ANGLING SONGS. 35 glorious amplitude. Yet the mountain- wall and swelling ocean are but pertinents in the scene, for involuntarily from tliem the eje turns towards those mighty passes, Glen Dhu and Glen Cuil, by which Ben More and its accessory hills find escape for the accumulations of snow and rain. Therej and on Kylesku, with its dark barrier of waters and lonely ferry-house, the gaze of the traveller falls, I cannot say rests, for there is no lulling influence in the scene, but much that amazes and excites, if it does not terrify and bewilder. Having arrived at Scourie, I called upon my old friend Evan- der Maclvor, Esq., one of the factors to his Grace the Duke of Sutherland, and obtained the requisite permission to angle over the district in his charge, comprising Edderachylis and Scourie. I was also favoured by him with a note to Lord Anson, who, along with Lord Grosvenor, was at that time lessee of the deer- shootings and rod- fishings on the Laxford, and surrounding Loch Stack. By his Lordship I was courteously received, and made welcome to the use of one of his boats on the lake, as well as invited to take a day's angling on the river. The former was fished by me under considerable disadvantages, the day being highly tempestuous, and the boat under the management of two boys, one of whom was quite unaccustomed to the oar. I was also unprovided with a landing-net, the want of which lost me a number of heavy trout. As it was, I captured, in about five hours, thirty-one sea-trout, many of which were two-pounders ; and one, the pride of the lot, a beautifully proportioned newly run fish, exceeded five pounds in weight. I also caught several nice common trout, the largest about three pounds. This fellow I happened to hook by the tail, and, in the next throw, got hold of another of equal weight in the same manner. I also, by means of a gaudy grilse-fly, in a deep part of the loch, secured a char, or torgoch, a flsh up to that "date not known to be an inhabitant of Loch Stack. 36 AN angler's rambles The day following I fished the lower pools of the Laxford. They were considerably swollen, and the fish evidently were on the move upwards. On reaching the turn half-way up the river, I raised a salmon seven or eight pounds in weight, the fly a small butcher, and shortly after had the satisfaction of hooking and landing him. This fish, and upwards of a dozen sea-trout, one of which weighed about four pounds, completed the day's sport. On Monday the 26th I shifted my quarters to Rhiconich, being recommended by Mr. Maclvor to test one or two of the lakes to which salmon had access, in the vicinity of that place of halt. Accordingly, on arriving there, I proceeded, under guidance of Hugh Mackay, the landlord's son, to Garbet Beg Loch, a small sheet of water connected with the sea by a burn or rivulet — for in summer the Inchard is of that character — two miles in length. On this lake, and at its outlet, I captured two salmon, of the respective weights of eleven pounds and eight pounds, a couple of newly-run grilses, thirty-eight sea- trout, and a number of common black trout of various dimensions. I was unfortunate, however, in losing a magnificent fish, after a run of nearly half an hour. The fellow took what is called a sulky fit, and lay down with a weight of forty yards of line upon him in a central part near the head or, neck of the lake, close evidently to a large rock or boulder. I felt him distinctly sawing away at my casting- line against its rugged edge — a feat he accomplished, just as I was in the act of slipping a wire-ring, constructed hurriedly from the arming of a pike-hook, down my line, with a view to start him afresh. On the following morning I betook myself again to Garbet Beg Loch, but fishing was out of the question, not a breath of wind ruffling its surface. From the upper loch, Garbet More, a slight breeze prevailing, I picked out a fair-sized sea-trout. Re- tracing my steps to the Inchard, I had the satisfaction, in rough, heavy water, among a succession of rapids and small cataracts — AND ANGLING SONGS. 37 the result of drenching torrents of rain which had fallen during the night, of hooking and playing to shore a beautiful grilse of seven pounds in weight. It required some management to over- power him, as he led me a dance over rocks and perilous banks for more than a quarter of a mile before he gave in. I also added a dozen or so of sea-trout to the contents of my creel. From Rhiconich, next day, I proceeded towards Durine of Duirness, in a spring-cart belonging to Mr. Mackay. On reach- ing the Dionard or Grudie river, then in a highly flooded state (the rains, since I left Loch Inver, had been of daily occurrence), I alighted, and despatching the conveyance with my luggage in advance, fished leisurely over some inviting stretches of the river without success. At length I captured a fine sea-trout, and shortly afterwards another, each weighing upwards of two pounds. On reaching the stream which headed the cruive-dyke pool, and throwing my persuader over a sunken rock that caught my eye, I got hold at last of a splendid salmon, which, after a run of ten minutes, submitted to its fate. Three sea-trout, in addition to what I had already taken, completed my spoils, which I had some difficulty in carrying to Duirness, in the midst of a terrific storm of wind and rain. On the following day I proceeded, crossing Huelim Ferry, to the river Hope, to which I gave a brief but satisfactory trial — killing, along with a couple of whitlings, a fair specimen of the Salmo eriox, or bull-trout, a species of the salmonidm not often found in the northern rivers of Scotland. It was past midnight before I arrived, along with my luggage (to convey which I had some difficulty, after crossing Loch Eribol, in procuring the ser- vices of a girl and cart ; a man or boy was not to be had) at Tongue Ferry, the landing-place at the west side of which lay at a considerable distance from wheral the ferrymen dwelt. Left in the lurch by my fair conductress, who I saw had not calculated on arriving with my traps at so untimely an hour, 38 AN angler's rambles and was eager, after fulfilling her part of the agreement, to return home, I had to push my way to the only habitation, made recognisable as such by the light proceeding from it, in view. Fortunately it was the abode of the ferrymen, and as fortunately I found them to be obliging, good-natured fellows, who thought nothing of being roused from their slumbers by a Sassenach to do night- work. On being ferried across — it was as dark as Erebus during the passage — I foolishly intrusted to one of them the care of my fishing-rods, three in number. How it was managed I do not know ; but on my arrival at the inn at Kirkabol, about three in the morning, T found the tops, all but one, seriously injured, and in order to repair them was necessitated to expend a large portion of the forenoon. This done, I hurried to Tongue House, in order to obtain the necessary permit from Mr. Horsburgh, the late factor on the Reay district of the Duke's estates. Much to my disappointment, he had just left home, on the way to Bettyhill of Farr, situated on the Naver river. Having hired a gig, I pushed forward in the same direction ; but it was late in the afternoon before I met with Mr. Horsburgh, and ob- tained from him the desired liberty. Of all the rivers in Suther- landshire, the Naver, in the state in which I saw it, is certainly the most attractive ; I mean to anglers. My friend Professor Blackie, in his review of the changes it has undergone, puts them and their likings quite out of consideration. Its course embraces, independent of the ample lake bearing the same name, at least twenty miles of choice pool and stream, which, all ob- structions to the ascent of fish removed, presents as fine a range of salmon-casts as can be wished for. It was four p.m. before I wetted fly in this river. Its streams were in a highly swollen state, and it was impo^ible to detect with exactness the usual fastnesses of the royal fish. Not being satisfied with the state of the water at the spot I was recommended to try, I wandered AND ANGLING SONGS. 39 up to tlie pool superintending the cruives, and having attached a small but showy fly to my casting-line, directed it across to what, I had an idea, was likely ground folf a good fish. Imme- diately I had him fast — a beautiful grilse, fresh from the sea, the monoculus attached to his pate and shoulders. Its death-blow dealt, I pushed up the stream, and quickly captured a brace of sea-trout. I also raised a large fish, and was on the point of giving him a change of fly, when the plunge of a salmon fifty yards or so farther up arrested my attention. Marking with the eye the spot where it took place, and considering it judi- cious to allow the fish I had just raised a short rest, I scrambled along the face of a precipitous bank towards a convenient ledge of turf and rock, whence I could command the upper portion of the cast. A few throws brought my fly beautifully round over the place in question, and up, in taking style, came the salmon, every inch of his length visible on the surface, and his strong jaws closing eagerly upon the fatal lure. For an instant he remained immovable, but the hook was firmly lodged in his gristly lip, and I held bent over him a powerful rod, steadily but not determinedly ; for at length, as he became conscious of his position, and dashed across the river, taking its whole breadth at a single breath, I felt it high time to humour his movements, and gave line to his heart's desire. The first burst over, and line partially recovered, I had to make immediate preparations for a second, perhaps more vigorous one. The fish evidently showed an inclination to press downwards ; and to follow him, in case he did so, seemed for the moment impracticable, as I had to wend my way along the foot of a precipitous scaur overhang- ing a deep, black pool. Other hazards also presented them- selves in the shape of trees or brushwood, across the stunted stems of which I had to pass my rod from hand to hand. There was no time, however, to be lost, so after overcoming the last- mentioned but primary difficulty, I committed myself to the 40 AN angler's rambles river, which, along the foot of the scaur, discovered, barely dis- tinguishable in its rising waters, a ledge of rock, along which, nearly waist-high, I managed to wade, and at length gain footing on a piece of sward subtending the lower end of the bank. By this time the recruited fish was again on the spin, and putting forth his full strength and speed ; but I had now the master- hand of him, and after giving due indulgence to his vagaries, brought him safely, a goodly eighteen-pounder, to shore. The Naver was now flooding fast, and being thoroughly soaked through from head to foot, I took down my rod, with the inten- tion of giving the river another and fairer trial before quitting that part of Sutherlandshire. This, however, owing to the continu- ing rains and consequent floods, I had no opportunity of doing. At Mrs. Sidney's I was shown two fine specimens of the wild cat {Felis catus), killed by her son on the banks of the Naver a day or two before. In colour, they were a ligbt grey (not so strongly marked or striped, however, as I have observed in the usual stufied specimens), and in point of size, they bore a rela- tion to the Felis domesticus, such as of itself, irrespective of other characteristics, was sufficient to support their claims to being fercB. On the 31st August I fished, along with a friend of 'Mr. Horsburgh's, an old schoolfellow, on the Borgie, Lochs Slam and Craggie ; old Robert Ross, the gamekeeper, and his sons, managing the boat. Owing to high winds and rain, the lochs were in a very turbid state, and precluded all chance of falling in with a,ferox. Our success with the fly also was very limited ; but I was amused greatly, and my credulity put to the proof, by what fell from the lips of old Ross, touching a gathering of the feroces of Loch Loyal, witnessed by him some years ago, in one of the creeks or bays we rowed past. The whole surface of the inlet in question, covering an area of three or four acres, was described by him to have been alive and swattering with the fin-tops and tail-points of . immense trout, assembled, as he AND ANGLING SONGS. 41 opined, for spawning purposes. Among salmon, preparatory to pairing, such congregatings are by no means unusual, and are' accompanied at times, on a limited scale, with similar demon- strations. What appears, however, to be a multitudinous surface- movement, so to express it, may be caused by the evolutions of a very small body of fish, — the eye is so apt to be deceived under such circumstances. Monday, 2d >Sepf.— Intended to have fished the Hope, along with Captain Horsburgh ; but the rain coming down in torrents, and being unwilling to lose time, I pressed forward, instead, to Bettyhill. Found the Naver highly-' flooded, and could only succeed in taking a couple of small sea-trout. Salmon-fishing being out of the question, I proceeded next day, by mail, towards Melvich. Alighting at the banks of the Strathy river, I gave it, Loch Balligall, and other small lochs, a cursory trial, The day, however, being calm and sunny, my success was not great. On Wednesday I fished the Hallodale river, and was fortunate enough to capture two nice grilses out of five or six which rose at my fly. The river was quite out of order, and the day characterized by intense heat, and the presence of white dazzling clouds, which, every angler knows, are inimical to sport. My- lure was a small dun-wing, esteemed a favourite fly in this quarter, as it is in many parts of Scotland, especially, on the rivers connected with the Solway Firth. From Melvich I proceeded to Thurso, and thence to Wick. While in Caithness, I fished several of its smaller streams ; I also spent a day on Loch Watten, along with two gentlemen, connected ofiBcially with the district, who kept a boat upon the loch. We were fortunate enough to capture among us several dozens of fine trout, some of which were peculiarly marked, and much resembled fresh-run sea-trout, a species which for many years has been debarred, along with salmon, entrance into this fine expanse of water. 42 AN ANGLER S RAMBLES Next week I set out towards Golspie, and obtained permission to angle in the Brora and Fleet rivers. The former was in a very reduced state, no rains having fallen on the east coast for weeks. Immediately below the old cruives, however, I hooked, at the third cast, a fine salmon. Unfortunately, the hold taken was slight, and after a run or two, which indicated strength and good condition, he made his escape. Although I persevered the whole forenoon, the Sky cloudless, as usual, I failed to raise another, and was content to devote the after portion of the day to the taking of finnocks. The rod-fishings on the Brora that season had been let, with a reserve in favour of his Grace or deputy, to three parties, who turned out to be all old acquaint- ances of mine, and celebrated anglers to boot. I met two of them at Inver Brora, and they gave me a very sorry account of the sport they had had ; they had not, in fact, taken a single fish among them for the last ten days. While at Golspie I also fished the Fleet ; and, although the day was bright and breeze- less, fiUed my basket with beautiful sea-trout, in number twenty- five, some of which weighed nearly two pounds apiece. The pools I fished in were long, dead stretches of water, lying about a mile above the Mound, and were much hemmed in with alder brushwood. Not having a landing-net with me, I required to exhaust to the uttermost nearly every fish hooked, and then, taking hold of the line with my hand, haul him up the bank, or, reaching down, grasp him with my hand while panting on the water's surface. Of course I lost many, and among these some of the best, by this mode of treatment ; but there was no help for it. On the 14th of September I left Golspie for the banks of the Shin, and in the course of the evening called upon my friend Andrew Young. He was very anxious that I should once more throw a fly over his river, the parties renting the rod- fishings from him having complained lately of want of sport although the streams were in excellent trim, and, during ordi- AND ANGLING SONGS. 43 nary seasons, would not have failed to show fish in abundance. On application next morning to the lessee of the lower waters, those subtending Shinness, I was made welcome to try the casts from the Cromarty Pool downwards. Accordingly, with Donald Ross as an attendant, I commenced fishing a little before noon. The streams, as I mentioned, were apparently in good order, and although the day proved sunny, I had high hopes of being able to capture several fish. I persevered, however, most assidu- ously, for at least an hour and a half, trying all sorts of flies, without stirring a fin ; and when a grilse at last came up to the hook, it was only to let me feel his weight, and then, with a shake of the tail, bid me good-bye. In somewhat of the same style, as I proceeded, at a spot called the Angus Turn, a large salmon paid me his respects ; and it was not until I had arrived at the Bridge Pool that I had the satisfaction of hooking and landing a dun grilse. Below this point, at the Garden cast, I got hold of a good fish, but only for a few seconds. In the afternoon I again marched up as high as the Little Fall, below which, at dusk-, I captured a beautiful newly-run grilse, the last, I may safely affirm, caught legally with the rod that season in the north of Scotland. Thus ended my piscatorial campaign in Sutherlandshire and the adjoining county, undertaken during a season which was universally admitted by salmon-fishers to have been the worst on record. EULOGISTIC-A COMPARISON. I. The streams of old Scotland for me ! The joyous, the wilful, and wild, The waters of song and of glee, That ramble away to the sea. With the step and free mirth of a child. 44 AN angler's rambles II. The valleys of England are wide, Their rivers rejoice every one ; In grace and soft beauty they glide, And water-flowers bloom at their side, As they gleam at the set of the sun. III. But where are the speed and the spray — The dark lakes that welter them forth, Tree and mist nodding over their way — The rock and the precipice gray. That environ the streams of the North ? IV. Wlio would seek for the salmon a home In track of the barbel or bream ? Rather holds he his fastness of foam Where the wraiths of the dark tempest roam, At the break of a wandering stream. Ay ! there you will find him among The glens of old Scotland afar ; And up through her valleys of song, He silently glances along. In corslet of silver and star ! VI. The rivers of Scotland for me ! They water the soil of my birth — They gush from the hills of the free, And sing as they seek the broad sea, With a hundred sweet voices of mirth ! AND ANGLING SONGS. 45 MORAYSHIKE. A RESIDENCE at Nairn, extending over twelve montlis, in 1836- 1837, made me fully acquainted with the lower portions of the river bearing the same name, on which the town stands. Nairn is rendered interesting by its contiguity to the sporting grounds traversed by Charles St. John and John Sobieski, and by its relations to the geological field on which quarried, with zeal and ability, the late Hugh Miller. The proximity of Cawdor Castle, and of the ' blasted heath' on the way to Forres, associate it, as a halting-place for the ambitious usurper, with the tragedy of Macbeth, and lead to the belief that the Swan of Avon had at one time waved dramatic wing among the wild swans that continue to pay periodical visits to the shores of the Moray Firth. In point of size, the Nairn, or river of Alders, as the term signifies, is a third-class stream. Its waters, which have their sources near Loch Ruthven, on the heights of Inverness-shire, are remarkably pure and inviting ; the process of filtration they undergo through sand and gravel in the lower division of their course, removing all mossy impurities, and imparting to them a sparkling freshness which does not belong to the general run of our northern rivers. At the same time, like its neighbour, the Findhorn, with which it maintains a parallel direction, the Nairn is readily acted on from the upland districts ; and with startling suddenness, the contents of the thunder-cloud, or meltings of the snow in spring, frequently find their way through the strath, dis- turbing the existing relations of pool and ford. This river is visited by salmon as well as sea-trout ; but the sport is preca- rious, depending much upon the character of the weather, in July and August. During the first four weeks of my acquaint- ance with it, I found its streams swarming with orange-fin smolts, to such an extent, that it was quite impossible to cast the trouting- 46 AN angler's rambles t fly, with anything like patience, on account of them. In point of numbers they not only greatly exceeded the fresh-water trout, but completely eclipsed the black-fins, or genuine salmon-fry. These orange-fins, however, all disappeared before the end of June, a flood which took place in that month assisting them to the sea. Previous to their descent, I caught in all, not far from the tideway, about half-a-dozen finnocks, on two or three different occasions. Shortly after they were gone, in the month of July, a speedy increase took place in the numbers of these fish. They also exhibited a corresponding growth, rising from one-third to half a pound. In my diary I find entered the following details of sport : — 13th July, eight finnocks and two dozen of fresh-water trout ; 15th ditto, thirty finnocks and five fresh-water trout ; 16th ditto, twenty-eight finnocks and nine fresh-water trout; and on the 18th, fifty-four finnocks and fifteen fresh-water trout. On the 20th, 21st, and 23d, a flood having occurred, I changed, it appears, my scene of operations to a part of the river running two or three miles above its discharge, and succeeded in captur- ing eight fine sea-trout from IJ lb. to 3 lb. weight each, and a small grilse. The finnocks had evidently not pushed up quite so far. During the remainder of July arid a large portion of August, the river becoming afi'ected by droughts, the sport was indifierent. I continued occasionally, however, to pick out a dozen or so of these small white trout betwixt the Cauld Dyke and the sea. On the 22d of August, the river being slightly swollen, I filled a large creel with them. From that date up to the close of the season, my success was varied ; but it was chiefly to a higher portion of the Nairn that I then directed my attention, and the sport in consequence lay more among the adult sea-trout and grilses. I observed, however, that in September, when the annual close-time commenced, the condition of the finnocks was AND ANGLING SONGS. 47 not much inferior to what it was in July, and that the section of the river occupied by them did not extend more than a couple of miles from the sea. In these particulars, namely, the condition of this little fish in September, and to some extent, the limited range of their inland migrations, a correspondence may be detected betwixt the habits of the Nairn finnock and the Tweed black-tail, or silver-white. They are very similar in appearance also, save that the black-tail carries the palm in point of size. When I came to make a com- parison, however, of the finnock of this river (and I may add, the finnock of the Brora and Fleet in Sutherlandshire, whiqh I had an opportunity of examining near the close of the season in 1850), with the small white trout of the Solway Firth, called indiscriminately the bill, the herling, and the whiten (the term whiten is the one usually applied to it at Carlisle), such points of resemblance no longer present themselves ; the bills or her- lings of the Esk, in Dumfriesshire, for instance, parting with their condition early in August, and venturing up, not merely the main river, but, like the erioces, distributing themselves over its tributaries at a distance of twenty miles and upwards from the salt water for the purpose of spawning. At the opening of the season 1837, I renewed my attention to the white trout of the Nairn. During February and March, the heavier proportion of the fish landed by me consisted of whitling and grilse kelts. Mixed up with these, however, and forming one of the chief inducements to fish, were numbers of clean, well- conditioned finnocks, which, to all appearance, had very recently quitted the salt water ; some of them, those taken below the Cauld Dyke, near to which the sea extended its influence, con- tinuing to be acted on by the ebb and flow of the tide. I cer- tainly caught among the spent trout several that were, or had been apparently finnocks or yearling fish ; but whether the alter- ation in their condition had proceeded from mere confinement 48 AN angler's rambles in the fresh water, or from their having been engaged in spawning, I cannot with certainty say. The impression, however, remains with me that they had played a part on the breeding-grounds. Of ten dozen and upwards of sea- trout landed in February and March on the banks of the Nairn, in 1837, one-third at least consisted of lively, well-flavoured finnocks, such as I have de- scribed. The flies employed in their capture were mostly of my own fabrication. The brown-mallard and guinea-fowl feathers, drake white-tips, the plumage of the turkey, woodcock, and grouse, were principally run upon in winging them, and, along with barn-fowl hackles of various shades, I employed peacock and ostrich herls, floss-silks, and worsteds, with silver tinsels, in making up representations of the feelers and bodies. Among the floss- silks and worsteds I found the light-greens, blues, oranges, and purples, carry the day. My after experience in sea-trout fishing has led me to place great reliance on these colours in certain conditions of water, on inland lochs especially; indeed, the large yellow trout, as well as the migratory species of many lakes in the north of Scotland, will be found disposed to take them. A small size of wire, say from No. 4 to No. 6 Adlington, I have always found to answer better in July and August than what is usually recommended. In flooded rivers, and to lakes highly ruffled, the larger sizes are, of course, better adapted ; but the error in sea-trout fishing generally consists in the using of too large and too gaudy flies. I must not omit to say that the best killers I know of, taking them all in all, on rivers frequented by white trout, are march-browns and white- tops. In very clear water, a plain black hackle possesses, at the mouths of rivers, a singular amount of attraction over the finnock. My sport on the Nairn, during the latter half of April and beginning of May, partook of some variation. Several snow- floods occurred in the course of the firgt-mentioned month but AND ANGLING SONGS. 49 there was that in the general bearing of the river's temperature . which encouraged the sea-holding whitlings to abandon their briny haunts and occupy the approach of the spawning-grounds. The first clean sea-trout of the season was taken by me on the neutral ground betwixt the Cauld Dyke and the sea, during ebb- tide, on the 17th of April. From that date on to the middle of May, when I left Nairn, I caught regularly, every lawful day, two or three of these whi,tlings. They were as lovely fish to look at, and as lively in action, as one could desire to have on the end of the trouting-line. Finnocks, in fair condition, were in the river along with them when I left it. On the 4th of May I took six of those fish, and on the 9th four. I have enlarged on the finnock, or grilse-whitling, in its con- nexion with the river Nairn, because there it was I had the best opportunity of observing its habits. It is possible that, as occurs occasionally on Tweed and other salmon-rivers, irregularities may have prevailed throughout the portions of the two seasons under retrospection, but that they did so in the extreme, or in- volved in them any striking departure from the general rule as observed in that quarter, is not at all likely. THE RIVER NAIRN— A RETROSPECT. I. Water of Alders ! what is the spell That binds me in spirit to thee? I cared not to drop my farewell. For I left no loved things in meadow or dell ; Thou wert but a stranger with me. 11. Yet in my fancy often I turn Fron^ the streams of my choice, all apart — D 50 AN angler's rambles From the silvan and blossomy burn, To the vale where thy waters murmur and mourn Their memory hangs on the heart ! Often in vision tempt me again Thy wild roving shoals ; but I bend O'er the silent shapes of the slain ; Not for me, from the depths of the billowy main The living thy channels ascend. IV. Swift as an arrow glancing below, Speeds the silver trout of the sea ; And ever on thine autumnal flow The salmon laving his bosom of snow Wends hill-ward — but not for me ! v. Water of Alders ! memory brings Me back to each trodden fane, And its silent recall of banish'd things Unfetters affection's buried springs, And bids them gush forth again ! THE IDENTITY OF THE FINNOCK AND OEANGE-FIN SMOLT. That the finnock and the orange-fin smolt are of one and the same species, in fact identical, does not admit, in my judg- ment, of being questioned. As it forms, however, a subject of inquiry still pursued by the Tweed Commissioners, the term AND ANGLING SONGS. 5 I black-tail or silver-white being applied to the finnock, I think it proper to state the ground on which, many years ago, I came to the above conclusion. At the mouth of the river Nairn, in 1836, I frequently took specimens in the transition stage, before the orange or deep yellow colour which distinguishes the pectoral fins of the whitling- smolt (not those of the eriox, or bull-trout, be it noticed), had completely disappeared, and a finish had been given by the armorer of Thetis to the scaly harness of the fish. I also caught the orange-fin, as such, in the salt water, at the distance, along the shores of the Moray Firth, of a mile or more from the said discharge ; and this I did, singular to say, not only during the season of its descent in May and the begin- ning of June, but also in July and August ou several occasions. Even on the latest of these, when the full-sized finnock had be- come established as a frequenter of the river in and above its tide-way, the orange-fins taken by me exhibited little or no change in their external appearance, although at that period they had partaken of marine sustenance, and had indulged in saline exercises for upwards of two months. The circumstances attendant on the capture of these smolts may be briefly related. They were taken on calm evenings at high-water, in the season when the adult whitling or sea-trout are most inclined to press shorewards, being intent to prey upon the herring-sz'Ze, shrimps, and sand-launces which occupy the sea-margins, as well as prepared, in the event of a freshet, to enter the river. It was under the expectation of fastening upon one of these coasters, the presence of which in great numbers was betrayed by the surface-movements which took place within a few paces of the beach, that I brought my rod and line into play. The distance froni the water's edge where I stood, to the point where the trout were congregated, was, I recollect, slightly beyond my command ; at any rate, whether my flies passed over it or not, they failed in attracting notice. While drawing them 52 AN angler's rambles home, however, close to the shore, where the water at high tide was little more than knee-deep, the orange-fins rose at and seized them with considerable avidity. As I have stated, even in August, after the general body of the smelts had been "ten weeks at sea, and a crop of-finnocks occupied the lowest stretch of the Nairn water, little change could be detected in the external appearance of these loiterers. It is probable, notwithstanding, that they were passing through a process of transition, quite speedy enough to render them back to the river in the finnock stage during the early part of the year ; indeed, I feel inclined to think that they formed part of the rearguard, or postponed relay, which furnished me with sport in the spring of 1S37. The observations made at Nairn on the orange-fin smolt, the finnock, and the Sahno albus, or whitling, have satisfied me fully on several points as to which differences of opinion still prevail. I am convinced, first of all, that the orange-fin smolt is the pro- duce of the Salmo albus, and that the finnock stage is the inter- mediate one to the acquisition of its adult or fully-developed conformation. It may be mentioned that the fishermen in the locality above-named recognise two varieties of the sea-trout, independent of the eriox, which is a rare visitor, comparatively speaking, on the coast-line of the Moray Firth. In one of these the maculce are larger, better defined, and more compactly set than in the other ; the ground also, on which they figure, is decidedly darker. There is no further room, however, for estab- lishing a specific difference betwixt the two sorts, unless we take into account the edible qualities, which are in favour of the dark-spotted variety, seeing that both herd and shoal together, and are uniform in their habits. I am also convinced that the northern sea-trout does not travel to any great distance from the mouth of the river where it is bred ; or, in other words, that its marine life is spent within AND ANGLING SONGS. 53 hail of its fresh-water abode. There are circumstances in con- nexion with many of our rivers which help to confirm this con- viction. A very fair estimate of the quantity and quality of sea-trout in a stream paying direct tribute to ocean, may be . formed from the nature and arrangement of the estuary grounds and their feeding accommodation. Rivers having in their vici- nity an extensive tide-range, not acted on by heavy surfs, may be judged of favourably. Such a tide-range usually teem.s with those kinds of sustenance, animal and vegetable, which the sea- trout, in order to bring them into condition, require, and which may be said to be the ruling motive for their marine sojourn. At low water, the sun acts powerfully towards the production of such sustenance ; and where scarcely any disturbance of the sea- bed takes place, the supply of food is usually so abundant as to obviate all necessity for the trout moving oif in quest of it to other quarters. Of the river, or rather the estuary provision, I speak of, I could adduce many exemplifications ; but the contrast, in the case of two rivers dissimilarly provided at the mouth or entrance, will be sufficiently set forth when I name the Laxford, in Sutherlandshire, and its neighbour the Inver, merely remark- ing, that the well-known superiority of the former, as a conduit for sea-trout, can be accounted for on no other grounds. The Nairn water, which I have taken for my text, is peculiarly, I do not say richly, endowed with the provision in question. The features presented by the coast-line stretching south of the river are somewhat striking. The eye is carried towards a range of sand-hills, which tradition asserts were built up in the course of a single tempestuous night over a tract of land occupied pre- viously by flourishing farms and their homesteads. Betwixt these barren eminences and the river's mouth, the tide-range, which is extensive, discovers at low water a series of lagoons, or salt-water dubs, where cockles, shrimps, small flounders, etc., are found in abundance. From these, no doubt, the sea-trout and finnocks 54 AN angler's rambles of the Nairn derive the chief portion of their marine nourishment in summer. They afford sustenance also to immense numbers and a great variety of aquatic birds, which are further encouraged by a range of brackish lakes, stretching in a southerly direction, to visit this portion of our coast. While at Nairn in 1836, I paid two visits to the river Find- horn, armed merely with a trouting-rod. The salmon-fishings, as far up as the Ess, were, if I mistake not, at that period in the hands of the Messrs. Hogarth of Aberdeen, the liberty to use the rod, as at present, being reserved by the proprietors. Being satisfied in those days with the humbler pursuit of trout-fishing, I made no effort to obtain permission to try my hand over the salmon-casts of this truly superb river. On the occasion of my first visit to the Pindhorn, I took advantage of a short cut lead- ing from Nairn, by way of Moines, through Darnaway Forest, which brought me unexpectedly to its banks at a point — that opposite Altyre — perhaps unequalled in the landscape scenery of any of our Scottish rivers. The Heronry was then in its glory, and everything conspired to make deep the impression wrought on me by what I beheld. The following sonnet is but a very imperfect attempt to give words to some of the emotions which passed through my mind on the occasion : — THE FINDHORN. To the monastic mind thy solemn shade Kindly accords, bewildering Darnaway ! Here, those retiring powers whose hermit sway The hordes of gross emotions hold obey'd, Reign indolent on bank or flowery glade. A deep unusual murmur meets my ear, As if the oak's Briarean arms were sway'd Far off in the wild wind. Like timorous deer, AND ANGLING SONGS. 55 Stay'd as he browses by the hunter's horn, I stand perplex'd, half-dreading the career Of coming whirlwind ; then, with conquer'd fear. Advancing slowly through a screen of thorn From edge of horrid rock, abruptly bold, Rushing through conduit vast, swart Findhorn I behold. I find it recorded in my diary, 13th June 1836, that I took ■with the fly, on the Findhorn, thirty-four trout, a number of which \Tere herring-sized, but none exceeded half a pound in weight. Loch Belivat, a singularly situated sheet of water, about a mile in circumference, starts up into recollection when I look lack upon my stay at Nairn. I obtained leave to fish it from che proprietor, Mr. Brodie of Lethen, and was given to under- stand that it contained trout of remarkable size and beauty. One of the peculiar features of this lake lies in its having no visible outlet — a peculiarity shared by Loch Achilty, in Eoss- shire, from which, however, in other respects it completely differs. It is surrounded, notwithstanding, by attractions of its own, and these chiefly consist in its being the resort, during the breeding season, of immense numbers of sea-fowl. The period of the year when I visited it (May Bd, 1837), was that of their incubation ; and one end of the lake, of a swampy character, which it was impossible to find footing on, and even with the assistance of a boat gain proper access to, was covered to the extent of several acres with birds. As I approached the water's edge they rose in a vast cloud, saluting me with their discordant screams, and exposing to the eye many thousands of eggs — all of them safely guarded by the quaggy nature of the nursery instinct had se- lected. Of the promised trout I secured only two or three sorry specimens, but from the exposed situation of the loch, and the hitherto want of geniality in the weather, I came to the conclu- sion that I had made trial of it too early in the season. 56 AN angler's rambles A large section of the Spey skirts, and in part traverses, the county of Elgin, in its relation to Banffshire. It was to a portion of that section that, in the month of August 1861, I was induced to pay a visit, in the expectation of obtaining a day cr two's salmon-fishing of a more exciting character than is usualljr, at that season of the year, met with on Tweedside. With Mr. Balmer, his Grace the Duke of Richmond's factor at Fochaberi, I was slightly acquainted ; and on application to him, receiv^ a permit (burdened with the usual condition, viz., to deliver ub all fish taken to the kenner or overseer), which authorized me U angle for salmon over the lowermost stretch of the river, extend- ing from the bridge downwards. i His account, however, of the sport met with on the reserved casts, by his Grace and friends, up to that date, was anything^ but cheering, and quite overturned the notions I had formed of Fochabers as a rod-fishing station. It tallied ill, in fact, with the numerous statements I had from time to time received and trusted to, respecting the superiority of the Spey, in that quarter especially, as an angling river ; and when, from the lips of Mr. Balmer, who was himself a practical salmon-fisher, I heard the capture of five or six grilses in the course of a forenoon spoken of as a great feat, and one rarely accomplished, I began to wonder at my own credulity in having swallowed such extraordi- nary relations in regard to the plentifulness of the Spey salmon, the skiU of its anglers, and the incomparable excellence of its casts. Such ' soughs' from the far North, I am at length dis- posed to listen to in the humour of the old fisherman at Trows, of whom the story is told, that on the occasion of a jolly meeting of his craft, a member of which, who rented a fishing higher up the river, having boasted of the enormous salmon he had recently taken with the rod, or in his cairn-nets, it was put to our friend in a taunting way, by what oversight or want of skill he had permitted such monsters to pass up through his territory without AND ANGLING SONGS. 57 paying tithe, and how he himself, who commanded the ap- proaches, never happened upon such big fish ? ' Aiblins,' quoth he shrewdly, ' it 's no the fish that are muckle bigger up the watter, but them that tak' them are bigger story-tellers,' a more expressive but less polite word being used by him as the clincher than the one I have introduced. After lashing for three successive days, without the ghost of a rise, the stretch of water assigned to me, which I admit, how- ever, was in galloping humour, and quite out of order the whole time, I began to conclude that I had come to Fochabers on a fool's errand. As a final resort I took to trout-fishing, with results which did not exceed my expectation, and were quite on a par with the very unpromising nature of the channel, which, until on its approach to Garmouth, where the river becomes split up into several currents, is of the barest description, void of nutriment and shelter-places. The generality of the trout, in consequence, are not much longer than one's finger. Lower down, where the Spey is broken up into sections, and islands . have been formed, covered over with brushwood, the shelter and feeding-grounds improve ; but the class of trout peopling the runs and side-stretches which there abound is not in keeping with the appearance of the place ; nor did I find it an easy task to force my way through the tangled bushes, and over the . uneven ground, strewn with drift-wood, which form part and pertinent of the north bank of the river. At Garmouth, I certainly expected to fall in with a scJiule of finnocks, it being the time of the year when they are usually most plentiful, and the river being apparently in fine trim. I only succeeded, however, in capturing one, and that a sorry specimen of the fish above-named, which, along with a few common trout, formed the whole spoils of the day. Next morning the Spey was in full spate, torrents of rain having fallen during the night. It continued in a disturbed state up to the 14th of August, when 58 AN angler's rambles I left Fochabers. Before quitting, however, I paid a couple of visits to a small bum called the Tinet, four miles distant, the trout of which, on the average, were nearly herring-sized, and very abundant. On both occasions I filled a good-sized creel with them in the course of four or five hours. The sight of an angler, and the employment of fly and worm (I used both), were quite new to the farm-labourers resident within hail of its banks ; gumping, or perhaps netting, being the only means they had been accustomed to adopt in securing, now and then, a dish of trout; but it was evident they had not been severe in their exactions upon the finny wealth of this little stream, which, by alterations in a mill-cauld not far from the sea, it struck me might easily be made accessible to finnocks and sea-trout. It was a far-removed stretch of the Spey, and in character very different, that I fished over in 1835. I allude to the part of this river, not far from its source, which passes by the village of Laggan. I had walked over from Dalwhinnie, by Glen Truim, encountering on the way, on its crowning ridges, one of the most terrific thunderstorms I ever beheld ; the sublimity of the scene, as I well recollect, being heightened by the transit, within gunshot, of an eagle in full scream. On reaching Laggan, in a highly drenched state, I applied for refreshment and sleep- ing accommodation at the only inn, so far as I could discover, belonging to the village. Instead of my application being, as usual, civilly responded to, it was met by a gruff negative, and a rude barring of the premises against my admission. I was not, however, being tired as well as wet, easily put off, but angrily demanded of one of the inmates, who appeared to be curiously observing me through the pane of a window, the reason of this unwonted reception. My interrogatory was replied to by a stare and a turn of the head, which latter move- ment I correctly construed into the holding of some communica- tion with a third party. All at once the door of the inn was AND ANGLING SONGS. 59 thrown open, and the landlord, a manly-looking Speysider, invited me to enter, tendering at the same time many and fervent apologies for his singular conduct. The whole secret lay in this, that he was apprehensive of a visit from the excise- man, having just received a supply of ungauged whisky from some recess in the wilds of Badenoch, and being engaged at the same time in an experiment upon malt, the'probable success of which I judged of, not greatly to its advantage, on partaking of the proceeds of a former browst. My sleeping apartment just having been made use of as the theatre of barley fermentation, it could hardly be expected that I should escape being subjected at night to a similar process. Before committing myself, how- ever, to the influences which pervaded its atmosphere, I put the Spey under contribution, educing from its streams, which the recent thunder-shower had slightly discoloured, a very satisfac- tory dish of trout. Next morning, on leaving the village of Laggan, I fished up the Spey towards its sources. I am induced to think, from what I recollect of it, that had I been provided with worm, and initiated, in these days, in the proper method of fishing with this lure, I could have taken, in a short space of time, as many trout as one would care to carry, under a broiling sun, such as I was favoured with on that occasion. As it was, I met with very indifferent success, and after persevering for two or three hours, took down my rod, and commenced the ascent of Corryarick, by the old military road leading to Port Augustus ; it being my intention to proceed along the banks of Loch Ness to Inverness, and thence to pass, by way of Kessock Eerry, into Eoss-shire. As a carriage approach to the great Glen of Albyn, this road has been disused for a number of years. It was in a state of disrepair in 1835, and by this time probably a large portion of it has been converted into a series of water-courses, which the pedestrian will have some difficulty, even during summer, in picking his steps across. 6o AN angler's rambles Taken from the southern side, Corryarick presents a stiffish climb, and the road so called, with its everlasting zigzags or traverses, instead of facilitating one's approach to the summit, only adds to his fatigue, and excites the wish to quit its protec- tion — an experiment which I would not recommend the hardiest pedestrian to venture on when the weather is at all doubtful, the hazards, in the shape of swamps and precipices, being numerous throughout the district. Of the dreary nature of the Corryarick ascent, some concep- tion may be formed from the circumstance, that in the whole line of march from Garviemore, on Speyside, to within two miles of Fort Augustus, there is not a dwelling of any kind to be met with. When I passed over it, the only human being that crbssed my path was a goat-herd — a miserably-clad, wild-look- ing object, the expression of whose features was that of confirmed idiocy, blended to some extent with cunning. It was at a turn of t^e road close to the highest point of elevation that he pre- sented himself, and it really seemed, so sudden was his appear- ance, and so singular his conduct and attire, that, like one of the Gnomes we read of in Swedish tale, he had started out of the . bowels of the earth. All I could elicit from him, in reply to some interrogatory put by me, as to the distance from Fort Augustus, was an ' Ugh ! ugh !' or Gaelic monosyllable corre- sponding to this Indian guttural, accompanied by violent gestures, not one of them a whit more intelligible. I arrived at Fort Augustus au hour or two before sunset, and as well as I can recollect, for my journal fails to relate the cir- cumstance, threw an unsuccessful lino over the stream which connects Loch Ness with Loch Oich, usually called the Oich River. This link in the great chain is frequently made the halting-place of salmon in their way to the Garry. It contains two or three good rod- casts, but, like the Ness itself, is not to be relied on ; and, since the opening of the Caledonian Canal, has AND ANGLING SONGS. 6l suffered, in common with the whole range of waters belonging to that district in communication with the Moray Firth. I do not know how things are managed now, but there was certainly, at the period when I visited it, little encouragement for the angler to take up his quarters for any length of time at Fort Augustus. This was owing not so much to the unreason- able exclusiveness frequently maintained in the Highlands by the proprietors of fishings, but to the exorbitance of the charges which the traveller was subjected to, in exchange for indifferent cheer and shabby accommodation. Indeed, as to the exclusive principle, it was less acted on, in these days, in that locality, than in any other. Lochs Oich, Garry, Ness, and the smaller lakes in their vicinity, so far as trout-fishing was concerned, were certainly not interdicted to the angling public, and an occasional cast over the salmon-holds of the Lochy, Garry, and Moriston rivers, might have been obtained on mere and uncere- monious application. The system of overcharge, however, at the principal inns, was even then in operation, and evinced itself, as it appeared to me, in a very aggravated, not to say brutal form and measure, at Fort Augustus. For a miserable tea dinner, in which ham and eggs took the leading part, a glass of toddy, the use of an uncarpeted apartment, termed a dormi- tory, the bed so called being devoid of linen or curtains, and, as the Yankee would term it, ' a starvation breakfast,' I was charged by a ruffianly landlord, whom there was no reasoning with. Us, 6d. — a sum that, even at the West End of London, would have secured me, in the matter of these items alone, an approach to luxury. It is to be hoped that a moderate and equitable system of charge has been introduced into that quarter, and that the ample extent of angling ground there presenting itself, is not allowed to lie unused, simply from want of com- fortable and fair-priced 'up-putting,' as we Scotsmen would term it. 62 AN angler's rambles From Fort Augustus I proceeded by way of Strath-Errick to the General's Hut, not far from the Fall of Foyers. The range of country through which I passed abounds in small lochs, all of which communicate more or less directly with Loch Ness, and contain yellow trout ; some of them pike. The day being a Sunday I left them to their repose, which did not appear as if at any time it was much disturbed by the angler. My respects to the celebrated waterfall were paid in course of the same afternoon. I may here remark that all sights and sounds in which water acts a leading part, exercise a special influence, quite distinct from what they maintain over the generality of view-hunters, on the mind of the angler ; and although, as in the case of the Foyers Falls, there is nothing, properly speaking, pertinent to the sport, I defy him, with the roar and turmoil that greet his ear, with the flash, the spray-mist, and the rainbow, the seething caldron, the precipitous rock and its mossy vegetation — with the whole combination, in fact, of sounds and sights presented to him — not to associate thoughts of his favourite pastime. An angler thoroughly imbued with the spirit of his art, will connect its practice, in spite almost of reason, with much more improbable places than a Highland waterfall like that of Foyers ; indeed, I have known among my friends more than one who could not look upon any accumulation of the watery element — a puddle, for instance, in the street of a town or city, occasioned by a defect in its drainage^without yielding himself up to the idea that it contained subjects of sport with the rod and line. To my fondness of scenery, taken by itself, I fear I am too far implicated in the piscatorial mania to do proper justice • and I begin to doubt if, even as the spectator of such a cataract as Niagara, I could separate the loftier emotions of awe and wonder, with which naturally the mind becomes filled in its pre- sence, from that exercise of the fancy which would convert the AND ANGLING SONGS. 63 vast discharge into a mere salmon-leap, and reduce the abyss below, with its untiring and insatiable eddies, to the level of a common fish-pond. On Monday, 6th July, I repaired to the margins of Loch Ness, which are accessible a short way below the General's Hut, with the intention of taking a few casts here and there where sport seemed likely to be obtained, and proceeding in the course of the afternoon to Inverness. The loch, when 1 commenced, was under the influence of a good stiff breeze, which subsided gra- dually as the day advanced, until, when I left off fishing, it had arrived at a state of absolute calm. In mounting my tackle I was_ encouraged as much by the success as by the advice of a local angler, whom I came upon while in the act of landing a dun salmon, to use flies of a larger description than what are commonly employed by the trout-fisher. I find what was wont to be designated in Edinburgh the Maule pattern, after the late Mr. Maule, perhaps in his day and generation the most successful angler in Scotland, set down in my journal as one of the lures put to trial by me on that occasion. The wings of this old- fashioned killer are formed of mottled turkey or florican feather ; the body of dark-blue mohair, ribbed with silver-twist, and wound over with a black-edged, brown hackle ; the tail-tip of orange or brown-coloured wool, with a touch of speckled drake-feather superadded. It was a special favourite on the river Awe at one period, but has lost caste both there and elsewhfere, like many of our old standard Scottish patterns, on account of its primitive appearance and the homeliness of the materials composing it. I have described it as a salmon-fly, but, judged of by its dimen- sions, the hook used by me was simply a large trouting one, or loch-hook. No. 8 Adlington. In combination with the Maule fly I employed the well-known magnet, the red Professor. With these hooks, on the range of lake lying betwixt Inver-Farikaig and the village of Dores, I did satisfactory execution, killing 64 AN angler's rambles several fine sea-trout, the largest about three pounds in weight, and upwards of a dozen loch-trout, the best four of which turned the scale at seven pounds. The range fished by me is not by any means the most inviting in connezion with Loch Ness ; on the contrary, a great deal of it has the appearance of being destitute of the advantages, in the shape of bays, capes, and feeders, possessed to a large extent by many other portions of its marginal line. Yellow trout frequently attain a great size in this, the most notable, as regards depth and length, if not area, of our Scottish lakes. When at Fort Augustus, I saw a specimen which had been taken by means of troUing-taekle from the boat, weighing fourteen pounds. Whether any claim has been set up in favour of such huge prowlers as belonging to the ferox species T do" not know ; indeed, the deeper I am led to inquire into the subject, the nearer I approach to a conviction that ichthyologists are on the wrong tack when they ascribe to the monster trout, which inhabit several of our most spacious lakes, a specific character. The stress laid upon den- tition, the shape and relative proportions of the head, etc., induce me to question in some measure the propriety of the basis on which many of our most eminent naturalists found what they term a species in the family Salmonidoe. It may be bordering upon presumption in me to differ in opinion from such authorities as Yarrell, Couch, Selby, Wilson, Jardine, Knox, etc., but iintil the very singular transformations which the entire head, not to say body, of the kipper, or male salmon, undergoes in the course of the twelvemonth, are satisfactorily explained, I shall be in- clined to hold the ferox in the light of an overgrown fario our Tweed /eroa;, the swallow-smolt, as it is termed, finding its place also as such in the angler's catalogue. Inverness has long enjoyed the repute of being the chief gathering place for sportsmen in the north of Scotland. Its name is associated with venison, grouse, ptarmigan, Alpine AND ANGLING SONGS. 65 hares, eagles, trout, cliar, and salmon. It would be difficxilt, indeed, to disabuse one of the idea that the Highland capital stands in the most intimate connexion with the haunts of these animals, and that its atmosphere is actually charged with a gamey fragrance. As a point of start and observation, or as a place of tryst, it offers, no doubt, many advantages to the sports- man, but it will not admit of being regarded in a more attrac- tive light, or as forming the nucleus of a good sporting territory. The inducements which the angler, in particular, meets with to take up his quarters at Inverness, are very slight. A salmon river, it is true, of ample width, intersects the town, and leads to the impression that one has only to cross its surface with the approved tackle, in order to command, almost at any time, a merry run and active tussle with the king of fresh-water fishes. Quite a mistake ! The Ness, with all its inviting features, its plenitude of discharge and transparent purity, undergoes an annual struggle to maintain even a second-place position among our salmon rivers. In what may be called the open portion of it, or that to which by payment of a fixed sum access can be obtained, the character of the sport met with is very unequal, and, taking it all in all, extremely discouraging. Prize days, it is true, occasionally occur, but they are met chiefly by some dogged and determined hand, who works the water perseveringly as well as scientifically, and whose aim apparently is to support, by every means in his power, the failing credit of the river. Even in its best days, when its fisheries drew a rental three times as large as they do at present, the Ness, it speaks for itself, could never have been a first-class angling river. Its character and action are too much those of a conduit to allow of the salmon taking up a fixed position in its pools during the open season. The great body of fish which had escaped the nets — there being no impediment in the shape of a fall or cruive- dyke to their further progress — would naturally push up and pass E 66 AN angler's rambles into the Lake territory, thence to distribute themselves, accord- ing to their instincts, over the lateral feeders — the Urquhart, Moriston, and G-arry rivers in particular. SONG. When homeward from the stream we turn. Good cheer our sport replaces ; There 's liquor sparkling in the glass, There's joy on all our faces. II. We drink sweet healths, a merry round, We talk old stories over, And emulate with snatch and glee The warblings of the cover. Thus cheerily our evenings pass. Till, lull'd below the quilting, We sleep our toils off and are forth Before the lark is lilting. IV. All joy be with our heart's kin bold, May Care's nets ne'er entangle, Nor woe nor poverty depress A brother of the angle ! Reverting to my visit to Fochabers in 1861 : on leaving that village on the 14th August, I passed on by rail to Huntly — a town, it struck mc, seldom rested in by birds of passage of any kind; the waters surrounding which are next thing to intact, AND ANGLING SONGS. 6^ that is to say, they have not been obtruded on greatly by skilful fly-fishers. Such was my experience, at any rate, in relation to the Deveron and Bogie. There were plenty anglers established in the district, but they were all, so far as I could ascertain, of the old school. The tackle and salmon-flies in vogue were also primitive in the extreme. In the getting up of these, the jailer of Huntly was looked upon as a crack hand ; he was also the referee-general on all matters pertaining to fishing, and reckoned piscator primus on the streams round about. I purchased a few of his manipulations, but I fear, unless hard put to it, shall never take an opportunity of testing them. When at Huntly, by kind permission of her Grace the late Duchess of Grordon, I tried the policy waters for salmon. I also spent a day or two with my old friend Mr. Hay Gordon, at Mayen House, and fished the Avochy streams, superintending Rothiemay, which belong to him. The river, unfortunately, was quite out of order, being at least a foot higher than its usual level, and in the course of being subjected to a succession of freshets. I cap- tured, however, with the salmon-fly, a very respectable dish of river-trout, and had an opportunity of judging of the capabilities of the Deveron as a trouting stream. Above Huntly, in the open, unrestricted water, I gave both it and the Bogie a special trial, devoting a couple of days to each ; and as these were of the sunny order, I brought the worm, my favourite summer lure, into play. My largest trout taken in the Deveron, a short way above Huntly, weighed about two pounds, and presided over three dozens of others, most of them respectable in their dimen- sions, and all taken within the space of three hours. From the Bogie, in a curtailed forenoon's fishing, I extracted fifty-four trout, of which the toppers, eighteen in number, weighed, on the average, half-a-pound. 68 AN angler's rambles PERTHSHIRE. With the Tay and its tributaries, my acquaintance, as a trout-fisber, dates as far back as 1830. Kincarrathie House, on the north side of the river, close to Perth, was occupied by my father as a summer residence during a portion of that year, extending from the beginning of July to the end of September. Permission, on application, was freely accorded to the members of his family to angle from the policy grounds attached to Scone Palace, and higher up, over a considerable extent of water, con- taining at that period, I cannot say abundance, but a fair stock of fresh-water trout. Any success, however, I met with on the Tay itself, beyond the capture of small fry, was accomplished, on a happening flood, by means of the minnow, opposite Lun- carty, and in the neighbourhood of the lade from which the Stormonthfield breeding-boxes and rearing-ponds are supplied. Away from the main river, I extended my piscatorial wander- ings along the courses of several of its feeders, among which may be named the Almond, the Ordie, the Shochie, and St. Martin's Burn. I also, on the same year, paid occasional visits to the Earn, and its tributary the May-water, unquestionably the best trouting-stream in the neighbourhood of the Fair City. As far as the fario is concerned, the Tay near Perth is not a river possessed of very great attractions for the angler. The resident trout are not particularly numerous ; indeed, in this respect they belie even the indications which ample shelter and an apparent sufficiency of food throughout the year present in their favour ; nor is the size which they usually attain to any- thing singular, considering the bulk of the river itself. In both respects, the produce of Tay falls greatly short of that of Tweed. This inferiority can be more readily accounted for in relation to the upper parts of the river than to the stretch of water betwixt AND ANGLING SONGS. 69 Perth andDunkeld, the feeding-grounds of which have a sustaiu- ing look about them, equal at least to that which Tweed presents below Wark or Coldstream. Above its junction with the Tummel, Tay to some extent loses this feature, and in many places discovers a shiftiness or compliancy of disposition in the material of its alveus, and in consequence a want of permanent and reliable feeding- ground, which are suflB.ciently explanatory of its defects as a trouting- river. In this capacity I tested it, fairly and fully, for the space of eight or nine days, during the summer of 1853, in the neighbour- hood of Aberfeldy, under what I am inclined to hold were the most favourable circumstances -possible for ascertaining the capa- bilities, or rather the actual resources, of a river of considerable calibre. On the occasion I refer to, my intention to prosecute the nobler sport of salmon-fishing having, through the occur- rence of calm, cloudless weather, been laid aside, I betook myself, along with my brother, Capt. S., R.N. (we were residing together close to the celebrated Falls of Moness),- to trouting with the worm — a branch of the art piscatorial held in contempt, I am aware, by the highfliers, but which I shall always maintain, requires, in order to excel in it, greater address, and apter knowledge of the habitat of the trout, under certain conditions of river and atmosphere, than are called into play in mere surface-whipping. On Tweedside — and where can there be found a better arena either for action or judgment in fishing matters ? — this has been proved and decided on over and over again. Under the circumstances, however, I have referred to, the streams being in first-rate order, and the portion of them tra- versed embracing a considerable stretch of preserved water, the contents of our panniers (which, although they did not, taken separately, exceed on any one day twelve or fourteen pounds in weight, gave great surprise to several Aberfeldians) satisfied me JO AN angler's rambles that, in point of abundance, as well as size, the trout of Tay will not bear comparison with those of Tweed. To account for this striking superiority which the Border river maintains over every other running water in Great Britain, one has only to consider the extent and quality of its breeding and rearing grounds, the beautiful adjustment of stream and pool preserved to it through- out its course, and the unfailing supply of food and shelter accorded by every part of its alveus. A further drawback to the increase of trout in the Tay is the presence of pike in considerable numbers. The haunts of these fish are of course chiefly restricted to the very sluggish stretches of the river, and to its pertinents, in the shape of bye-water ; but, even so limited, the damage accruing to the fry, both of trout and salmon, from this source of injury must be very extensive. As to the habits of the lucius, one or two errors prevail. It is maintained, for instance, that, forming an attachment to this or that particular spot, the pike invariably lays itself under a kind of arrest, or honourable restraint, in regard to the sphere of its depredations. That on the discovery of very snug and delectable quarters, it will, like the spider, be content to do so, I am well aware ; but I have come, from personal observation, to the con- clusion that this hole-and-corner life is not in accordance with the usual habits of the fish, and that it is more inclined to act the rover, to shift its haunts, and occasionally to engage in a lengthened chase or foray. Instances of this propensity in the pike are occasionally met with in connexion with Tweed, during the descent of the smolts in April and May. Two or three very remarkable ones were communicated to me not many years ago by an eye-witness. At a distance of five or six miles from any habitat known as such of these fish, and at a central point on the netting stations, within tidal influence, several pike were taken on the trail of the salmon fry, by means of the usual weir- shot net. These, it is supposed, had followed the smolts, which AND ANGLING SONGS. 7 1 in their descent form into bands, out of the river Till ; Teviot was also suggested ; but Till, a pike-infested and more con- veniently situated water, was ^he more probable stronghold from which they had sallied. Reverting to the Tay, I repeat my conviction that enor- mous injury to the salmon and trout nurseries results from this source. On the occasion of any visit I have paid to it and its tributaries, the Earn and Turamel, I have always expressed my surprise that no measures should have been taken, on an extended scale, to thin and keep down these marauders, by thoroughly ransacking and destroying their notorious lurking-places, and by giving encouragement, as is done on some rivers, to rod-fishers to make war upon them in every direction. The reduction and shielding off of the bye-water, and the conversion, by embank- ments, of the sluggish reaches which prevail here and there along the course of the Tay and Earn, into swiftly gliding streams, would go a great way to effect this object. SONNET. ' Anglers ! ye are a heartless, bloody race ;' 'Tis thus the half-soul'd sentimentalist Presumes to apostrophize us to the face. Weak, paltry, miserable antagonist ! To deem by this compassionate grimace He doth sweet service to humanity ; And yet, when of his fellow's misery — Of wars and pestilence, and the woes that chase Mankind to the interminable shore. He hears, — to treat them with a hasty sneer. Nor let their shrill appeal disturb a tear, Or one emotion waken in his core ! It is too much ! Anglers, your cruelty Is tenderer than this man's philanthropy ! 72 AN angler's rambles Among my visits to the Tay, I must not forget to mention one paid by me, in July 1854, to the Stormonthfield breeding-grounds, in company with Mr. Robert Buist, late superintendent of the river, and other gentlemen belonging to the committee of management. I need scarcely say that I was much gratified by what was pointed out to me on that occasion ; and although I cannot subscribe to the notion entertained, that a great and remunerative increase in the yield of the river has accrued, or is ever likely to accrue, from this source of supply, without the scale on which the experiments are conducted being greatly enlarged, I am fully sensible of the advantages which have already resulted from the carrying on of these experiments. This, at least, is plain, that the greater the light thrown upon the natural history of the salmon, the more accordant with what is required will be the means taken, legislatively or otherwise, to uphold and enlarge its stock of supply. The Tay proprietors, if by their investigations they add but one solitary fact to what is already known as regards the monarch of our rivers, wiU assist to do themselves, as well as others, an enduring service. This consideration alone appears to me sufficient in order to prompt the carrying on of their practical inquiries, apart from any proof deemed to have been obtained by a few sanguine upholders of the scheme, as to the decided increase of Tay produce through means of the Stormonthfield nurseries. THE TAKING OF THE SALMON. I. A BIRR ! a whirr ! a salmon 's on, A goodly fish, a thumper ! Bring up, bring up the ready gaff, And when we land him we sliall quaff Another glorious bumper ! ' ' The previous fortifying of the angler and fisherman accompanying Kim, with a dram, is liere talcen for granted. AND ANGLING SONGS. 73 Hark ! 'tis the music of the reel, The strong, the quick, the steady : The line darts from the circling wheel, Have all things right and ready. II. A birr ! a whirr ! the salmon 's out Far on the rushing river, He storms the stream with edge of might, And like a brandish'd sword of light, Rolls flashing o'er the surges white, A desperate endeavour ! Hark to the music of the reel ! The fitful and the grating ; It pants along the breathless wheel, Now hurried, now abating. III. A birr ! a whirr ! the salmon 's off' ! No, no, we still have got him ; The wily fish has sullen grown, And, like a bright embedded stone, Lies gleaming at the bottom. Hark to the music of the reel ! 'Tis hush'd, it hath forsaken ; With care we '11 guard the slumbering wheel Until its notes rewaken. IV. A birr ! a whirr ! the salmon 's up ! Give line, give line and measure ; And now he turns, keep down a-head And lead him as a child is led. And land him at your leisure. 74 AN angler's rambles Hark to the music of the reel ! 'Tis welcome, it is glorious ; It wanders round the exultant wheel, Returning and victorious. A birr ! a whirr ! the salmon 's in, Upon the bank extended ; The princely fish lies gasping slow. His brilliant colours come and go. Silver alternating with snow, All beautifully blended. Hark to the music of the reel ! It murmurs and it closes ; Silence falls on the conquering wheel. The wearied line reposes. VI. No birr ! no whirr ! the salmon 's ours : The noble fish, the thumper ! Strike through his gill the ready gaff, And bending homewards we shall quaff The overflowing bumper ! Hark to the music of the reel ! We listen- with devotion ; There 's something in that circling wheel That stirs the heart's emotion ! I am led by my recollections of Perthshire, and the sport ob- tained on its rivers, to Crieff, a village it used to be called, it is now a town, which for salubrity, leaving for the moment its other attractions undwelt on, is surpassed by none other in broad Scot- land. Connected with this special feature may be mentioned AND ANGLING SONGS. 75 ihe longevity of its inhabitants. The characteristic in question, , I presume, still belongs to it. In my own recollection, in 1833, there were, out of a population of about 4000 individuals, at least five centenarians, three of whom, lusty in limb and sound in wind, formed the vanguard to a corps of indigence which paraded the streets and suburbs in quest of the weekly largess, in shape of broken food and bawbees, which it was customary at that period for the better class of inhabitants to dole out on Saturday after- noons. The scenery round about Crieff has never, in proportion to its merits, been done justice to. It is chieily of that mixed class which finds favour with poets and artists — the sublime subdued by the beautiful. In the upper part of the valley of the Earn, from Lochearnhead in fact, passing the villages of St. Fillans and Comrie, all the way down to Crieff, nothing can exceed the loveliness, blended with grandeur, which characterizes the land- scape. Every deflection in the lake, every elbow of the river, presents to the eye a fresh feast, and exercises its own witching power over the fancy. A hundred traditions are mixed up with the scenic attractions of old Strathearn, in which the Druids and the Culdees, and the Caledonian King Gralgacus, and the Romans, and the Clan G-rigor, and the Ghouls subterranean of wooded Lednock, and the little green manikins that play at bo-peep by moonlight on the birken knolls of Dunira, flourish indiscriminately. To me these things — the landscape, the lore, and the legend — make angling all the pleasanter, and so they do with every one I would care to meet, rod in hand, by the river-side. There are some touching lyrics also that owe their life to this, the fairest of Highland straths. ' Glen Turrit Grlen,' beginning ' Blythe was she,' by Burns, was one of them; but what stream in Scotland has not invited to some well-known effusion of bard or ballad- maker ? As a fronting river the Barn has perhaps been rated beyond 'j6 AN angler's rambles its deservings. The lowest gtretch of it, extending from Gask downwards, is almost useless for rod-fishing ; nor in the choicest parts of- its course are the f/esh-water trout either large or numerous, at least they were not so in 1842, or in previous years, as far back as 1833. In 1861, when I last visited them, the season being advanced, I restricted myself to salmon- fishing, and meeting with some encouragement, did not trouble the haunts of the fario, so had no opportunity of forming an opinion respecting them. The Earn in July is freely entered by the Salmo albus, or whitling. Half-a-dozen of these fishes, however, averaging from 1 lb. to 3 lbs., are considered an excellent day's take in its casts. On some of our northern rivers it would be looked upon as a very indifferent one. I never, it appears from my journal, got up to that mark in the immediate neighbourhood of CrieflF; for although I have spent several months on the banks of the Earn, and was always on the look-out for a favourable opportunity, it was at no time my good fortune to find the river in first-rate trim for whitling fishing. A brace or two of these silvery boys, how- ever, I added now and then to the contents of my creel, and felt as much satisfaction in securing them, under the disadvantages just mentioned, as I have since felt, fortuna farente, in the cap- ture of a couple of stone of sea-trout. THE ANGLER'S DELIGHTS. I. Oh ! who that feels the joyous throb which the angler's bosom stirreth. To the flowery stream-side hieing, When vernal winds are ilying. Would envy all that fortune with her fickle hand confer- reth? AND ANGLING SONGS. "J"] II. Nor in cities, nor with courtiers, nor within the kingly, palace. So flowing in its measure Is the rife cup of our pleasure, As when with wand and pannier we tread the daisied valleys. III. Would we give the grey lark's carol for the cold lip-utter'd chorus. Or heaven's ample covering, Where the minstrel bird is hovering, For the lamp-lit roofs that elevate their stately arches o'er us ? IV. Would we give our wild, free rambles, for the reveller's heated prison ? Or with the false and fawning. Consume a summer's dawning, Rather than greet the joyful sun from his couch of clouds arisen? V- Would we give our water-sceptre for the staves of state and splendour % Or exchange the angler's calling On the shady river trolling, For all the lesser pleasances that pomp or power can tender ? VI. Though bewitching are the hues that wrap the world's every folly, No longer they invite us. While truer joys delight us By the stream-side as we roam, below the hawthorn and the holly. 78 AN angler's rambles A well-known resort of the sea-trout which enter the Earn is Glen Artney, a secluded mountain-pass, forming part of the deer- forest on the Perth estate belonging to Lord Willoughby d'Eresby. It is traversed by the Kuchil, a stream on its approach towards Comrie of rugged speed ; indeed, in the lower portion, owing to this circumstance, and the precipitous nature of the banks, which are covered with wood to the water's edge, it is quite imprac- ticable to bring the rod into play. The best fishing-range com- mences five or six miles from the mouth, and extends upwards into the heart of the glen ; there the casts are readily commanded, and free from brushwood. To this point, in the event of a sum- mer flood, the sea-trout leaving the Firth of Tay below Newburgh have been known to climb in the course of ten or twelve hours. The distance, including the windings of the rivers, cannot be short of eighty miles. I fished the Ruchil for the first time, on the occasion of a freshet, in July 1833, but the knowing harry- waters of the district had got the start of me, and were actually on their way homewards, with their panniers cramful of newly- run sea-trout, before I came in sight, after a tedious pull, of the favourite ground. The water had relapsed into its ordinary dimensions, and I met in consequence with poor sport among the whitling tribe, making up, however, for my disappointment by filling my creel with burn-trout; but I took care, on after opportunities, to be beforehand with the natives, and succeeded, everything considered, in securing a fair proportion of the sport then met with on the Ruchil. In August 1842, while residing at Comrie House, I renewed my acquaintance with this romantic stream, with results which induce me to look favourably upon it as a haunt for the whitling, or Tay sea-trout. It may seem curious, as a fact connected with the natural history of this fish, that the sea-trout euterins; the river Earn, after pursuing its com-se as far as the mouth of the Ruchil, almoet invariably turn aside from the more natural AND ANGLING SONGS. 79 and straightforward course which leads up into the main strath, and take to the tributary. This is in accordance, however, in some measure, with their habits on other rivers as well as the Earn. On Tweed, for instance, the early sea-trout, which com- prehend what are left of that greatly-reduced species the whitling, show a marked preference for the Whitadder and Till, the latter especially ; while the late ones, those which press into the river by thousands in October and November, evince the same dispo- sition in choosing their breeding-grounds, often forsaking the direct current for a water much inferior in size that meets it at right angles — a water, too, which apparently possesses no advan- tage over the other. I have noticed that the instinct of these fish leads them away from the arable into the untilled districts. The Kale, on Teviot, affords an illustration in point, so do the heights of the Whitadder and those of Till, in its connexion with the Bowmont. The means which I understand have been taken of recent years by the salmon proprietors of the Tay to give free admission to fish of the salmon kind to the Grlen- Almond breeding-grounds, not far from Perth, lead to the impression that this instinct has to a certain extent become recognised. While at Crieff, in 1833, I now and then sauntered up Glen Turret to the loch, four or five miles distant, from which the water of Turret, a mountain- stream, stocked indifferently, in the rapid portions of its course, with small trout, takes its rise. The angling with the rod on Loch Turret was, at the time I speak of, held exempt from challenge ; and of this liberality on the part of the proprietor, Sir W. K. Murray of Ochtertyre, I took occa- sional advantage. It is not a piece of water resembling some of our Highland lakes, in which one is sure, provided he is up to the mark as an angler, of meeting with success. On the con- trary, its trout are of a sulky disposition, and not inclined, simply because the air has a balmy feeling, and the surface of the lake 8o AN angler's rambles is invitingly ruffled, to show face to the artificiarfly. I was, however, on three or four occasions, fortunate enough to find them in high taking humour. The most remarkable of these stands recorded in my diary, under date of June 20th. Trudging up towards the loch early in the morning, I overtook a middle-aged gentleman of stoutish build, half- clerically and half-pisoatorially rigged out, with whom I entered into conversation about trout- ing and the prospects of the day. He was quite an enthusiast on the subject, but leant to the worm rather than the fly, and was on his way to test the efficacy of that lure among the feeders of Loch Turret and Cuan. Q'o attempt discouraging him I saw at once was useless, as he had made up his mind to the work, so, on arriving together at the lower end of the lake, I commenced operations. In the course of two or three hours we again met, as if by appointment, at the exact spot where we had separated. The trout had just given over feeding, and I was in the act of counting out my spoils on the heathery slope, when my companion of the morning made his reappearance. He had never seen, he admitted, such an array of beautiful trout in his lifetime. They exceeded by a trifle six dozen in number. Of these, about a score stood severally from a pound well on to a pound and a half in weight, the rest averaging nearly half-a-pound apiece. The fine condition and superb colouring of these fish drew expressions of warm admiration from my new friend, who introduced himself on the spur of the moment as Professor Gillespie of St. Andrews, the author, among other literary efifusions, of some observations, published in one of the early numbers of Blackwood's Magazine (1819, pp. 585), on bait-fishing, along with a humorous account of a day's excursion up Glenwhargan in Dumfriesshire, his native county. These observations, although applied to worm- fishing, contain the cream and marrow of Stewart's advices to the fly-fisher. They are very valuable in their relation to small burns tenanted by petty trout, but are scarcely worth a straw AND ANGLING SONGS. 8 1 when brought to bear upon rivers, properly so called, where the bank shelter is amissing, and where a short one-handed rod, would be found powerless either to propel the worm forward to the required distance, or to act as a lever in recovering it, or in striking the fish. Professor G-illespie, on the occasion of his visit to the feeders of Loch Turret, was not fortunate ; but he over-rated their capabilities, and expected too much from them as the nurseries of a well-reputed lake. I never again, although in the course of our walk back to CriefF we mutually anticipated and planned several fishing ex- cursions together, had the pleasure of conversing face to face with the Professor, a domestic affliction having called him away suddenly to St. Andrews next morning ; but our accidental meeting on the shoulder of Ben Chonzie led to correspondence betwixt us on angling matters, which was kept up for several years, in fact until the date of his decease. My journal recounts other successes met with on this truly Highland loch. The 24th and 27th of June are so marked, also the 3d and 20th of July, and the 5th of August. • The last date carries with it the recol- lection of a day's sport not much inferior to that above narrated. I sometimes, during the summer of 1833, and again in 1839, proved the stilly parts of the Earn, and of a sluggish water called the Pow Burn, which forms one of its feeders, for pike. The Earn pike are better conditioned, and attain a larger size, than those of the Tay. They are also more capricious. Sultry weather foreboding thunder-storms, the most discouraging for trout-fishing, I have always found the most appetizing for pike, especially when accompanied with a light wind. With such experiences what took place on the Earn was at one ; but there are occasions, in the breeding-season for instance, when the state of the atmosphere does not appear to affect them, and they will rush at any reasonable bait that you may choose to offer. From Crieff I once or twice made an excursion to Glen- F 82 AN angler's rambles Almond, and thence to Loch Freuchie, and when residing at Comrie House spent a day or two in exercise with my rod . on Loch Earn, near St. Fillans. The upper ranges of Loch Earn I previously had laid under contribution in 1831. With Loch Freuchie, which is held in such high esteem by some of my angling friends, I was disappointed. It may, however, have greatly improved with respect to the size of its trout since that time, the netting, which was then regularly carried on, being now either done away with, or put under restrictions. The Loch Earn trout, also, such as are to be taken near the margins in summer, disappointed me in regard to their dimensions. Large fellows are now and then secured by the troller, but to bring such up to the scratch requires more perseverance than the sport they afford when hooked is really worth. There is some fine-looking preserved water, in the shape both of natural and artificial lakes or ponds, near Crieff, on the estates of Drummond Castle, Ochtertyre, and Abercairney, which I never had the opportunity of throwing a line over. The name of Abercairney leads me back to the incidents of a day passed with the then chieftain, the late James Moray, Esq., lineal representative of the Earls of Strathearn, at one of his shooting-lodges, located on the heights betwixt Monzie and Glen- Almond. Abercairney was a Celt to the back-bone, and rarely, if ever, hunting days excepted, exchanged the kilt for the trews. In his younger days he had journeyed on foot all over Italy, and penetrated into the wildest recesses of Calabria, under protection of his motley garb and a set of bagpipes, gaining the hearts and hospitalities of the brigand peasantry through the medium of strathspeys and pibrochs. With all his peculiarities and High- land prejudices, the chief, for he acknowledged no surname, and to be addressed as Mr. Moray brought the fire to his eye and the taunt to his tongue, was a man of highly cultivated tastes. As a connoisseur in fine-art productions, he was looked up to with AND ANGLING. SONGS. 83 respect, and his collection of ancient marbles and objects of vertu formed one of the principal attractions of Abercairney House. One of the incidents connected with the day in question relates to his high character as a sportsman, not in the capacity merely of Master of Hounds, in which position he was well known and appreciated in the lye of country stretching betwixt the Ochils and the Grampians, but also as an unerring shot, and justice- doer to that persecuted bird whose proper treatment gives almost arable value to the dreariest moorland — the grouse. It happened, if I recollect aright, betwixt the 12th and 20th of August. Abercairney's neighbour, the Laird of M e, had just started on his career of notoriety as a grouse-killer, and his achieve- ments on the heather, publicly bruited abroad, were, of course, liable to be made subjects of talk at table and elsewhere. I for- get the exact tally of birds reported to have been knocked over by M e on the occasion, but I well remember how it contrasted with the day's performance of my entertainer, whose moors, in contiguity with the M e grounds, fully as well stocked, and of much greater extent, gave him the opportunity, had he chosen to avail himself of it, of silencing for ever the vaunts of a juvenile candidate for the honours acquired by handling a Manton with eifect. The packs, I may mention, in that year, were rather backward in growth. In reality, they were not more so than what (by the false assumption proceeded on in the Game Laws, viz., that the young broods are fit subjects for bagging on the 12th of August) they usually turn out to be. Poults were par- ticularly numerous, and it was in dealing with these soft- feathered fledglings, which a mere puff of powder was sufficient to singe into insignificance, that M- — - e evidently at that time looked for laurels as a crack shot. The pony, the flag-staff, the ready loaded barrel, brought to bear, along with other auxiliaries, there is no merit that I can see, or satisfaction either, beyond 84 AN angler's rambles what may be derived from dropping branchers in a rookery,- in blazing away pell-mell at young grouse, merely to make up a monstrous bag, which shall read bravely in a newspaper para- graph, but the outs and ins of whose contents are kept a profound mystery. Whilst the Laird of M e's gun spoke to a hundred brace, less or more, that of Abercairney, on the occasion I refer to, gave evidence of the skill as well as the judgment with which it had been levelled, in the shape of eighteen old male grouse, the pick of as many packs. This contrast, in the way of dealing with birds, speaks for itself, and is introduced by me in order to illustrate the notions of what constitutes sport. That the whole- sale butchery system should be so generally acted upon, and, the scarcity of grouse notwithstanding, frequently made a subject of surprise and complaint by the terrorists themselves, indicates an obtuseness of comprehension, or a want of common sense, in com- plete keeping with their treatment of the grouse stock. The entertainment at Abercairney's shooting-lodge was a rich treat, in its own way, to a youth and a Sassenach, for although born in Midlothian I am bound to consider myself one of the alien race ; nay, to have been born, and bred to boot, at John o' Groat's, a place which our countrymen (I speak in the large sense of the word) are in general under the firm conviction, simply because it lies in the extreme north of Scotland, forms part of the High- lands, would not have made kith or kin of me in the eyes of a genuine Celt. At dinner, the ceremony of saying grace was finished ofi', if not wholly conducted, by the chieftain's own piper, who strutted up and down the narrow space assigned to him with an air of dignity assimilated to that of the moor- cock itself, when in full courting plumage. A cover removed, and grouse soup, with other preliminaries, discussed, in marched the kilted retainer a second time, venting from his inflated instrument a succession of AND ANGLING SONGS. 85 groans and skirls, of ear-torturing and brain-confusing sounds, which, had my attention not been drawn to- the effect they had upon the chieftain himself, would have led me to judge of High- land music as an outrage upon taste and common sense. There is something, certainly, which it is not easy to account for, in the accommodation given by the ear, when brought into contact with them, to the tones of the bagpipe. I can understand how in the distance they exercise a fascinating influence over the High- lander, and where the connexion holds good betwixt Gaelic music and the voices which pervade the glens and mountains — the wail of the blast, the rush and roar of the waterfall, the thunder echo, the plaintive cry of the curlew, the scream of the eagle, the bellowing of the stag, and the many sounds familiar to the ear in the land of flood and heath. I can appreciate its power in the battle-field as an animating medium, and can recog- nise something even of a martial spirit in its shrill and discord- ant strains ; but how, when pent up within the walls of a small apartment, it should not only become tolerated, but made use of as a source of stirring pleasure, is past comprehension. The rapt regard accorded by Abercairney and his friends to this portion of the evening's repast, coincided with the effect I have often seen produced by the power of the Gaelic language from the pulpit. Great force of expression, exercising a strong sway over the feelings, and many happy renderings of thought and idea, pervade what we Sassenachs are apt to think a string of uncouth and semi-nasal sounds. The effects wrought on the audience by the Highland preacher are truly in their way miraculous. I have witnessed, on the occasion of a popular minister officiating at a sacrament, such a gathering of the clans as might lead one, were it not for the predominating presence of the gentler sex, to suppose that the war-slogan had been sounded, and the beacon-fires lighted up. Not from this glen or that alone, or even from the great Strath itself, had the 86 AN angler's rambles assemblage poured. Old men in the trews and plaid, lads in the philibeg, grey crones and withered calliaghs, the kerchiefed dame, and the lass whose golden locks no coif or ribbon im- prisoned, had crossed, bare-footed not a few of them, half the breadth of the island, over mountains rugged and trackless, along precipitous scars, by the banks of foaming torrents, through weary heaths and swamps curtained with mist — all led by that spirit which the fame of eloquence invokes. I have seen this motley congregation seated on the sward below the preacher, distributed in picturesque groups along one side of the grassy knoll which he occupied, every eye fixed, every ear at stretch, every heart held open to receive. You could have heard, in the silence of an occasional pause, the grasshopper's chirp or the wild-bee's hum, even the cropping of the daisied turf by a shaggy pony, whose affection for its owner had guided it towards the sacred precincts ; and when the service was over, little skill did it require to read in the countenance of every retiring listener the shining triumphs of the gospel orator — the signet-stamp of his Angel of Persuasion. The same master-spell wliich works in the speech appears to work also in the music of the Gael. On this occasion ample evidence was given of its strange control ; for, as fate would have it, the spirit being raised, and the presence in an adjoining apartment of a couple of rival pipers having been announced, my frail ear was subjected, for the space of at least four mortal hours, to a course of laments and pibrochs, which the circulation of potent punch, ladled out by the host with severe exactness from the hollow of a bowl at least two feet in circumference, and of corresponding altitude, only rendered the more excruciating. Such an afternoon of musical agony I have never since en- dured ; and although it has been my lot to encounter many a wet and gusty night, I have always managed to steer pretty clear of kilted lairds given to connect their unhallowed orgies, in AND ANGLING SONGS. 87 the shape of bagpipe discord, with the honourable mystery of punch-brewing — a mystery which,' in the Borderland, is asso- ciated with mirth and melody of a much more intelligible cast. The upshot of the chieftain's ploy — piper's fame having lugged lots of volunteers in its wake to the retainer's quarters — was an adjournment thereto, followed by ' dirling of roof and rafter,' the active blending of kUt and kirtle, the snapping of thumbs, and that union of howling uproar, with frantic gesticulation, which forms the soul and spirit of the Highland dance. Under cover of such din and devilry I was glad to effect an escape, and at the risk of being swamped in a neighbouring morass, find my way to Crieff. In the course of a pedestrian tour which I took in 1831, after fishing the Eden, near Falkland, in Fifeshire, I proceeded to Perth, and from thence, along with a friend, made excursions among the Ochils, our principal attention being directed to the May Water and the feeders of the Devon in Clackmannanshire. On the 16th of July I quitted the Fair City, and made my way up the Tay to where it becomes joined by its tributary the Tummel, and arriving at Moulinearn in the course of the after- noon, I found excellent quarters at the inn, then kept by Mr. Dewar and his right-hand man Sandy, as courteous and obliging host and servitor as one could wish to fall in with. The next day being Sunday, I devoted a portion of it to a ramble up the rivulet which issues from Loch Broom, a highly reputed and strictly preserved trouting lake, lying in the midst of a fine grouse district, about five miles from the village. A peep at the water was all I had then the opportunity of enjoying. By kind permission, however, of his G-race the late Duke of Athol, I formed one of an angling party which met there on the 22d of July 1854, and, taking everything into account, Ihe sport obtained accorded with what I had been led to expect. An in- cident connected with it may help to show the folly occasionally 85 AN ANGLER S RAMBLES exhibited by the best of anglers, of giving way, in a matter of judgment, to local prejudices and conceits regarding flies. My casting-line had been made up, and such fly-hooks as it struck me were very likely to suit the day and complexion of the water attached. One of these happening to catch the eye of an Athol- man, an employe of his Grace, I forget in what capacity, whose piscatorial knowledge of the loch and its finny inhabitants was reckoned tip-top, he expressed, in decided terms, his disapproval of it, both as to colour and size, recommending very civilly a trial of his own fail-me-never patterns. The flies he provided were not new to me ; indeed, I had recommended them over and over again as redoubted killers on Highland lochs in general ; but I saw no reason why I should be guided on this occasion, even by my own recommendations, linked with the fact that they had been acted upon and received the credit they were entitled to in other quarters. I therefore declined his offer ; nay, I did more, I re-arranged my fly-cast by substituting for the dropper a duplicate of the denounced fabrication ; and as we had two boats at command, and stout gillies to manage them, I suggested that the flies locally approved of should be used in the hands of the party upholding them, against those of my selection. This suggestion having been acted on, the results, to the general sur- prise, seeing that my rival was no novice in the art of fly-throw- ing, and that we stood on a par in other respects, were, after three or four hours' fishing, very decidedly in my favour. In fact, against seventeen trout, varying in weight from a pound and a half to half a pound, which formed the sum-total of my spoils, only one was produced, and that a puny starveling, which had risen at a venture in the wake of the boat, after the expiry of feeding-time. The secret of my comparative success lay, I am convinced, in adapting the colours of my selection to those which prevailed in the sky and affected the ruffled surface of the lake. Had I been • AND ANGLING SONGS. 89, guided by the advice tendered me, I should, in all probability, have had a hard struggle to maintain my credit. The successful fly, I may mention, is classed on Tweedside among the March- browns, and stands at the head of its three varieties : wings, speckled partridge-feather or hen-pheasant : shoulders, ginger heckle ; body, light- coloured hare-lug, with a slender gold thread worked over it, and tail-feelers attached. My youngest brother, a crack hand with both rod and gun, who had slain salmon and erioces among the heights of the Sacra- mento, river-cod in the Australian water-holes, pigs and monster eels, among the tabooed hills of the Canterbury Settlement in New Zealand, as well as mokas and other fish in the estuaries of its rivers, angled in Loch Broom along with me on this occasion, using a similar fly. He preferred, however, beating the water from the margins instead of the boat ; and in point of weight over-topped me by a pound or two, our numbers exactly corre- sponding. The loch had b.een recently dammed up and extended, both for sporting purposes, and in order to give water-power to a saw-mill near Moulinearn. He had in consequence to contend with the heather which lined its altered margins, and lost many a good trout in his endeavour to land it, owing to the disengaged fly coming into contact with the submerged twigs. The trout of Loch Broom cut red and firm, and in point of symmetry and external beauty take the precedence of all the trout in the district. I am reminded of them in these respects by an admirably executed engraving, in water-colours, published by E. G-ambart and Co., Berners Street, Oxford Street, entitled ' Not Long Caught.' On that stretch of the river Tummel, the best trouting, and I may add salmon-fishing, is to be met with in the immediate neighbourhood of Moulinearn. Above Pitlochrie the bed is too rocky, and the run of water too impetuous to supply nourish- ment and eligible shelter to large trout. Although, to the half- go AN ANGLER S RAMKLES practised eye, these present the appearance of constituting ex- cellent salmon accommodation, such in reality is not the case. It is quite an error to suppose that rocky bottoms are furnished with aU the conveniences sought for by the salmon which frequent our rivers, or that these fish will select their point of out-look in our fresh waters solely upon the conditions implied in a rugged or indurated channel. There is no doubt that, in their choice of quarters, they incline to ledges of rock or large stones, but inva- riably these will be found, when the salmon are settled down, to lie in conjunction with, or in the vicinity of, a firm, gravelly alveus. I could enumerate many places where the instinct guiding them to this selection finds illustration, but shall content myself with particularizing one, taken from the district entered upon. At the distance from Pitlochrie of a couple of miles, the Tummel is joined by the Garry, the course of which river, from Faskally upwards through the Pass of Killicrankie, is wildly rapid, and its bed strewn over with rocks and boulders of every shape and dimension ; nevertheless, even in the most impetuous positions, the eye of one not fully versed in all the outs and ins of sahuon- fishing, proficient as he may be in the use of the rod, becomes so deceived as to construe the interspersed breaks and shallows, the flush of water passing from the tired eddies, the jutting shelves which gleam underneath — the whole build, in fact, of the channel, — into a series of admirable resting-places for the fish. I have no doubt that, under this impression, the stretch of river I allude to has been traversed with the artificial fly over and over again, and that wonder has been expressed, largely and loudly, at the ob- stinacy of the salmon in resisting every temptation which feather, wool, and tinsel could be combined into by the manipulating powers of such practised artists as Roderick Anderson or James Wright. But the truth simply is, that in resting humour no fish :ire ever there. Such are not the spots which the instincts of he salmon induce them to halt at and show appetite. Proceed AND ANGLING SONGS. 9 1 farther up. Climb from its torrent termination to the head of the Pass, to that point in the course of the Garry v?here the dis- tribution of the rook becomes consorted equally with stretches of alluvial deposit, in fact, with spawning-ground ; and in the pools favoured by such a combination you will find that not only are salmon to be met with, but that they are to be met with in a position which prompts and enables them to come readily towards the offered lure of the angler. All who have had experience of our best salmon-rivers must have noted, that where the bed of the river is naked rock, or where the above combination does not hold good, sport either fails altogether, or is of a very inferior description. These ob- servations bear upon the condition of Tummel as an angling stream, and upon the very deceptive appearance which the rocky part of its course presents. To the celebrated falls in this water I gave in 1854 particular attention. They are neither so high nor so abrupt as to prove, strictly speaking, an insurmountable barrier to the progress of salmon. Active fish occasionally work their way up theiji. I say ' work their way ; ' for it is chiefly by a continued process of exertion rather than by any one concen- trated effort, such as a leap or spring, that they are enabled to overcome the opposition, which at the spot I refer to is given by the confined and furious discharge. Such fish, however, are not those which it is most desirable to direct into that splendid range of breeding-ground which lies higher up. It is to the progress of salmon and grilses, when in an advanced condition, that these falls present a formidable obstacle. As to the difi5culty which fish when in this state have in overcoming a very slight measure of resistance, I can speak from personal observation. At a cauld-dyke built across the Tweed in Kelso, it is no unusual thing to see in the course of half an hour, during the height of the spawning season, a score offish thrown back, in their a;ttempts to establish them- selves higher up, by the force of water, which passes over a 92 AN angler's rambles gradual slope of seven or eight feet in height. The depth, I allow, of the descending medium at the places selected by the fish on these occasions is not great, but it is quite sufficient to admit of the free action of the caudal, pectoral, and ventral fins, and is more suited than that of the main run for the passage of breeders ; indeed, they invariably decline making use of the latter as impracticable, on account of its velocity. In regard to the Tummel falls, I see nothing to prevent them from being so treated as to be made capable of aflFording an easy passage to salmon in all their stages. Taking into account the compensation implied, for it really is so, in the opening up of an inviting approach to the spawning-grounds of the upper Tummel, and to those connected with Lochs Rannoch, Ericht, and Lydoch, viz., the Erocht and Gawin rivers, the expenditure of a few hundreds is neither here nor there. As for any injury threatening the scenic attractions of the falls, that, by a little exercise of taste, could readily be obviated. The development of such resources as those I have named is surely worth the consideration of the Tay Commissioners. During my sojourn at Pitlochrie in 1854, I was induced, by some traditionary reports afloat in the village atmosphere, and given credit to, after a manner, by the primitives who circulated them, as to the wonderful contents of an old marl-pit, situated on the hill which leads up towards Moulin. Such-and-such a tried hand had jjut signature to the belief that it contained trout of unconquerable strength and enormous size. An encounter with one of these monsters was invariably followed by the loss of tackle, no matter its strength. On this account, and owing to the re- puted shyness of the fish, which, it was further stated, could only be tempted to rise in the spring months, before the reeds and other water plants had gained ascendency, the place was scarcely over disturbed by the rod-fisher. AND ANGLING SONGS. 93 With water-hollows of this description, haunted by mysterious trout, I have in my time formed a large acquaintance. There are lots of them still to be met in the Lowlands of Scotland, but there were more, a great many, when draining operations were conducted on an inferior scale, and agricultural economy was less studied than at present. One of them, the Linton Loch, in Roxburghshire, as regards its revelations on being flushed dry and tl^oroughly ransacked, might have furnished a large museum with prominent objects of natural history. This water-hollow formed the nucleus of a swamp lying in the vicinity of the How- nam Hills, and appears to have been a place of fatal refuge to the persecuted quarry of an age venatorial, far beyond that whfen Scot and Southern held their contentions. There, deeply em- bedded in marl, were found the remains of various animals, not generally supposed to have been natives of Great Britain. Im- mense horns, among others those of the reindeer, the skull of a beaver, and bones- of huge size, were taken out from a depth of many feet. Above these, in connexion with the moss, lay vast accumulations of hazel-nuts, and the remains of the trees from which they had dropped. Up to a bite period, trout of large dimensions were said to occupy the reduced hollows of this morass. A friend of mine managed to pick out three or four, averaging from 1| to 2 lbs., but these were the pigmies of the place ; the leviathans always managed to escape, and were left to digest at leisure the cold iron they had so unceremoniously carried off. My mode of dealing with haunts of this sortj such as in summer become clogged with aquatic plants, and are seldom, where free from such obstructions, acted on by the breeze, is very simple. I use the casting^line which I would employ in angling with the worm in clear water on Tweed, made up of seven or eight lengths of fine round silk-worm gut, carefully double-knotted, but not whipped over at the joinings. My hook, an Adlington round- 94 AN angler's rambles bend No. 9, I bait with a small well-cleaned red worm. A lead is not required, but a iioat will be found useful. A slip, about the size of a gun-wad, taken from a common bottle-cork, is what I generally make use of for this purpose. This I cut half-way across and connect with my casting-line, at a distance from the hook usually of about three feet, but varied by circumstances, such as the depth of the hole, temperature of the day, etc. The most suitable rod is one which commands a good stretch of water, and is at the same time both light and stiffish. With such a weapon, rigged out as described, I cautiously approach the pond or lakelet reported to contain the finny veterans, and drop my worm noiselessly near this or that tuft of reeds or floating plants, among the roots of which it strikes me a large trout may have ensconced itself. After allowing the worm to rest a minute or two (in river dibbling without a float, a single second will suffice to test the humour of the fish), no telegram from below having been received, I warily shift ground, and should a surface- feeding trout catch my eye, remove the slip of cork, and gently pitch out the bait towards it. Following this practice I took three trout one forenoon from the bog or marl-pit above Pit- lochrie. Of these, the heaviest was a two-pounder, the others scarcely a pound each. I felt, however, no great disappointment on the score of their size, and in other respects they exceeded my expectations. It required some little management to exhaust them, on account of the weeds, but round fresh gut, properly knotted, and soaked preparatory to its being used, will, when the elastic powers of the rod are put into proper play in conjunction with it, master more opposition than it gets credit for. Reverting to my tour in 1831. I fished up the Tummel on the 18th of July, to the loch bearing the same name. The scenery on that portion of the river amply makes amends for the rather indifferent sport yielded by it. There are plenty of trout, but in point of size and general appearance they bear no propor- AND ANGLING SONGS. ' . 95 tlon to the seeming capabilities of the pools and streams which they inhabit. When we come to examine them, however, we find a great deficiency of nutritious feeding-ground : in some places bare rock, in others shifty gravel and smooth-worn stones, with which insect life is but scantily associated. On gaining the outlet of the lake, which consists of a long neck of water, this characteristic ceases. The alluvial deposits there collected form the source of rich and abundant sustenance, and encourage a rank growth of rushes, flags, and other lacustrine plants. In this range of water, immediately below the ferry-house, I caught, on the day above mentioned, a beautiful trout of 2-^ lbs., and another of 1-^. The ferry-house was at that time occupied by two brothers, both of whom were deaf and dumb. I recollect them as obliging, and, taking into account their infirmity, intelli- gent men. In their shieling, which was not particularly well furnished or commodious, I took up my night-quarters ; a hearty meal, composed of the usual Highland fare — oat-cake, eggs, trout, and whisky — assisting me to make the best of a shake-down of ' dry heather, as the only apology for a bed the place could oifer. Early next morning I was in the boat along with one of my silent entertainers, and on the way up, under oars, to the head of the loch. After persevering for nearly an hour, I hooked a large trout, apparently one of five or six pounds' weight, which, owing to the faulty state of my tackle, or careless handling, broke away. This disappointment was followed by the escape of another fish, supposed, however, to be a pike, from a troUing- line in the rear of the boat. I held on beating the bays and' well-reputed parts of the loch for an hour longer, when the breeze all at once dropped, and the sun broke fiercely forth. There was no use persevering any further, so I landed, and, after exchanging civilities with my boatman, proceeded to the upper part of the Tummel, with the intention, after breakfasting at the Bridge Inn, of fishing up to Loch Rannoch. 96 AN angler's rambles In 1854 I renewed my acquaintance with Loch Tummel, at a period of the year corresponding to that of my former visit. No great external change had been wrought upon it, or the surround- ing scenery, but in respect to the contents of the laJke, as far as vegetable and piscine life were concerned, these appeared to be very decidedly altered. I have observed, I may state, a similar revolution in progress on many lakes and rivers which I fre- quented in my younger days. What was formerly unobstructed water, clear, with the exception of a few desultory patches, from weeds, has gradually, a large expanse of it, become unserviceable for trolling purposes, owing to the springing up, in some places from a great depth, of aquatic plants. As a consequence of this dense growth the pike of Loch Tummel have greatly increased in numbers, while the trout have proportionably decreased. At the outlet of the lake, below the ferry-house, the first-mentioned fish, appear to have taken up a position of offence. Evidently they swarm there in unusual quantities, instinct guiding them to that particular point or pass as one which affords both facilities and opportunities for an onslaught on the descending fry of those occasional salmon which, overcoming the lower falls of the river, have passed through the lake to the base of old Schiehallion. On the occasion of my last visit to Loch Tummel, 20th July 1854, along with my youngest brother, we captured, in the course of an hour, half a dozen of these liers-in-wait, with no other apparatus than a couple of stiffish trouting-rods, and trolling tackle mounted on gimp and baited with small trout. ■ Had wo devoted the entire afternoon to the work, instead of wasting it uselessly along the shores of the loch in the hope of getting hold of one or two of its magnificent trout, I am convinced that we should have lugged out a score and upwards of these depredators. Connected with the capture just mentioned, the following in- cident occurred : — From a small creek which diverged from the outlet spoken of, I had just landed a hungry-looking jack, two or AND ANGLING SONGS. 97 three pounds in weight, when to my surprise, within a yard of the spot where it seized my baited tackle, a trout rose. Accord- ingly, in expectation of catching it, I substituted for my gimp- tackle a gut casting-line, along with such appendages as are rec(mred in worm-fishing. In the course of a minute or two the trout, a half-pounder, was lying on the sward side by side with his natural enemy ; and not a quarter of an hour after, another pike, abstracted from the very same spot, completed the trio. This occurrence led to the discussion whether the trout in question was a chance-comer or a resident, — a stray traveller that had fallen into a den of cut-throats, or a privileged occupant of the locality, who, by virtue of his superior status, lived there with impunity. To take another view of the matter — not a very reasonable one certainly, but the natural history of some fishes is linked with things as strange, — was it not possible that, by some tacit understanding, this trout played the part of a decoy to the pike, and enticed victims towards the seizing points of their haunts ? Or might not the fact of its occupying uninjured a centre-point within the garrison of its reputed foes, assist to show that pike, while they will readily assail injured trout, or the fry of salmon pushing seawards, will not press the attack upon healthy fish established in their beats ? Many other instances of this forbearance on the part of pike, or good understanding betwixt them and trout, I have met with, both on Till and Teviot ; but the most singular one occurred in connexion with a small pond not sixty yards in circumference, situated near the Glen, or lower part of the Bowmont, in North- umberland. There I found both trout and pike cooped up together, and living in apparent harmony. My journal records the circumstance of capturing specimens of each fish on the 16th of June 1841, on the occasion of a meeting of the Glendale Pishing Club, out of this place. Immediately below Kelso Bridge, on the north side of the river, in what may be called the G 98 AN angler's rambles Bathing Pool, being used as such by the juveniles of the town, the same to all appearance friendly footing is maintained by its mixed inhabitants. The hole in question is actually crowded with small trout, among which, as is well known, three pike, one apparently of nine or ten pounds in weight, have taken up their abode, and do not appear, when sailing about, to exercise any deterring effect upon their freckled companions, which feed boldly in their presence, and cross within a foot or two of their formid- able jaws. Such instances of friendly relation, however, are to be looked upon with distrust, and do not disturb the fact that pike are most dangerous enemies to the young fry. In this light, should any attempt ever be made to facilitate the access of salmon through the Tummel to the higher district, it is desirable they should be viewed, and their present occupation of the loch and its outlet as much as possible interfered with. THE PIRATE OF THE LAKES. Gaily rock the lily beds On the marge of Lomond lake ; There the wandering angler treads, Nature round him — all awake, Mountains ringing. Fountains singing Their sweet secrets in the brake. Swiftly from the water's edge Shoots the fierce pike, wing'd with fear. To his lair among the sedge, As the intruding form draws near ; AND ANGLING SONGS. 99 All elated, Primely baited, Seeking solitary cheer. III. Throbs aloud the eager heart. And the hand' in tremor moves. When some monster, all alert, Round the tempting tackle roves ; Boldly daring. Or bewaring, • While the gleamy lure he proves. IV. Then at length each doubt subdued, Turns the lake-shark on his prey ; Quickly gulp'd the fatal food, Suddenly he sheers away. All enshackled. Firmly tackled, Out into the deep'ning bay. v. But with steady caution school'd. Soon his boasted vigour fails ; By the angler's sceptre ruled, Maim'd the sullen pirate sails ; Shoreward wending, Un contending. Him the joyous captor hails. ' VI. And along the margin haul'd. All his fretful fins a-spread. lOO AN angler's rambles Though by ruthless iron gall'd, Still he rears his cruel head Uncomplaining, Death disdaining — See him as a trophy led ! In my pedestrian tour in 1841, on leaving Loch Tummel, I fished up the river to Kinloch-Rannoch. The weather being calm and sunny, the sport was indififerent. Had I provided myself with worms, and been an adept at that time in the use of them, I should probably have be^n more successful. On the same stretch of river, my brother, Captain Stoddart, some ten or twelve years after, filled a large creel by means of this bait. From Kinloch-Eannoch, on the following day, I proceeded towards the head of the lake, which is nearly twelve miles in length. The weather was still inauspicious for fly-fishing. I managed, however, to eke out of the most inviting bays a pretty satisfac- tory take, numbering nearly three dozens, none of which ex- ceeded a pound in weight. With a specimen of the ferox, so abundant in Loch Eannoch, and as a captor of which that expert troller. Major Cheape, stood unrivalled, I had no oppor- tunity afibrded me of falling in. Prom forty to fifty of these monster trout, weighing from four up to sixteen pounds, have been taken by the JMajor in the course of a season. The form of tackle which he employs is extremely simple in its cou. And consign every wrong to the rummer ! III. Oh ! Peace and Content are the angler's best wealth ; No journey without them he ventures ; Like angels, they wait at the porch of his gate And greet him again when he enters. IV. Then joyously mingle the soul of the grain With a sober supply from the tankard ; 'Twill cost not a care, so long as we share The cups of content and of concord ! AND ANGLING SONGS. 191 THE ANGLEE'S FLY-STOCK. A MASTER in the art, Christopher North soared loftily aboye the conceits and prejudices of contemporary anglers. He was decidedly of the old Scottish school, and despised the pedaiitry of linking too closely entomological science with the fabrication of the artificial trouting-fly. His ideas on this subject, I have reason to believe, harmonized with those expressed in an article on angling in the Encyclopmdia Britannica, which emanated from the pen of his brother, the late James Wilson, F.R.S.E., a much-esteemed author and naturalist, as well as a high authority on the subject of fly-fishing. His voyage in the Government yacht, the ' Princess Royal,' round the coast of Scotland, in company with the late Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, embraces the relation of several fishing-excursions, in all of which, his views as to the construction of a killing artificial fly were adhered to and successfully followed out. The theory advanced by Mr. Wilson amounts simply to this, that with three or four combina- tions of feathers, dubbing, and silk, adapting the size of the hook and qTiantity of material used to the state of water, atmosphere, etc., you may, throughout the season, on any river or loch in Scotland, secure as good sport as you would with the most approved imitations of the natural insect. Such combinations, for instance, as the woodcock-wing and hare-lug, a red or brown hackle winged with the well-known speckled brown feather taken from the back of the mallard ; and a black hackle, either wingless altogether, or else furnished in that particular from the starling, snipe, or landrail, may be adduced in illustration. I am aware that a reduction of the fly-stock to so limited a compass would not meet with much favour, or gain any great amount of con- fidence, on the banks of many of the rivers in the south of England. I am also aware that there are trouting-streams of 192 AN angler's rambles considerable celebrity, to fish which with success it is necessary, not perhaps to throw one's-self implicitly into the hands of Ronald, or study entomology by the yard, but to acquire some knowledge of the water-insects which, at stated periods, abound in the loca- lity, and form the favourite food of the trout. Imitations of these insects, under such circumstances, constitute a valuable addition to the fly-stock of the angler ; indeed, even when it is not abso- lutely necessary, we feel inclined to admit them to a spare com- partment in the pocket-book, on the score simply of their forming an embellishment to its contents, and gratifying a natural fond- ness for variety, shared, to some extent, by all anglers. I have always subscribed, however, as far as our Scottish rivers are concerned, to Mr. Wilson's opinion ; and it is the opinion of an eminent naturalist, as well as of an excellent angler, that the efiSciency of a fly-stock does not depend upon any rela- tion which its individuals bear to this and that species of natural water-fly, but upon their general resemblance to forms of insect life. A similar contempt for anything like an entomological arrange- ment in the making up of a fly-stock was entertained by the Professor, and has been expressed by him in the course of his admirable articles on angling embodied in The Recreations of Christopher North. This dissent, however, from the theories supported by Eonald and Caroll, the former of whom intro- duces to us upwards of fifty water-flies, with their imitations ; and the latter, a Scottish authority, in his angler's Vade 2Iecum, describes and illustrates, by coloured representations, no fewer than 195 winged insects, native, many of them, to Tweedside, does not imply the rejection of such combinations of feather, silk, dubbing, and tinsel, as have been ascertained to attract trout and provoke to their seizure. Accordingly, the recognition of a standard list of killers cannot be held as inconsistent with the views now reiterated, nor does my exemplification of a AND ANGLING SONGS. 193 ground- work for an efficient fly-stock commit me in practice to such combinations, and no others, as I have recommended. On Tweedside, in the neighbourhood of Kelso, a standard list of artificial trouting-flies has gradually been elaborated, in the hands of John Forrest and Son, and James Wright of Sprouston, unquestionably the best fly-dressers in Scotland, if not in Great Britain. About twenty years ago, scarcely any of the flies in this list were regarded as imitations of insects, or had been dignified with names which, although not strictly speaking ento- mological, implied that the artistic productions bearing them were representations, in their place and season, of certain natural insects. Of the very few so distinguished, what is termed the March Brown was one, and the Green Drake probably another. But the generality of flies in the catalogue were not then char- acterized as resemblances to any known water-insect, ephemeral or otherwise, beyond the occasional application of such vague terms as midges, gnats, spiders, and palmers. They were named sometimes from the material of which they were chiefly com- posed, or from a prevailing colour or other peculiarity pertaining to it. For instance, the terms red, brown, or black hackles, harelugs, duns, and white-tips, were understood to be sufficiently descriptive of certain standard flies. The names of individuals, also, in whose hands a particular combination of materials and colour had proved disastrous to the finny tribe, were wont to be assigned to others of our artificial lures. As an example of this, away from any fixed locality,- 1 may cite Hoffland's Fancy. The angler now-a-days, however, is not content with such homely and characteristic appellations, but must frame, even in regard to the old-established lures which bear them, some excuse for intro- ducing an entomological arrangement, and for subjecting them to the control of a theory which experience teaches is incorrect, a few exceptional cases forming its only ground of support. In the making up of a working or efficient fly-stock, the grand 194 AN angler's rambles desideratum is simplicity, whict one can never arrive at by swelling it out with imitation after imitation of those countless forms of insect life which disport themselves, three-fourths of the year through, on the surface and banks of our trouting-streams. A well- reputed and properly tested artificial fly, even although it has no feature in common with what it may have originally been intended to represent, should always, on the ground of its services, be held in consideration by the angler. It was on this principle that the Professor favoured the realization of a fly- stock, upon which to depend for sport, anywhere and everywhere, throughout Scotland. As the medium, to a limited extent, of getting it up, I was honoured a few years before his death with a request to select, or rather give an order for, and superintend the dressing of a gross of artificial t;;outing-flies, which should comprehend most of the specimens approved of on Tweedside. As an expert and ready hand, I employed James Wright of . Sprouston, describing to him by the assistance of his specimen-book what was likely to give satisfaction. In point of variety, my selection was limited to a dozen sorts or thereabouts, two or three sizes of each, rang- ing on the Adlington scale from No. up to No. 7 or 8. There were comprised in it the spring-flies, white-tips, and the three varieties of March-brown ; black, red, dun, partridge and grouse hackles ; peacock-tail, fur and silk bodies, with their appendages in the shape of wing, taken from the woodcock, starling, mallard, landrail, lark, etc., etc. This selection, with which the late Pro- fessor expressed himself highly pleased, was, I have reason to believe, shortly afterwards drawn upon and put to the test on the Doohart near Luib, and Loch Awe, not far from Port Sonachan. The results are recorded in his own words in the Memoir of his Life by Mrs. Gordon. It was the last occasion on which the sporting jacket of this great and gifted man, an athlete in body as well as mind, was donned, or his magical wand waved over terrestrial river. AND ANGLING SONGS. 1 95 A single word as to the fly termed the ' Professor,' so much run upon at one time in Edinburgh. There is a story afloat of its origin, which, although I cannot positively afiirm that it came to my ears through a very direct channel, I feel inclined to give credit to. It is simply this : that on the occasion of a pedestrian tour, rod in hand, through the Highlands, shortly after his mar- riage, and in company with Mrs. Wilson, thf. Professor's stock of loch flies running short, he had recourse to the decor'ating of a bait hook with floral spoils ; the yellow of the butter-cup, or other golden ornament of the meadow being employed to disguise the shank and tit-bits of a brown grass blade or leaf made to serve as wings. The success met with by means of this con- trivance led, I have been told, to the invention of the fly in question, which is also designated ' Yellow Mantle ; ' a lure, the persuasive virtues of which I have often availed myself of on our Highland lakes, where it is more readily accepted than on Tweed or Teviot, in their usual transparent conditions. I look upon it, in fact, as ' a fail-me-never' on the Ross-shire and Sutherland waters, not to mention those of Argyle, Perth, and Inverness. THE FAIRY ANGLER. I. 'TwAS a bland summer's eve when the forest I trod : The dew-gems were starring the flowers of the sod, And ' faire mistress moone,' as she rose o'er the heath. Threw her spells of chaste light on the landscape beneath. II. I pass'd by a brook where her silvers lay flung ; Among knolls of wild fern, it witchingly sung ; While a lone fairy angler, with glimmering hand. From the thyme-laden banks waved her delicate wand. 196 AN angler's rambles III. In silence I gazed, as with eager intent O'er the musical waters she gracefully bent, And plied with green rush-rod, newly torn from its bed, Her line of the thorn-spider's mystical thread. IV. A pannier of moss-work her shoulders bedeck'd, The nest of some song-bird the night-winds had wreck'd. Slung round with a tendril of woodbine so gay. And a belt of pink flowers bound her elfin array. No snow-flake e'er dropt from its cloud on the brook So gently impell'd as her moth-plumaged hook ; The pearl-sided parlet and minnow obeyed The magical beck of that wandering maid : VI. And aye, as her rush-rod she waved o'er the rill. Sweet sounds floated round her — I treasure them still- Tho', like a bright moon-cloud resolved into air, Pass'd from me regretted, the vision so fair. FAIRY'S SONG. No zephyr shakes the leafy, leafy tree ; The round merrye moon looks in on me. Through the greene-wood cover. Where all summer-night over. My angle and I bear companye. I have haunts by the lone hill-cairn. There I trip it the spring-time tliorough, AND ANGLING SONGS. 1 97 Under the fronds of the opening fern Where the Wind mole rears its furrow. I have haunts by the shell-strewn tide, But dearer to me the river-side ; Where, all summer-night over, Neath greene-wood cover. My angle and I bear companye. ST. MARY'S LOCH. St. Maey's Loch and Tibby Shiels ! Lone St. Mary's every reader of the Border Minstrelsy, and of Wordsworth and Hogg, every lover of pastoral scenery knows well. It is but a step from the Sutor Burgh to where Ettriok and Yarrow, the sister streams of the Forest meet. Both are beautiful, but Yarrow, above where they blend, surpassingly so. Its banks are adorned with a spontaneous fringe of alders and birches, above which, crowding the knoUed slopes on either side, wave oaks, elms, planes, limes, beeches, ashes, larches, and Scotch firs, in well-blended profusion. Connected with this strip of valley-land, the utilitarian processes of agriculture are here and there being carried on, but so as to gratify, not offend the eye of taste ; the crowning heights ex- hibiting by turns the triumphs of arboricultural science, the obduracy of nature, and that reserveful spirit which leads to the harbouring and nurture of those persecuted children of the mist, yclept grouse and black game. Ettrick, as you recede from the range of associations connected with the mills and manufactories, is perhaps just as engaging after all. Oakwood Tower, the fastness of the wondrous wizard Michael Scott overshadows it, and so do the ruins of Tushielaw, 1 98 AN angler's rambles where Adam the reiver, king of the Borders, as he was called, reigned and robbed, until tucked up by the provost-marshal of his lawful sovereign James the Fifth, over his own gateway ; not t(i mention Thirlstane, another Scott stronghold, now belon^ng to Lord Napier. These, the antiquities of the valley, are auxi- liarized and enhanced, as attractive objects, by the occurrence of several fine scenic points of regard, which only require the exertion of a great artist's powers to command general attention. Besides all this, the Ettrick, as an angling resort, swarming with nice lively trout, and free to every one (the ducal policies of Bowhill, which extend from the confluence of the two rivers up to Ettrick Bridge, a stretch of six or seven miles, excepted), has its store of attractions, rivalling, in some respects, those possessed by its sister stream. But then the latter leads to St. Mary's Loch. Its associations with the hunting days of the Royal Stuarts, with Outlaw Murray, and with Mary Scott, the flower of Yarrow, awakened by the remains of Newark, Hangingshaw and Dryhope Towers, not to talk of the field of Philiphaugh and tragedy of ' the Dowie Dens,' are deepened in interest as we approach the Forest Mirror, out of which glides in its fulness one of the sweetest of Tweed's tribute-bearers. But Tibby Shiels — who is Tibby Shiels ? and what connexion has Tibby with St. Mary's Loch ? Considering her sphere of life and action, Tibby is perhaps, be it chronicled, one of the most noted and notable women alive. For forty years she has been the occupant of a cottage which consisted, when I first knew it, of little more than a hutt and a hen, along with garret accommodation ; but, circumstances requiring and means per- mitting, it has, since then, undergone many alterations, and affords, in its present state, comfortable night-quarters to a large party of anglers. This rural retreat is situated on a piece of meadow land which divides St. Mary's Loch from a small sheet of water, aptly called, from its position, the Loch of the Lowes or Lochs. AND ANGLING SONGS. 1 99 It is not a hostelry — never was. Its frequenters are presumed to provide, in the matter of exciseable fluids, their own cheer, and this in one respect is of advantage^" as it retains in the hands of the landlady a discretionary power of admitting or refusing lodgers, whereas, where the premises are licensed, that privi- lege becomes questionable, or at least greatly hampered in its exercise. The cottage of Tibby Shiels, alias Mrs. Eichardson (it is the custom among the heights of the Border land for widows in the humbler condition of life to resume or consent to the resump- tion of their maiden names, and the worthy old lady, although the mother of a pretty numerous family, of course succumbs to it), along with the surrounding park or cow-grass, belongs to that most amiable of men, and able of diplomatists, Lord Napier, our present representative at the Court of Berlin, whose conversational powers and acuteness of intellect when a boy are recalled to my recollection as the augurs of an after career of high distinction and political eminence. His lordship is the superior of St. Mary's Loch ; and although the lands of Corse- cleuch and Bourhope, in their connexion with the Thirlstane property, form its boundary on one side only, it has always been understood, although now forming a subject of dispute, that the right of fishing on the Lochs belongs exclusively to Lord Napier. The strict exercise of this right, in the way of interdicting the public from angling, he has never maintained, but on the con- trary has shown every disposition, both on St. Mary's Loch and the Ettrick, in the vicinity of Thirlstane Castle, to encourage a fair use of the rod and line. Against the employment of -the lath or otter, which at one time was brought to bear to an incredible extent as the engine of destruction against the trout of St. Mary's, he has very properiy set his face ; but all ceremony in the shape of a written permission to angle fairly with the wand is dispensed with. 200 AN angler's RAMBLES In respect to the lath or otter, its introduction into Scotland took place in the year 1824 or 1825, at the hands of a Lanca- shire gentleman of the name of Beaver. It had previously been used on Keswick Water and several of the Cumberland lakes. Out of St. Mary's Loch, by a Scotchman from Moffat, I have seen forty or fifty pounds' weight of trout taken in the course of three or four hours ; twice that quantity suffering, as individuals, the martyrdom of being dragged along on the relentless string of this water-kite, until their jaws or tongues were torn through, and the fish became liberated, only to die a death of sheer ex- haustion, if not of lingering torture ! In the English lake district, through the exertions of my friend Dr. Leitch of Keswick, Dr. Davy, and other gentlemen, the modellers of an admirably con- ducted association for the protection of the angling interests in that quarter, the use of this instrument of destruction has for some years past been entirely repressed. The system introduced in Cumberland, paved as it is with beneficial measures, I have been told, works well, promising to renovate completely the con- dition of the best-watered portion of England, as far as sport with the rod is concerned. I have spoken of Tibby Shiels, my worthy landlady, as a noted and notable person. It now borders upon forty years since, as a wandering pedestrian, armed with the angler's staff, I sought accommodation under her shieling. Several strange characters, at least they were so to me — ^uot the escaped from Bedlam, but as, in talking of the dramatis personm of ' Little Dorrit,' a friend observed, ' deviHsh like the same' — had taken up quarters there : among others, a curious-looking, owlet-eyed, old pedagogue, rejoicing in the surname of Lyon, who had done something, no doubt, in his day and generation, in the way of juvenalizing juveniles ; a half-pay army captain, who had played a part, loyal of course, in the Irish Rebellion of '98 ; and a Yorkshire broad-cloth manufacturer, yclept Hodge, an ancient AND ANGLING SONGS. 20I also, without kith or kin of any degree, saving a maidenly sister and the hceres ultima, from the clutch of whom into that of the long-robed gentry his accumulated wealth, I have no doubt, has long ago found means of transference. An odd trio this to stumble upon, all, be it remarked, anglers, after their own fashion. Old Lyon was in the habit of devoting the greater part of the day to the assortment of his tackle, one hour at the most being appropriated to the testing of it ; and the capture of a brace of trout giving occasion to a fit of pedantic ecstasy which usually exploded in a quotation, as long as my arm, from Horatius Flaccus, or some other renowned classic. The military octogenarian was astir on his pins by day-break, up and at them, while the trout still lay snug under their stony coverlets. His march back to breakfast was in double quick time, and in double quick time he tucked in under his belt Tibby's ham and eggs, a relay of fried trout, scones, bannocks, and wheaten loaf, with a proportional supply of milk (he abjured tea or coffee), then sallying forth, showed face no more until the verge of dusk, when in he strode with all the dignity his veteran form could muster ; and, disburdening himself of his creel, shouted ' Atten- tion ' with the voice of a Stentor, emptying, as he did so, from the old-fashioned wicker-work, a dozen or two of trout so ridi- culously, in point of size, unlike what we were led to expect, that Tibby, as she held out the dish to receive them, was in the habit of exclaiming, ' Ye ne'er got thae in oor Loch, Captain B. Ye hae been up the burn, I'se warrant, an' a sair day's wark ye'U hae had o't.' As for Mr. Hodge, who, sporting his own broad cloth and a huge brimmer, looked marvellously like a man of say among the Friends, his style of angling was truly primitive. The bobbing of a cork, and the tossing over head of small perch, not to speak of the process of extricating the hook from the jaws and gills of his prickly captives, gave him, apparently, as much pleasure as 202 AN angler's RAMBLES the fly-fisher derives from the practice of his more refined sport. Of Tibby's lodgers, those I have named were amongst the earliest : but her cottage had previously, by all the sportsmen round about, been held in repute for its hospitality, and it quickly acquired a celebrity which has continued for forty years to invest it, making it a sort of headquarters for anglers, and the ren- dezvous in summer and autumn of pic-nic parties from the watering-places of Moffat and Innerleithen, betwixt which vil- lages, at the distance from each of about a dozen miles, it is situated. My introduction to this snug retreat dates the 10th of July 1828. It was recommended to me by the Ettrick Shepherd, with whom I had previously become acquainted, and who at that time lived at Mount Benger, a farm lying along the banks of the Yarrow, about three miles from the lower end of the lake. Con- sequent on my first visit to Tibby's cottage, I was in the habit, for a number of years, of spending several weeks at St. Mary's Loch, accompanied usually by one or two, sometimes by as many as five or six, of my College companions, all of whom, more or less, entertained a fondness for the sport of fly-fishing, which, with those who survive, remains undiminished. Among these, as a practical hand, my friend W., eldest sou of Professor Wilson, was unrivalled. In streams particularly, from the Tweed in its fulness down to the smallest of its tributaries, brooks of a step in width, he excelled in the laying on of his gauzy lure, causing it to fall like a snow-flake on the desired spot, and managing a line of extraordinary length and fineness with a degree of elegance and precision I never saw surpassed, or even equalled. In loch-fishing the merits of anglers cannot properly be tested. There are circumstances in connexion with the some- what monotonous application of the fly-cast, implied in this par- ticular branch of the sport, which help frequently to give the AND ANGLING SONGS. 203 palm, I shall not say to indiflferent, but to inferior hands ; yet were his success on St. Mary's to be taken as a criterion of my fjiend's piscatorial powers, I don't require to bring better evi- dence than what would be supplied by Tibby herself, who, honest old lady, was never addicted, as far as I could judge, either to favouritism or to flattery. I have fished along with W. in many parts of Scotland, and always had occasion to look upon his skill as a fly-fisher as something extraordinary. Whether, many years ago, on the Water of Leith and St. Mary's Loch, on the rivers and lakes of Argyleshire- Perthshire, and the upper North, or, in a later day, on Tweed, Teviot, and the Solway Esks, the successes consequent on his fascinating power in this capacity stand out in bold relief to my own humbler performanceKS. More than once, as his individual share of our day's booty, T have assisted him to tell oif from twenty to six-and-twenty dozen of river or lake trout, — a number which it may be thought it is quite impossible in the course of a day's fishing for a single hand to overtake, or for any piece of water to yield. As a general sportsman, in connexion with Scotland, my friend W. had few equals ; and had only the cacoethes scribendi taken pos- session of him, from what I know, the reading world would, long ere this, have discovered much of the sire in the son, — that poetry, at least, of action, feeling, thought, and imagination, improved by extensive and varied reading, which forms so dis- tinguished a feature in the Recreations of Christopher North. SONG— THE YELLOW FINS OF YARROW. I. The yellow fins o' Yarrow dale ! I kenna whar they 've gane tae ; Were ever troots in Border vale Sae comely or sae dainty ? 204 AN angler's rambles They had baith gowd and spanglit rings, Wi' walth o' pearl amang them ; An' for sweet love o' the bonnie things The heart was laith to wrang them. But he that angles Yarrow ower (Maun changes ever waken T) Frae our Lady's Loch to Newark Tower Will find the stream forsaken. Forsaken ilka bank and stane By a' its troots o' splendour ; Auld Yarrow's left sae lorn an' lane, Ane scarcely wad ha'e kenn'd her. Wae's me ! the Yarrow yellow fin, I marvel whar he 's gane tae ! Was ever troot in Forest rin Sae comely or sae dainty t ' I remained at St. Mary's Loch angling assiduously in the lake itself, in Meggat also and Yarrow, until the end of the month. The notes of that date embodied in my diary represent the sport met with as indifferent. I find, however, one day made mention of — a wet and stormy one — on which a good creel was made up, thirty pounds and upwards. Meggat Water, it 'appears, imme- diately above where it enters the Loch, furnished the chief sport In September, the same year, I spent another fortnight under Tibby's roof, devoting the afternoons chiefly to pike-fishing in AND ANGLING SONGS. 205 the Loch of the Lowes. From 1828 to 1835, that year also included, I made regular visits to this favourite fishing-ground, sometimes alone, but more frequently accompanied by a College friend or two. The breaking up of the Edinburgh University classes in April was the usual signal for these excursions. By the stage-coach which ran daily betwixt the Scottish capital and Peebles, the first part of the journey was wont to be performed. Arrived at Peebles, the choice lay betwixt angling up the Manor Water, thence crossing by the Bitch Craig into Meggatdale, and fishing down Tweed as far as Innerleithen, in which village it was our custom to remain all night at Riddel's Inn, and make a fresh start through Traquair towards the Lochs. These routes were adopted alternately both in going and returning from Tibby's. Sometimes, for variety's sake, instead of coaching it to Peebles, we made our way on foot through Middleton Mooif to the sources of the Leithen Water, or, taking another direc- tion, fished down Gala and up Ettrick and Yarrow. Of our halts at Innerleithen we usually took the advantage to collect the latest angling news of the district, by inviting over to a social crack and a glass of toddy the authorities on that subject belong- ing to this renowned watering-place — the secretary of the St. Eonan's Club, for instance, and one or two others of known excellence as fly-fishers. Occasionally, also, we extended our stay there to several days ; but this was done usually on our return from the Lochs in May, when the Tweed trouts were inclined to rise freely, and its summer attractions had begun to spread over the valley." Under such conditions, our sojournings at Innerleithen were truly enjoyable ; and the saunterings we took by the river-side, rod in hand, down as far as Holylee, Elibank Wood, and Ashiestiel, are still held by me, with all their attendant incidents, in lively remembrance. They formed, as the conclusion of our vernal fishing campaign, an agreeable variety to the character of the sport met by us in the heights of 2o6 AN angler's rambles the Forest; and although the returns, in the shape of well- filled baskets, were seldom so weighty, the deficit in this respect was made up, if not by greater excitement caused by the sport itself, by the influence at least which the fairer beauties of the locale exercised over us. These excursions at the commence- ment of the fishing season generally extended over three or four weeks. Of those who took part in them along with me, not a few — it is a curious fact, illustrative of the sympathy which obtains betwixt angling and the nobler pursuits of life — ^have presented themselves before the public as candidates for literary renown. I could name eight or nine speculators in rhymes, more than one philosopher, scholars and lawyers of considerable eminence, along with the occupants of three or four professorial chairs, in whose company, below Tibby's roof, I have spent evenings of great delight. Highly successful among the aspirants in question stood the author of the Lays of the Cavaliers ; for, apart from the distinctions won by him as a poet and reviewer, Professor Aytoun ranked in the estimation of his sporting friends as one of the ilite of our Scottish anglers. His excelling points as a fly- fisher lay in the perseverance with which he plied his weapon more than in any great manifestation of skill, or a very extensive knowledge of the art. He would set to work as doggedly and as determinedly as if he had been tied, wielding the rod instead of the pen, to knock off an article for Blackwood before luncheon. I allude to Professor Aytoun's style of practice in his bachelor days, when he was wont to hold our Border rivers in considera- tion ; and I have no reason to suppose that, within the sphere of his sheriffdom, which comprehended the Orkney and Shetland Islands, he was induced to alter it. Three or four yeai-s ago I happened to meet him in Edinburgh, and our conversation turn- ing on the subject of fishing, he entertained me with so animated an account of his sport and adventures, in connexion with the AND ANGLING SONGS. 20/ laJjes and tide-casts of the Ultima Tiiule, that I am led to believe both his ardour and industry as an angler remained to the last unabated,- — the pressure of those numerous professional and literary aTOcations in which he was engaged only assisting to increase his zest for the amusement. , Another frequenter of Tibhy's shieling in those days — one who, obedient to a grand impulse, and wrapt up in the philo- sopher's mantle, long ago dropt the rod, which in youth, as I well recollect, was handled by him with enthusiasm and witching skill — was the highly gifted author of The Theory of Knowing and Being, the late and much-lamented Professor Ferrier of St. Andrews. In foregoing the indulgence qf sport, Professor Ferrier retained that shadow of attachment towards it which draws one almost unconsciously to the spots where it is to be met with. I remember how this disposition used to betray itself in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh in his saunterings with the late Sir William Hamilton, the profoundest of scholars and deepest of thinkers Scotland perhaps has ever produced ; the breathing and intelligent catalogue to which the literary serfs of Modern Athens, pushed for the solution of some historic or philosophic problem, were accustomed freely to refer. Frequently on a Saturday afternoon, when employed in thrashing the Water of Leith, have I been made conscious of the superintendence of the two metaphysicians, and the eloquent interest they took in an amusement deemed by the wits of the last century so very con- temptible. The last occasion on which I met with Professor Ferrier at Tibby's, this idiosyncrasy, as it may be termed, combining the exercise of self-control with the attachment in question, dis- covered itself to an extent which I often look back upon with surprise, accepting, notwithstanding, as a key to the mystery, the fact of a struggle going on betwixt the emotional and the reasoning powers, an active mind at war with its own sympathies. 2o8 AN angler's rambles philosophy asserting its dominion over the poetry of one's nature. I cannot believe, at least, that without some struggle of this sort, a zealous and accomplished angler, who at one time took a pas- sionate delight in the practice of the art, could be brought to look upon it, all at once, with a subdued and meditative eye, and to scan its disciples only as curious subjects for anatomical inves- tigation. On the occasion I refer to — it extended over a period of nearly three weeks in the month of April 1835, the weather cold and otherwise disagreeable — my friend's lingerings of devo- tion to the sacrificed idol of his boyhood were displayed solely in the pleasure with which he accompanied me to the water-side, and contemplated my proceedings in the way of starting and landing trout, his fine expressive features becoming more and more radiant as the sport improved. A list, confined solely to the enumeration of literary lions and scientific celebrities whom Tibby's thatch from time to time has given shelter to, would occupy a large space in these reminis- cences. Her visitor's book, a superfluity of several years' stand- ing, which some busy-body must have provoked our simple hostess to indulge in, teeming as it does with hieroglyphs, and impressed here and there with the signatures of august presences, can give no idea of the run of intellect upon the pastoral habita- tion at the head of St. Mar/s. Of the trysts and festivities held there, the fun and frolic, the wanton waste of wit and wisdom, the wealth of .song and eloquence poured out, the loves whispered, the hopes cherished, the great thoughts and gigantic projects entertained, not a record is left. Nor is there any memorial which circumstantially and statistically condescendeth on the feats of the mighty anglers who were wont to count their spoils beneath its porch. I have seen emptied into the big tub (which Tibby, who well knew the days when fish were merrily inclined, and judged of the occasion by the company she happened to en- tertain, was in the habit of producing as the common receptacle) AND ANGLING SONGS. 209 such creel-loads of trout, the renderings not of St. Mary's and its sister lake alone, but of Loch Skene to boot ; the Yarrow, Ettriek, and Meggat ; Winterhope, Chapelhope, and Corsecleugh burns (none of which is so far out of reach but that an hour-and-a half's wallc may command access to it), as would astonish some of my friends in the South, who, in regard to this species of the SalmonidcB, place the captured individuals on a rank with game, and talk of them, not as we do by the dozen, but by the brace. As a frequent guest under Tibby's roof, and entitled, more- over, as a Forest chield and a zealous angler, to special notice, I must not omit to mention James Hogg, the Ettriek Shepherd. With his recognised statibs among our poets I do not pretend to deal. The opinions of critics on poetry have only the age in which they are sported to back them. They are not, as we Scotchmen would say, greatly ' to be lippened to.' History has proved, and will continue to do so, that contemporary criticism is seldom guided by the ken which secures its judgment against reversal. Hogg's poetry, it appears to me, has had but bare justice done to it through this medium ; but sinewed as it is with nationality, and teeming with rich fancies, it cannot fail to gain in position, if it does not eventually take its stand, side by side, with the productions of Robert Burns. In his capacity as an angler the Ettriek Shepherd was de- cidedly hill-bred. The niceties of the art he neither studied nor cared to study. He was not at all fastidious as to rod or tackle, but usually gave the preference, in the case of the former, to length and strength as desired qualities. A stiff sixteen-foot wand, and salmon- gut to correspond, carried the day over any Phin or Mackenzie — at that time the crack rod-makers in Edin- burgh — which was ever fitted up. The rise of the Yarrow, consequent on a high westerly wind blowing down St. Mary's, was usually held by him as a sort of invitation to the Loch ; and on its occurrence, when apprised of the presence of kindred ,210 AN angler's rambles souls at Tibby's, the Shepherd generally sallied forth in that direction, thrashing the river upwards from Altrive Cottage, and, on reaching the point of outlet, proceeding by the Bourhope side towards Corseoleugh. On his way along the margin, the choice bays were all regularly traversed with the fly, and a good creel made up, partly of Yarrow, but chiefly of Loch trout, before he arrived at the place of tryst. I recollect well the alarm created on one of these occasions, to several of his friends, myself among the rest, who, at the close of the day, were proceeding, on the opposite side of the lake, to- wards their night quarters at Tibby's. The Shepherd, at a point not usually resorted to by fish of migratory habits, had hooked a salmon or large bull-trout (there was no distinction then recognised in the Forest heights betwixt the two species), the lively movements of which, under control of his rod, called into exercise a corresponding demonstration on the part of the bard. Viewed at a distance, this strange display of flurry and excitement, the running to and fro, and backwards and forwards, was naturally enough construed into the conduct of a maniac. We were struck, in fact, with the terrible impression that Mr. Hogg, whom we had recognised as the actor in this singular scene, had become all at once insane ; nor was the mystery cleared up until we met, simultaneously, so it happened, at Tibby's porch ; the Shepherd, as he greeted us, displaying with an air of triumph a fish of some nine or ten pounds' weight. Had any of us at that time been salmon-fishers, we would have been saved, no doubt, the apprehensions under which we hurried up from Summerhope towards the cottage. Our ignorance also on the same score led us to consider as a great prize, judging by its silvery appearance, what was in all probability a kelt or lately spawned fish, speci- mens of which, smaller in size, were frequently taken by me in these days, under a similar inipression, out of St. Mary's, Yarrow, and Ettrick. It formed, of course, on this occasion, one of the AND ANGLING SONGS. 211 pretences for a protracted gaudeamus, the term applied to those jovial merry-makings with which, on a meeting of congenial souls, the day was usually wound up. It must not be supposed, however, that under Tibby's roof these symposia, although fre- quently indulged in, degenerated at any time into scenes of drunken riot. Although whisky-toddy was in circulation, as the beverage best suited to that upland region, and refreshingly ex- hilarating above all others to the angler, after a hearty meal on his return from the water's side, it was always, as far as I can recollect, imbibed with propriety and in moderation ; its invari- able effects being to promote good fellowship, and from reserved natures to elicit sparks, from open ones to draw flashes of intelli- gence and joyous humour, which had else, without its inspiring influence, never come to light. The occasional presence of the Ettrick Shepherd at these meetings assisted rather to relieve them than otherwise, of a bacchanalian tendency ; and although we were inclined, when so favoured, in spite of the gentle remonstrances of our worthy landlady, to prolong them to a late hour, it was seldom at the risk of being constrained to encounter more than an extra tumbler, in return for which outrage self-inflicted upon our tem- perate habits, we were sure to be gratified, on demand, with a lilt from the poet. His favourites, which I have heard him give voice to above a score of times, and he did so invariably with a heartiness of expression that counterbalanced any little defect there might be of musical taste or ear, were his well-known rendering of the Jacobite air, ' Prince Charlie,' or ' Cam ye by Athol,' and that simple but beautiful love-lay, headed, ' When the kye comes hame.' I cannot refrain from calling up, in connexion with those festive meetings, the occasion of a wedding, in which the eldest son of Tibby figured as bridegroom, and a daughter of the tenant of Corsecleugh farm as bride. The date is preserved in my 212 AN angler's RAMBLES journal, — 4th May 1832. Professor Aytoun and I, then quar- tered at the cottage, were invited as guests. The Shepherd was to be there ; so were half the inhabitants of the district. Close upon the hour appointed, Mr. Hogg accordingly made his appear- ance, rod in hand, and in the folds of his inseparable plaid a fiddle. This instrument, a Cremona and Straduarius for aught I know, although not the only contribution of its kind to the mirth of the evening, enacted, in the hands of the bard, a leading part. It was the promoter of as much fun and frolic as ever sprung from the contact of horse-hair and catgut. The dance .started out of it in all the shapes and varieties which the reel- tunes o' auld Scotland, played with spirit and a supple wrist, could educe. To old as well as young, to grey-haired carles and wrinkled crones, as well as to the blooming and weel-faured — the braw lads and winsome lasses of the Forest, it gave limbs of speed and faces of joy. The Shepherd was in his glory: he had struck the proper key, and out leaped those strains of inspiriting harmony which impart a common impulse — those sounds hilari- ous which provoke to life and saltatory action. As fast and furious waxed the fun of that night as it ever did, to Robert Burns's fancy, within the haunted walls of Kirk Alloway, and as fair were the witches there assembled as any that ever gave chase to glorious Tam and his mare Meg. I shall not easily forget the readiness with which my friend Aytoun and myself entered into the spirit of the scene ; or how, clad in sporting costume, we kept time, as well as we could, to the hurrying pace of the Shepherd's fiddle-stick, bargaining for a parley, now and then, with our comely partners, who seemed as if they could have shaken the leg, twirled on the fantastic toe, and beat«n time with the playful heel for a century to come, provided the music of the bard kept them in countenance. As the upshot of the ploy, Mr. Hogg was persuaded to take up his night, or rather morning, quarters with us at Tibby's. The unusual excitement AND ANGLING SONGS. 213 which he had been thrown into preventing him from sleeping, induced also an extraordinary degree of thirst, which, as I well recollect (occupying as we did a double-bedded apartment), after expending itself on the contents of the water-jug and ewer, led him to bawl out, ' Tibby, wuman ! water 's terrible scarce wi' ye ; can ye no fetch in the Loch itsel', for I'm afeared we'll need it a' ?' SONNET. The fellow-anglers of my youthful days, (Of past realities we form our dream,) I watch them re-assembling by the stream, And on the group with solemn musings gaze : For some are lost in life's bewildering haze, And some have left their sport and ta'en to toil. And some have faced the ocean's wild turmoil, And some — a very few — their olden ways By shining lake and river still pursue ; Ah ! one I gaze on 'mid the fancied band. Unlike the rest in years, in gait, in hue — Uprisen from a dim and shadowy land — Ask what loved phantom fixes my regard. Yarrow's late pride, the Angler, Shepherd, Bard ! ETTRICK FOREST. Feom 1828 to 1835, the latter year included, I paid a stated visit to St. Mary's Loch, taking up my quarters at Tibby Shiels' well-known Howff. It was generally before the conclusion of the winter session at the Edinburgh University, that the yearning to 214 AN angler's rambles be astir with the fisher's wand seized upon me with its greatest violence. I find marked down in my journal, during the period mentioned, dates and details as to sport met with in the streams round about Edinburgh, preliminary to those periodical visits, which induce me to think that I must have been carried by my enthusiasm, in the practice of the art piscatorial, far beyond the bounds of common sobriety, and wasted a mighty deal of precious time to little or no purpose. Be that as it may, I experience as much satisfaction in looking back upon them, as I do upon hours more laboriously spent, the fruit of which I have never so much as enjoyed the forecast of. With educational systems, however, about which we are all still at loggerheads, and at whose shifting shrines every one of us, no doubt, has been more or less vic- timized, an angling devotee would use little or no discretion were he to interfere. The dates and details referred to are exact and varied enough to be employed as groundwork for a review of the condition of rod-fishing at that time and season round about Edinburgh; and might, with reasonable propriety, be brought to bear upon ques- tions of considerable interest in connexion with it. I find, on reference to my journal, that, in the course of the eight years above specified, preparatory to my annual visit to St. Mary's Loch, T spent nearly a hundred days in thus exploring the trout- haunts within hail of my native city. Such excursions appear, as they stand recorded, to have been the mere girdings up for my annual campaign in the Borders, which was usually under- taken (the introductory one in 1828 forming an exception) about the end of April or the first week of May. To enjoy in perfec- tion the fine pastoral scenery of the Ettrick Forest, a term no longer appropriate, although still applied to Selkirkshire, it is necessary to let the summer influences fully predominate, which they rarely do before June or July in that upland district ; but for fly-fishing, particularly on the lake. May in general will be found AND ANGLING SONGS. 21 5 the most suitable month. The trout are then, throughout the greater portion of the day, in feeding humour ; and it is seldom that the angler has to complain of want of sport on account of a want of wind to ruffle the surface ; whereas, in the height of summer, such an occurrence is quite common, and vexatious oftea beyond measure. My annual visits to St. Mary's in spring averaged, in their duration, upwards of throe weeks. In the matter of weather, I was often, as far as pergonal comfort was concerned, unfortu- nate, impatience leading me out before the easterly winds had had tieir surfeit, or even the snow drifts on the Coppercleugh, a rocky hill which overshadows the lake not far from the entrance of the Meggat Water, had shown a melting disposition. Cordings and Mackintoshes, in the shape of water-proof boots and stockings, were then unknown, but wading was practised nevertheless. Some of the choicest ground in the Loch cannot be commanded without plunging thigh-deep into the water. There was no saying nay to it in those days ; and although I should not like to recommit myself to the practice, I see no reason to associate with it such harmful results' as those attributed by Sir Humphry Davy and others. The precautions to be taken are to keep moving, to walk smartly home to your quarters, and forthwith to exchange your wet habiliments for dry, warm clothing. A glass of reeking hot whisky-punch will prove the best of all restora- tives, should a tendency to shiver really occur. As to the water- proof stockings and wading-boots now in general use, they are not to be held absolved, as sources from which mischief may equally accrue. They induce violent perspirations, which are liable to be suddenly checked, and surround the limbs with fetid vapours, which cannot but prove, in their action upon the pores of the skin, enervating and deleterious. As regards cramp, lum- bago, and rheumatic attacks, I must admit that, in the course of my life, I have had a plenary share of them ; but I have gene- 2l6 AN angler's rambles rally been able to trace each individual case either to some act of imprudence in the way of deep wading, during very cold/ weather, or, when using water-proofs, to getting over-heated. Immediately connected with this indulgence of the habit, wh^n young, I cannot bring to mind any one instance in which I seri- ously suffered from moderate wading, — the precautions ahjiye- mentioned being strictly adhered to. As already observed, however, I should not like to recommit myself to the bygone practice, unless, let me add, at a temperature, in the water itself, approaching 55 degrees. Although I have crowned May queen of months in connexion with angling on St. Mary's Loch, April has been excluded by me solely on account of its uncertainty. My diary, however, speaks befriendingly of April, consorted with sport on this lake. I find in it the following entries : — 25 trout, weighing 1 7 lb. 26 „ 25 „ 27 „ )) 32 ,, )j 35 ,, » 28 ,, To these captures, in the years mentioned, many close ap- proaches were made, which it is needless to specify. From the May record I extract as follows : — 12th May 1829, 1 salmon kelt, 51 trout, weighing 27 lb. 15th „ 1830, . . 36 „ „ 24 „ 19th „ 1830, . . 47 „ „ 23 „ 7th „ 1832, . . 60 „ „ 21 „ 4th „ 1833, . . 79 „ „ 36 „ The trout of St. Mary's Loch, in point of external appearance and edible qualities, vary more than those of any sheet of water I am acquainted with. This is owing, among other causes, to the diversity of the feeding-grounds. Although, when in con- dition, some of them show well and cut red, they rarely come 29th April 1829, . 25 23(1 „ 1831, . 42 30th „ 1831, . 43 21st „ 1832, 43 29th „ 1833, . 67 29th ,, 1834, . 78 23cl „ 1835, . 49 AND ANGLING SONGS. 21/ up to that standard of perfection arrived at by the trout of many of our Highland lakes. As to size, they range generally from a quarter of a pound up to a pound. I twice, near Bourhope, exactly at the same spot, and after an interval of more than twenty years, caught a yellow trout upwards of three pounds ; but these (the last was taken in August 1853, and turned the scale at three and a half pounds) were the largest specimens of the loch trout that ever came under my regard. The Meggat, which, although it enters laterally, is the principal feeder of the lake, used to yield trout of a pound and a half ; and from the Yarrow, its discharge, I ha,ve educed still heavier ones. Yarrow, however, although it retains its classic interest, and flows appa- rently as unsullied as ever, has lost, I fear, much of its old repute as an angling stream. My last visit to it was paid recently (15th June 1865), on which occasion, having scrutinized it narrowly the whole way down, I felt mortified to find, the more especially as the discovery was one which jarred with associations of an agreeable nature, that neither in size nor appearance, nor in respect to numbers, are the trout of Yarrow what they used to be. The old breed of ' yallow fins,' as the Ettrick Shepherd used to call them, individuals belonging to which breed, of the weight of three pounds, it was not uncommon for the fly-fisher to fall in with, has apparently died out, or become so crossed with inferior varieties that it is questionable whether a pure specimen survives. With my annual visits to Tibby's cottage, I usually combined a stroll across the hiUs to the vale of the Ettrick, which lies at a distance of about four miles from the lochs. Unlike Yarrow, this river retains its repute as an angling stream. In 1860, and still more recently, my friend Wilson and I, in the neighbourhood of Crosslee and Thirlstane, took some good baskets out of it, graced with trout of more than a pound weight. Some of the burns which flow into Ettrick — the Timah and Rankle burn particularly, swarm with small trout. These hill 2l8 AN angler's RAMBLES feeders fish best late in the season, on the occurrence of a flood ; and it is out of their accessories chiefly that a good hand at burn- fishing will most readily fill his creel. I find mention in my journal of several takes made by me on the Ettrick, comprising from five up to seven dozens. Allied to Ettrickdale is a fine trouting loch of about a mile in circumference, called Clearburn Loch, the fish of which approach in weight about half-a-pound. It belongs to his Grace the Duke of Buccleuch. A disease, assimilated in many respects to that by which grouse and black-game are periodically attacked, namely, the tape-worm, made its appearance a few years ago among the trout of this lake. The features of the disease, as described by my informant, a son of Mr. Ogilvie of Chesters, the district chamberlain, corresponded to what I have observed more than once in the fresh- water trout of other lakes ; but the cases falling under my observation partook of an isolated character, and did not, as in the instance named, affect a whole locality. Among perch diseases are common ; and I am here induced to mention a singular circumstance, in relation to this fish, which came under my notice, not many years ago, at Dunse Castle Loch. This piece of water, which occupies an area of forty or fifty acres, is strictly preserved. It contains tench, abounds with perch of a small uniform size, and is plentifully stocked with water-fowl of aU descriptions from the swan downwards. My much lamented friend, the late Dr. Johnston of Berwick, the well-known and accomplished naturalist, traced from this lake the introduction into some of our Border streams of that prolific and troublesome weed, Anacharis alsinastrum, the vege- tating powers of which are something extraordinary. On one of four or five occasions on which I fished here, with permission of the proprietor, the pond being nearly choked up, I took about three dozens of perch, exactly one-half of which wanted an eye. How to account for such a deficiency in so large a proportion. AND ANGLING SONGS. 219 remains to me a puzzle. The Rev. Mr. Crowder of Dunse was along with me at the tinie, and met with a similar experience. On an after occasion, on the same pond, among four or five scores of perch taken by me, I could only discover a single one-eyed specimen. THE OLD WAND. The wand that hath done service fair From thy boyhood to thy prime, Onwards to thine after-time Cherish. It is worth all care. II. Many a fair-spoken friend Hath less friendship in his heart Than this passive piece of art, And will fail thee at the end. III. But a trusty rod and tried, Warp'd by service though it be, Toughens in adversity, And clings the nearer to thy side. IV. Cherish it for thine own sake, For the record of events Hanging on its accidents, And the memories these awake. 220 AN ANGLER S RAMBLES Ferrule bent — distorted ring — Top curtail'd or past repair — The continual wear and tear, And relaxing of its spring ; Every notch by knife impress'd, Ranging up and down the butt, In its form of cross or rutt, Is to thee of interest. In the fortunes of thy wand Thou hast part, no common part. And the beatings of thy heart With its triumphs correspond. VIII. Give it place in thine abode — In thy dwelling's inner shrine — In the chamber made divine By love and faith, lay up thy rod. IX. When the wielder's arm is weak. And care's fever is at height ; In the watches of the night, 'Mid the silence it will speak ; AND ANGLING SONGS. 221 X. Of the rivers' joys discoursing When the skies are overcast, Making thankful for the past, And a purer Hfe enforcing ; XI. Whispering with bated breath Of a valley and a stream. Leading to a land of dream — The river and the vale of death. XII. Symbol be it to fulfil The sweet promises of God,— Symbol of the Staff and Rod Guiding by the waters still ! THE SHEPHERD S DOG. June 1830. — It was about this time, I am inclined to think, I met under the bard's roof at Altrive, with a then famous, but erratic animal painter, Howe by name, the object of whose visit to Yarrow was to take a sketch of the celebrated coUey-dogs, whose sagacious feats stand emblazoned in ' The Shepherd's Calendar,' a series of articles contributed by Mr. Hogg to Black- wood's Magazine. The canine originals were- then defunct, but their direct descendants and after-types were in possession of a neighbour, the tenant of Eildonhope, from whom they were bor- rowed for the occasion. Of these two dogs, a sketch in oils. 222 AN angler's RAMBLES which, for fidelity and spirit, vied with anything I ever saw of the kind, was taken by the artist in the course of a few minutes. Any finish attempted to be given to it would probably have destroyed the efi'eot, but for an effort of this sort the wielder of the brush at that tiine appeared incapable.; and I have not at hand the means of ascertaining that he ever at a former period of his life attained to further excellence than that of hitting off, in a few masterly strokes, a correct and life-like representation of his subject. I was highly amused, I recollect, at the indigna- tion of this rough genius, when inadvertently addressed by the Shepherd as Mr. Howie, the name of an animal painter at that time in considerable employment in Edinburgh. The mistake, a likely one to occur, had been taken at first in good part, or at least passed over with no stronger symptom of annoyance than a wry face, or a shrug of the shoulder ; and it was not until the artist had become partaker of the poet's pressing hospitalities, had feasted on freshly-caught yellow-fins and forest- mutton, and had dashed over a tumbler or two of whisky-punch, that his dig- nity fairly took fire. Suddenly, the loathsome name of his rival having been once more applied to him, up he started, seized hold of his hat and stick, clapped the former impressively on his head, and, brandishing the latter with a menacing air, thus addressed the astonished bard : ' My name, sir, is Howe, not Howie. I am Howe, sir, the animal painter ; the only animal painter in the world. I don't daub signs, boars' heads, and Turks, red lions and green crocodiles, like the miserable prostitute you con- found me with. Good afternoon, Mr. Hogg ; good afternoon, gentlemen. I leave that,' pointing to the sketch, which had been placed on the chimney-piece, ' to correct your ignorance, and to teach you that Howe and Howie are very different men.' So saying, followed by a travelling companion, who had evidently from his appearance been placed as a curb upon his vagaries, he stalked out, and, in spite of every remonstrance and apology. AND ANGLUSTG songs. 223 made his way to the Gordon Arms, where, if respect to the Clan Howe was not more punctiliously paid, the benefit at least of his society as a toper would be better appreciated. What has been the fate of this sketch I could never discover, but I recollect that the Shepherd himself set a growing value upon it, as a faithful rejfresentation, embodying every notable point, of the breed to which his favourites belonged. Mention made of the coUey or sheep-dog, so extensively employed in the pastoral districts of Scotland, leads me to bear testimony to the amount of sagacity, approaching intelligence, displayed by this variety of the Cards domesticus. The attach- ment shown by the colley to its master, and the anxiety dis- played by it to fulfil his wishes to the letter, have often been commented on. This latter characteristic goes far beyond the spirit of obedience acquired, say in the case of the pointer, by good training. It not only prompts the execution of certain duties, but actually forestalls or anticipates what is required. There is, in fact, that which holds good for a reasoning power in the sheep-dog (and I may class with it the retriever and New- foundland), possessed, for the direct advantage of the human race, by none other of the inferior animals. A great many curious instances, falling under personal obser- vation, I could adduce, touching the near approach to intelli- gence manifested by individuals belonging to this variety of the canine tribe. One only of these I shall relate. My friend Wilson possessed a favourite dog of the colley breed, by name Rover, which generally accompanied him on his angling excursions. On one occasion, shortly after it came into his pos- session, we arranged to spend a week or two together at St. Mary's Loch. Accordingly, taking the dog along with us, we proceeded by coach from Edinburgh to Peebles, a distance of twenty-two miles ; and from thence made our way on foot up the Manor Water, passing over the Cramault heights to Meggat and 224 AN angler's rambles the head .of the Loch, a further distance of fifteen or sixteen • miles. After remaining nearly a fortnight at Tibby's cottage, we started again for Edinburgh by Innerleithen, fishing down, on our way to that village, the upper portion of Yarrow. It was not until the afternoon, when we arrived at the Gordon Arms, near where the road leads off from the river towards Traquair, that the absence of Rover was noticed ; and it was then recol- lected that he had been left shut up at Tibby's cottage. It being too late to remedy matters, my friend's mind was at once made up to leave the care of the dog to our hostess, who was well versed in the management of that particidar breed. Pro- ceeding to Innerleithen, we spent the night there, and on the following day returned to Edinburgh. One of the first things my friend proposed to do, on his arrival at Gloucester Place, was to post directions to Mrs. Richardson as to how Rover was to be sent home. This intention, however, was agreeably put to flight on entering the paternal residence, by the appearance of the dog itself, safe and sound, ears cocked and tail wagging, whining out a welcome to its truant and negligent master. What appears to me most singular in this incident, is not the mere return of the animal (which, on inquiry, had preceded our own by six or seven hours, and had been accomplished, the greater part of it, over a line of country it was virtually unacquainted with), but the sagacity which had detected our desertion of the cottage, and had induced Rover to beat its own retreat without much delay, in quest of the city quarters where it had been brought up and domesticated. Some remarkable exemplifications of the instinct and sagacity which distinguish the colley might be instanced in connexion with the upland parishes in the counties of Selkirk, Peebles, and Dumfries. My recollections of the parish of Ettrick associate with them a congregation composed nearly as much of dogs as of men. The population of that rural parish consists chiefly of hill AND ANGLING SONGS. 225 farmers and their shepherds. The coUey, out of compliment to his services, is recognised in almost every house as a member of the family. He is at work with his master throughout the day, takes his meals with him, or at any rate shares in them, sleeps at the hearth-stone, or under the settle, or, it may be, in the cosy parlour itself, and, like a respectable Christian, goes to the kirk with him. The conduct of those dogs in the place of worship is usually unexceptionable. I am not aware that their presence has ever been objected to by kirk-session, presbytery, or synod ; or that a single act of canine levity or impropriety, committed within the hallowed precincts, stands recorded on the parish books. This is the more singular, as it is not uncommon for a score of these animals to be brought into close quarters with each other, under the sacred roof; many of them notorious yelpers, and not a few of them primed with grudges and feudal animosities. All symptoms of impatience, however, are invariably kept under control until the conclusion of the service ; and to prevent them breaking forth inopportunely, it is the custom of the herds to remain sitting during the parting blessing, the rest of the congregation, as is the usual practice in the Presbyterian Church, receiving it in a standing posture. In the event of their masters being detained at home on the Sabbath, the dogs belonging to some of the outlying farms, unless checked by special interdict, will, I have been informed by one of Lord Napier's tenantry, set off of their own accord over the hills, to hold convention in Ettrick churchyard, or the premises adjoining it. On such occasions, it appears, they pay a punctual respect to the hours of the clock, dispersing, without fail, at the breaking up of the congregation ; or, should there happen to be no service, within a few minutes of the customary time of dissolution. I have often been amazed at the preference given to many varieties of the domestic dog over the Canis pecuarius, which, while it combines the qualities appreciated in the terrier, the p 226 AN angler's RAMBLES greyhound, and the watch- dog, viz., a good nose, wind, and speed, plenty jaw-power, and, if properly trained, pluck and bottom to boot, in addition to these recommendations displays, as a characteristic of its breed, a spirit of devotional attachment to its master and his interests, so strong as almost to induce a belief in the Pythagorean doctrine of transmigration. Applied to the colley, the word cur is certainly unreasonable, and to rank the shepherd's dog with mongrel breeds is to do it the grossest injustice. Sneaking or cowardly habits, no doubt, have often been ascribed, with some show of truth, to the race or caste, but I am satisfied, for my part, that such habits are quite at variance with the natural dispositions of the dog. The reproach, at one time proverbial, is to be traced to the first im- pressions received by strangers in passing across a pastoral line of country. The sudden bolting out of the dogs, their noisy salutations, mistaken for expressions of rage, or dislike and pro- vocation, in consequence of aggressive measures on the part of the passer-by, which are met with, it must be allowed, often in an abject fashion, have been construed, hastily and unwarrant- ably, into acts of offence, followed up by craven and irresolute conduct. A further acquaintance with the colley will show that such demonstrations are complimentary, not hostile, and that the misconstruction put upon them leads to those manifestations of deference and contrition on the part of the unwitting offender, which have been attributed to want of proper pluck and canine spirit. To the usual training of the shepherd's dog is owing a great deal of what has been placed to its discredit. This may be tested, as it often has been, simply by transferring it to a different scene of action, and submitting it to a different course of discipline. But, judging of the colley in its own proper sphere, with all the failings incident to its treatment and education, I feel justified in asserting that there is no animal in the world, which, at so small a cost and so little trouble, serveth the human AND ANGLING SONGS. 22/ race more largely ; none which, by its unwavering fidelity, its prompt obedience, its activity and powers of endurance, and its apt, sagacious, and companionable nature, holds higher claims upon the gratitude and esteem of the pastoral community, and of mutton-eaters in general. THE VOICE OF THE CUCKOO. I. Is the cuckoo come t Is the cuckoo come ? Hear you its happy voice Bidding the hills rejoice, Greeting green summer and sweet May-morn t See you the bird. Or starts the loved word Out from the heart of some dewy thorn 1 II. Is the cuckoo come 1 Is the cuckoo come ? Down by the reedy spring s Watching its welcome wing, Wends the lone angler toward the lake ; Joy in his heart. With fancy alert. He rears sunny visions wandering awake. III. Is the cuckoo come 1 Is the cuckoo come 1 Lover of chiming streams ! Banish thine airy dreams. Hark the wild-note of the fairy-voiced bird ! Now in the glen, i And listen again. Up on the hill-side rings the glad word. 228 AN angler's RAMBLES IV. Is the cuckoo come 1 Is the cuckoo come ? Haste to thy loved resort, Haste to thy pleasant sport, Shake the brown palmer o'er streamlet and lake ! Hark ! on the wind. Before thee — behind — Plaintively calleth the bird of the brake ! AT ELLERAY. As far back it was as September and October 1831, that I visited the English Lakes, and spent a happy fortnight at EUeray, the villa or cottage ornee which formed the country residence of the late Professor Wilson. It is situated on a richly-wooded slope or hill-face overlooking Windermere, at the distance of a mile and a half from the village of Bowness. Great changes have taken place since then in that locality. These cannot be said to have affected, to any material extent, the general features of the Lake country, as far as its scenery is concerned, but they have certainly interfered with many objects of interest which gave character to the district. The genius of utility is every- where trenching upon the poetical, and from a mere confusion of rock and water, woodland and pasture ground, is working out, with hammer and wheel, with saw and lever, with plough and spade, with fire, forge, and steam, by squares and parallels, silently but surely, a new order of things. No longer tenanted are the homes of the bards, who, a quarter of a century ago, fed the ear of England with sweet song, and drew from the banks of the Isis and the Cam, from musty books and college ceremony, AND ANGLING SONGS. 229 classic bands towards Cumberland and its altar-stones of inspira- tion. Here, at Kydal Mount, not far from Ambleside, lived William "Wordswortb. At Grasmere, Hartley Coleridge re- sided. De Quincey also was allied by marriage to this district ; and at G-reta Hall, not far from Keswick, dwelt Southey, tbe most indefatigable in his day of scholars, historians, and versi- fiers. The pass to the then palace-lands of poetry was guarded at EUeray by the athlete in body and limb, as well as in intel- lect, Christopher North ; and no point more appropriate whereon to erect a key to the fairy realm could well have been selected. It brought boldly before the eye the first sweet engaging vision of the Lake territory, and by exciting the mind with agreeable anticipations, directed it beyond the scope of visible objects into the world of the ideal. The Cumberland giants, its mental wrestlers, all are dead. In casually mentioning, however, the Lake school, I have no design to wax sentimental, or run away altogether from piscatorial into poetical subjects. My recollections of Cumberland and Elleray almost necessarily lead to a train of associations bearing upon the literature of the district, which somehow I cannot altogether dissever from the angler's pleasures, particularly in this instance, as EUeray was the summer retreat, not of a mere book- worm or scholarly recluse, but of one who took part in the battle of passing events, and, along with severe exercise of mind, blended that of bodily endowments, — who, while he excelled in the labours of the closet and professorial chair, stood pre-eminent also as a lover and cultivator of manly sport in all its forms. It was with a classical apprehension that he regarded the exercises of the palcestra, and vindicated the play of fisticuffs, as a remnant of the virtus inculcated by Greek and Roman example. So far from being degrading and brutal, pugilistic contests, properly conducted, were in his estimation a wholesome check on national effeminacy, and to encourage them was to assist, in some measure, 230 AN ANGLER S RAMBLES in cultivating the true sine quibus non of independence, indi- vidual or national, viz., pluck and the art of self-defence. With the gloves, during his stay at Oxford, the Professor is reputed to have been a stunning hand ; and had the chirotJiecw or coestus- lined gauntlets been then in vogue, the hide of the Phalerian bull or rhinoceros, instead of the soft chamois-covered mufflers sported nearly a century before by Jack Broughton, many the cerebrum that would have needed a numskull's share of the os frontis to keep it together in phrenological compactness. In leaping, wrestling, running, yachting, and rowing, John Wilson also excelled. To his pre-eminence in these exercises, Mrs. Gordon, in the admirable Memoir of her father, frequently refers, recording with filial pride, among other feats, the remarkable one of clearing on a dead level twenty-three feet at a single leap. ' This achievement,' it is stated, ' took place in the presence of many spectators, at a bend of the Cherwell, a tributary of the Isis, where it glides beautifully through the enamelled meads of Christ Church, the leap being taken across the stream.' In respect to speed of foot, there is fresh on my memory an instance of the Professor's superiority, shown at a period of his life when active exercise of every kind had been laid aside, in exchange for literary pursuits and sedentary habits. It was on the occasion of a short, good-humoured contest, provoked by a member of the Edinburgh Six-foot Club, whom nature had pro- vided with a pair of stilts that looked as if they might almost have kept pace with the seven-league boots of fairy romance. A practised runner, at the zenith of .his speed, and the Professor's junior by at fewest twenty years, the odds were mightily in his favour ; and there could be no doubt, judging from the self-reliant alacrity with which he pounced upon the challenge, half -jestingly and half-seriously made, that he so considered them. The whole affair was proposed, arranged, and executed in the course of a few minutes, on a piece of high-road within three miles of Edin- AND ANGLING SONGS. 23 1 burgh, Christopher North taking the lead, and sustaining it triumphantly past the winning-post. At the time of my visit to Elleray, the yachting rage, so vividly depicted by Lockhart in his Life of Sir Walter Scott, had subsided, and at Bowness the larger class of sailing craft belong- ing to the Professor, which had taken part in the celebrated regatta, had been hauled up, unrigged, and allowed in several instances to fall into a state of complete disrepair. The boating establishment was under charge of Billy Balmer, the factotum at Elleray in all sporting matters, whose appearance and accom- plishments, taken into connexion with his rich Cumberland - humour, indicated great individuality of character. Billy was of short stature, fair-complexioned, and flaxen-haired, with a clear blue intelligent eye. Of his age, when I first saw him, it was difficult to judge. He was probably upwards of sixty. With the Professor he stood in high favour, and was retained by hjm to the last at Bowness as a dependant, free of service. Billy's tastes led to an intimate acquaintance with the habits of most of the animals, fishes as well as birds and quadrupeds, native to the Lake district. This acquaintance included a thorough knowledge of the game-cock, its points and mode of training. It extended also to a fair average notion of the treatment required by the in- habitants of the stable, the kennel, and the poultry-yard ; but the old boy evidently was most at home, so to call it, when abroad in the covert or at the river-side. An angler he was not, in the true sense of the term, but he had all the enthusiasm of one, and without caring to handle the rod himself, could give the most invaluable instructions to others, both as to the places where, and the manner how, to do execution in beck or tarn. His attendance upon the Professor in his fishing excursions in the Lake district may partly account for this proficiency, but it was to be traced also to an indulgence when young in those roving and inquiring inclinations, which no doubt tend to poach- 232 AN ANGLTSR S RAMBLES ing habits, yet only require to be considerately dealt with in order to be turned to useful account. EUeray was in truth, at the time I visited it, a poet's retreat. Its relation to Windermere gave it command over the loveliest portion of the scenery of that Queen of Lakes. It has been described by Wilson himself as — ' Resting on the brow (Beneath its sycamore) of Orrest-hill, As if it smiled on Windermere below Its green recesses and its islands still.' The sycamore flourishes green as ever, and the fairy dwelling retains its joyous outlook. But it is in the hands of the stranger, and its retirement, the sanctity of the spot, many of its sweetest associations, are broken up by the disturbing contiguity of a railway terminus. There was a green shady lane leading towards Bowness, which in the autumnal dusk sparkled with glowworms, as did its hedges at noon with haws and blackberries ; there was a hazel-copse crowning the slope, hung in its season with clusters of nuts, and beyond it lay a swamp, forming a portion of Applethwaite Common, which harboured snipes in abundance : these, blent with recollections of sport and frolic, are all erased, and, although unessential to the landscape, they were among the treasures which surrounded the poet's summer dwelling. The period of the year at which I visited EUeray did not encourage me to attempt angling from the boat, in the way it is usually practised on Windermere, but along with my friend, the Professor's eldest son, I took occasional rambles rod in hand up and down the neighbouring becks. Troutbeck, as my diary re- cords, was the subject of several visits. The Rothay and Brathay, along with a portion of the river Derwent, etc., were tested, in the course of a short pedestrian excursion, sketched out vivd voce by the Professor, over the Lake district. On the occasion of this ramble the sport met with was very unsatisfactory, and tended AND ANGLING SONGS. 233 to leave an unfavourable impression of the streams mentioned ; but being pursued by me under disadvantages, I am not entitled to form from it any estimate of their capabilities as trouting waters. Of Troutbeck I had a better opportunity of judging, being under the guidance, in fishing it, of my friend and old Billy ; and, moreover, having the good fortune to find it more than once in prime ' fettle.' It was the season of the year when the large trout of Windermere took opportunity, on the occur- rence of a flood, to leave the lake and ascend • to spawning quarters. In these days it was not, as at present, and, very properly, held injurious to the stock, or out of character with fair sport, to angle for them, when so employed. In fact, how- ever, they were not to be taken readily out of the lake itself, when at their prime, unless with nets ; nor in Troutbeck at any other period than the fall of the year. It was considered also that such as were caught by the rod and line — a mere trifle in point of numbers to what were secured by other devices — showed some condition ; and I still retain the recollection of two speci- mens of the Windermere trout, taken by my friend from Trout- beck on one of these occasions, which, when cooked, were red- fleshed, curdy, and palatable ; nor, in respect to shape or external appearance, could any exception be taken to them. Holding the purpose of the trout, however, at that season in view, I am far from defending the impolicy of angling for them, and feel un- willing to have my opinions on this subject misinterpreted, by allying them with the thoughtless indiscretions of more inexpe- rienced days. The two trout above mentioned, three-pounders at least, were the only ones which we had the hap to come across, or found in taking humour. I still bear in recollection the odd terms made use of by BiUy Babner, on the capture of one of them, which had displayed more than a common degree of bold- ness and voracity while seizing and bolting the worm. ' He "bees a gorgeous tyke,' meaning a greedy fellow, ' and a rite 234 AN angler's rambles gud 'un,' was t£e compliment paid by our worthy attendant on committing it to the pannier. THE BRETHREN OF THE STREAMS. I. A JOLLY craft is ours, hurra ! The brethren of the streams ! In joy we pass the Hvelong day, And close it under dreams. The chiming river is our guide, Meandering through the vale, And from its chimes we cull the rhymes Of legendary tale. IL The secrets of the river's life Are ours to gain and guard. We are the priests who in the strife The angler join and bard ; Who blend with every wayward turn Some feat of the olden times, And the sweet prattle of the bum Interpret into rhymes. IIL It is a pleasant one, and free. This wandering sport of ours. Above us waves the leafy tree, Bloom under us the flowers ; And in our hands the pliant rod Is waving to and fro. The shapely boughs above us nod ; And the flowers smile below. AND ANGLING SONGS. 235 IV. We love the angler's quiet lot — His meditative art — The fancies in the hour of thought That bud out from his heart. All other things we '11 cast behind, Let strife of place alone, And flinging care unto the wind, We '11 angle — angle on ! With my visit to EUeray in 1831, it will nofbe out of place to consort a few jottings relative to another, extending over five or six weeks, which I paid to Thirlstane House, on the banks of the Ettrick, in 1834. The noble proprietor of Thirlstane, Lord Napier, was at that time in his minority, and the trustees, in the exercise of their discretionary powers, had let the house and shootings to Professor Wilson, with whose family I had received a kind invitation to pass a week or two. The recollection of this visit, prolonged until the middle of October, I cherish with fondness, but it is only in its association with sport that I feel at liberty to dwell upon it. The entries made in my angling diary, in that respect, are certainly not very numerous. To the Ettrick and its feeders, far advanced as the season was, it appears that, in company with my friend, the Professor's eldest son, I now and then devoted portion of a forenoon. This only happened, however, when the weather was adverse in the extreme to the pursuit of the feathered tribe, to indulge in which we had at command an extent of ter- ritory, independent of the Thirlstane estates, such as scarcely made it necessary to pass twice in the fortnight over the same beat. I may mention, by the way, that the Ettrick and its supplies, during September, are not, in respect to the condition of their trout, to be judged of by the Tweed, or even the Yarrow. 236 AN angler's rambles In the case of the Timah and Eankle-burn, its chief feeders, the month named is, properly speaking, their season, and the trout then found in them are much better conditioned than those of May, June, and July. This is the case in many of our hill burns ; but, at the same time, it must be admitted that the con- dition arrived at in autumn by the finny population of the higher and strictly pastoral districts of country is very inferior, at the best, to that attained by the trout of our cultivated valleys in the spring months. It Was about the time of my visit to Thirlstane that intelli- gence was brought to Professor Wilson of the serious Ulness of Mr. Blackwood, the eminent publisher, whose name is stUl retained in the designation of the firm. This illness, which terminated fatailly, was the occasion of great anxiety to the Professor, betwixt whom and Mr. Blackwood, independent of their connexion as conductors of the Magazine, there had existed a friendship of long standing. It involved him also in an extra amount of edi- torial labour, so that it was but seldom he coidd find heart or leisure to take an active part in those out-of-door recreations which the heights of Ettrick invite to. He showed, however, a strong interest in them, and was usually present at the emptying of the game-bags or fishing-creels on the conclusion of the day's sport. On these occasions the variety and condition of the feathered, furred, and scaly spoils became themes of lively com- ment. The glossy plumage of this or that old blackcock, the rich pedal feathering of some male grouse struck down among the hags of the Ward Law, the bright colouring of the mallard ; such points of attraction as the snipe, the golden plover, the part- ridge, the landrail, the hare, the trout, the pike, and the perch presented, were all and severally made subjects of remark, which, in point of felicity, bore a kind of resemblance to the master- strokes of a Landseer or other great animal painter. Our after- dinner discourse, also, was frequently, directed by him into the AND ANGLING SONGS. 237 details of the day's amusement, and interspersed with anecdote bearing upon his own sporting experience. In the establishment at Thirlstane, Billy Balmer officiated, as far as his growing infirmities permitted, in the capacity of game- keeper. Billy was no longer, it is true, the shrewd, dexterous, . and contriving little soul he had been ; but he could still make make himself serviceable in many ways, and had preserved to him intact the instinct which could point out where game was most likely to be found, or where a large trout had taken up its quarters. As the caterer for bait, in the shape of minnows and worms, he was invaluable. The former he possessed the knack, by means of a sort of spirt-net or caralet, of securing by the shoal, and always kept replenished a large perforated box, sunk in one of the pools of Thirlstane burn, with some scores of these little fish, in case of emergency. To a reasonable extent also the old man's shoulders could stand the weight of the game-bag ; although it was only when hunting the haughs and partridge- grounds that it was considered not unmerciful treatment to put them to the test. There was one special source of delight to this transportation from the wilds of "Westmoreland to those of Ettrick-head, in the way of sport, which carried infection along with it, and secured frequently the presence of the Professor, along with that of his family and guests, as eye-witnesses of Billy's piscatory skill. It consisted in the setting and drawing of an eel-line of great length, and armed with several scores of hooks variously baited. At the entrance of the avenue leading to Thirlstane, the river Ettrick approaches the main road, and forms, almost in proximity with it, a pool of considerable extent and unusual depth. Besides being the well-known resort of salmon, and the choice abode of yellow trout, this stretch of calm water gives accommodation of the best sort to the common fresh-water eel, a fish which is still looked upon with distaste and aversion by the 238 AN angler's rambles generality of our Scottish peasantry, indeed, I heard it once declared by a sturdy Lowlander, that he ' wud as sune grip an ' ether as ane 0' thae sliddery craturs.' Here it was that Billy, twice in the week at least, made a dis- play of his address in laying the set-line, an operation which, although it implied infinitely less labour than the paying out of an Atlantic cable, required some degree of nicety in the execu- tion, as well as an accurate acquaintance with the humours and habitats of the fish he had to deal with. His method of going to work, taken along with the general result, proved this ; and I am inclined to question if, from any Scottish river, there had ever previously been abstracted, by the same means, such numbers of fine eels. Out of this one pool, several huge creelfuls, compris- ing many prime specimens, were taken during the few weeks of my stay at Thirlstane. The result, in fact, of Billy's skill in disposing of his night line, so as to attract these slimy mon- sters, was something very extraordinary, and I retain, in con- sequence, a lively recollection of what took place on such occasions. One of them, the last at which I happened to be present in company with the Professor, is remembered by me, the more distinctly, from the circumstance that, instead of the haul of eels we had been led to expect, the only fish which graced the set-line was a splendid trout, the king of the pool, weighing four or five pounds (a rare weight for the Ettrick), which, by its endeavours to free itself, had kept the other baits in a state of constant agitation, and so deterred the muds from showing teeth. The capture of this starry-side was quite a matter of triumph to our friend Billy, and gave excuse, no doubt, for an extra draught, long before sunset, of potent Edinburgh ale, which the old laker relished uncommonly, to the disparagement of every other beve- rage. At the period of my visit to Thirlstane, although to make up a bouncing bag from the slacks and hill-sides, rife with rushes AND ANGLING SONGS. 239 aud ferns, was a matter of little difficulty, the game of the district was by no means, I have reason to think, so abundant as it is at present. On Lord Napier's property, which embraces three or four large sheep-farms, the birds, chiefly black-game, were but thinly scattered. Irregularities connected with it affected the distribution of the cover, and told on the day's sport. There was a great scarcity of heather, and the little there was flowered on the tops of the hills or laws, in the shape of a mere fringing to peat-hags, which were quarried in the summer months, shortly after or about hatching-time, by the shepherds, their dogs accom- panying them. The grey fowl breeding-grounds incorporated with the district are mostly unexceptionable, and less liable to be disturbed. Those gn the Thirlstane property furnish only an average illustration of the capabilities of Ettrick-head to produce and sustain black-game.- It is to the connecting ground of the forest with Dumfries- shire that we must look for a proper exemplification of these capabilities. The tract of, country I allude to is rich in that peculiar herbage which this sort of ^ame delights in. There are rushy sykes in abundance, bent, sprett, and moor grasses, ling and other mosses, the Scirpus ccBspitosus, for instance ; ferns, crow-berries, etc., along with our common heaths. On some of the pens or laws- is found the cloud or nubb-berry, Rubus chama- morus. The cranberry, also, is a native of this range of terri- tory. Both these fruits are highly relished by grouse and black- game, tod exercise, each in its season, as inviting an influence over them as the corn-stubbles do in the month of October. Across a portion of this choice- circle of sporting ground, Christopher North and party, when at Thirlstane, enjoyed per- mission from the proprietor, his Grace the Duke of Buccleuch, to carry the gun ; and I frequently, under sanction of this privi- lege, accompanied my friend in his excursions in that direction. 240 AN ANGLER S RAMBLES The Gair, or Gairhill, was the name of the farm or shooting- ground thus courteously tendered by his Grace. It lies on the confines of Selkirkshire, near the sources of the Timah ; Eskdale Moor spreading out immediately below it, in a south-westerly direction. Although in the vicinity of the black-game district above described, the Gair is more adapted for the rearing of moorfowl, and at the time I speak of was numerously stocked, but not more so, I have reason to think, than at present, with red grouse. Its provision of heather is tolerably ample, but the situation is too elevated and exposed to admit of successful covey-shooting after the first of September, when the birds usually throughout the Borderland become packed, and are not to be approached without ceremony. I missed, in consequence, the principal run of sport met with by my friend in this quarter, the season being in reality gone by. Two or three brace of good birds, however, he generally contrived to mystify ; and as a portion of the intervening ground betwixt the Gair and Thirl- stane was open to him, the shyness of the grouse seldom inter- fered with the making up, before dusk, of a plump bag. A somewhat singular, but not, I understand, an unprecedented incident occurs to my recollection, as having been met with on one of these occasions. We were crossing a hill-top clad with heather and wild grasses, when the dog suddenly caught scent, and after having followed it up for seven or eight hundred yards at the pace of a fox-hound, came all at once to a dead point. On my friend nearing him, puzzled to know what his favourite setter had been running, up sprung an old cock pheasant, which was knocked down, almost instanter, as it took wing. The sin- gularity of the occurrence lay simply in this, that the nearest pheasant covers, those at Langholm Lodge, and at Bowhill, are situated, as the crow flies, at a distance of sixteen or seventeen niiles from the spot where it happened. AND ANGLING SONGS. 24I OUR CHOICE. I. Where torrents foam, While others roam Among the Norland heather, Some river meek We '11 forth and seek, And lay our lines together. Some sylvan stream Where shade and gleam Are blending with each other ; Below whose bank The lilies lank All humbler flowers ensmother. Where cushats coo And ring-doves woo The shining channel over, From leafy larch Or birchen arch — Their unmolested cover. There daily met. No dark regret Shall cloud our noon of pleasure ! We '11 carry rule O'er stream and pool, And heap the finny treasure. Q 242 AN angler's rambles V. With rare deceits And cunning treats, Minnow and creeper tender, We shall invite The scaly wight To eye them and surrender. VI. And, when sport-worn, We '11 seek some thorn, , With shadow cool and ample ; The natural ground, Moss-laid around. An angler's resting temple ! A STROLL BY THE WATERS OF THE SOLWAY. Of the rivers which are most in the way of becoming benefited by recent salmon legislation, I would point with confidence to those having direct communication with the Solway Firth. Passing through Scottish territory, the Esk, the Annan, the Nith, and the Dee hold among them a prominent place. They are what may be called second-class streams, and although press- ing from the same lie of coast towards one estuary, differ very much in character. I have fished them all, but am best acquainted with the Esk, at one time a favourite resort of the migratory Salmones, especially of sea-trout, but a river which, in conjunction with its principal feeder, the Liddel, has suffered more from drainage and want of proper protection during close- AND ANGLING SONGS. 243 time, than any of the others ; its waters generally being clear and shallow, devoid, in a large measure, of refuge-places for the breeding fish in dry weather, and subject, in the event of floods, to changes in the position of its gravel-beds. All the way from Eskdale Moor, past Castle-0'er, Westerkirk, Burnmouth, Lang- holm Lodge, and Canobie, down to Longtown, it promises well to the eye, but very rarely fulfils the expectations of the smitten angler. The scenery, in fact, is the best part of it, and atones largely for its shortcomings in other respects, yet why it should not combine good sport with an attractiveness of character per- taining to its banks and braes, rarely surpassed, there is no satis- factory reason. It is certainly not what may be called a fertile stream, so far as yellow trout are concerned, but its capacities for holding the migratory species of the genus Salmo are pretty fair, and taking into account that there are few disturbing or vitiating elements in connexion with its course, I can see no reason why, under proper management, it should not recover a large portion of its lost repute as an angling river. My successes on it, and I have fished it pretty regularly for nearly twenty years, have never been very great. In the matter of river-trout, eight or ten pounds in the course of a forenoon may be quoted as an average. Such sea-trout as I have taken from its casts have rarely exceeded one-and-a-half pounds, the generality of them, in the shape of bills or whitens, seldom weighing more than half a pound. That the Esk will improve, however, under the new arrangements entered into by the proprietors on its banks (the principal of whom are Sir Frederick Graham of Netherby, and his Grace the Duke of Bucoleuch) with the Commissioners of Salmon Fishings, I make no question. Compared with the Esk, the Annan is a river of far greater resources, and infinitely better holding capacities. It also, as a breeding stream, has been greatly abused ; and the exercise of a very strict surveillance on its upper channels will be required in 244 AN angler's rambles order to restore it to its ancient condition. From Wamphray downwards it presents a succession of fine salmon-casts, which, if tenanted, and made more accessible to the angler by judicious thinnings here and there along the densely wooded banks, would rival those of Tweed itself. On the 9th of August 1862, while trouting in that quarter, T was so attracted by their appearance as to become induced, on ascertaining that on the Annandale property free permission to angle for salmon was accorded to the public, to attach a small grilse-fly to my line. I had not taken a dozen throws before I raised a fish, and shortly afterwards hooked, ran, and landed a fine salmon of twelve pounds ; to it succeeded a grilse of seven pounds ; and I had also the satisfaction of playing, though not of securing, another fish, apparently of the same weight. The Annan has the advantage over both the Esk and the Nith, in being supplied, during its course, from numerous feeders, which help to enlarge and vary the extent of its breeding-grounds. Of the Nith, and its chances of being restored under the new Solway Act, I cannot augur quite so favourably. It labours under a number of disadvantages not endured by its sister streart. Its tideway, for instance, is more confined, and made use of by vessels trading in lime, coal, etc. ; it receives the sewage of a large town pregnant with manufacturing schemes ; the course of those fish which incline to ascend it is impeded at Dumfries by a cauld-dyke of considerable height ; it is not sustained, to any amount, by important tributaries possessing eligible spawning-grounds ; and the main river itself, before passing through the policy-grounds at Drumlanrig, waters a tract of country in which lead-mines are worked, and which is known to be inimical to the existence even of the fario itself. The Dee, in Galloway, so far as I could judge of it in the course of a fortnight's trial in July 1862, is one of those rivers of which it may be pronounced that it moves per se among our AND ANGLING SONGS. 245 Scottish waters. It is certainly unlike any river I am acquainted with. In the lower part of its course, from the bridge of Kelton downwards, its celebrity as a salmon-stream has been long esta- blished, but of its capabilities higher up no proper test has been made. The range, both on the Dee proper, and in connexion with the banks of the Ken (the larger and more direct body of water), is very extensive, and includes what may be called a series of lakes. In these expanses pike and perch are known to abound ; but they form also, it has been ascertained, holds or resting-places, at particular points, for salmon, which, under certain conditions of wind and water, take the fly freely. By means Of a careful investigation, these resorts, it struck me, might readily enough be determined, and the field of sport with the rod greatly enlarged in consequence. The Dee, in its middle levels and lower course, is, comparatively speaking, poorly stocked with river-trout. Individuals, however, of large dimensions, are occasionally taken from it. During my visit to it in 1862, I was favoured with two or three days' salmon-fishing in the neighbour- hood of Tongland, and higher up, and was successful in capturing seven fish, the largest a salmon of about twelve pounds, the others grilses varying from five to seven pounds, all of them freshly-run and in the best condition. The flies insisted on by the local anglers were all of the • reddish-brown or dun-wing pattern, a few fibres of the speckled drake-feather being occa- sionally introduced below the wing, for the purpose of enhvening it, and a dark body, shouldered, in some instances, with jay or guinea-fowl, tinselled with silver, and tipped with orange or bright yellow, held in regard. I found some of our Tweed patterns, however, fully as persuasive, — the Sutton-fly, for in- stance, and the double white-top. My brother, who resides at Carlinwark, in Kirkcudbrightshire, and has fished the Dee re- gularly for a number of years, puts equal faith with the Tweed- siders in the old-fashioned but well-tried lure last mentioned. 246 AN angler's rambles In the poem entitled ' The Angler's Kamble,' etc., I have alluded to Thrieve Castle in connexion with this river. The ruin in question invites regard from its having been one of the strong- holds of the Earls of Douglas, and the last which, after the Act of Forfeiture had been passed against them in 1455 by the Scots Parliament, held out for that ambitious and designing family. It stands on what was formerly an island surrounded by the Dee, about three miles from the town of Castle-Douglas ; and in its present state, impresses the beholder with more than ordinary feelings of desolateness and neglect. It was for the purpose of reducing this fortress that the celebrated piece of ordnance, Mons Meg, was constructed, at a spot called Buchan's Croft, in the vicinity of the ' Three Thorns of Carlinwark,' where James II. took up his position with a numerous army, and directed the siege. A shrewd old blacksmith of the name of M'Kim, observ- ing the insufficiency of the king's artillery to effect a breach, took upon himself to manufacture a gun of the requisite power, and, with the assistance of his stalwart sons, materials being furnished him, produced the monster engine in question. Mons Meg, a corruption of Mollance Meg, the name of the black- smith's wife, was with some difficulty, owing to its immense weight, 6J tons, brought into position. At its first discharge, the foundations of the castle were said to have been violently shaken, and the garrison thrown into a state of great alarm. At the second, the granite ball, described to be of the weight of a Carsphairn cow, passed through the walls, and carried away the right hand of the Countess, the fair maid of GaUoway, as she was in the act, at the head of the banqueting-hall, of raising the wine-cup to her lips. With Mons Meg and the ponderous missile which played such a singular part in the annals of war, every one who has visited Edinburgh Castle is well acquainted. AND ANGLING SONGS. 247 MY FISHER LAD. I. I lo'e my ain wee fisher-boy, He 's bold and bonnie- — bonnie an' bold ; An' aye there is a glint o' joy A' nestlin' 'raang his locks o' gold. II. His gad is o' the rowan-tree, That grows below the caStle wa', The rowan wi' its bleeze o' beads, Sae braw and bonnie — bonnie and braw. in. His creel is o' the rashes green, I waled them wi' a carefu' han', An' pletted them, ae simmer e'en. An' croon'd them wi' a luve-knot gran'. IV. I lo'e, I lo'e my fisher-lad. He 's aye sae blate, and aye sae cheery ; I lo'e the sughing o' his gad. An' nane but him shall ca' me dearie ! V. I lo'e him for his sunny e'e, Sae blue an' sunny — sunny an' blue ; There 's glitterin' starns 'neath mony a bree, But nane sae tender or sae true. VI. I lo'e him for his gentle airt, Wi' line and angle — angle and line ; He 's captive ta'en my silly heart This bonnie fisher-lad o' mine ! 248 AN. angler's rambles THE DKOUGHT OF 1864. The extent to which high farming is at the present day carried on in our Border valleys, to the prejudice, eventually, I cannot help thinking, of the landowners and the community at large,. leads, in connexion with the following verses, to a few remarks. That the application of lime, manures, and chemical substances, to the soil, is a legitimate and necessary mode of treating it, in combination with the usual farm processes, I am quite ready to admit. It is only, in fact, by the liberal use of these adjuncts that paying crops can be raised, and the exhausted capabilities of the tillage-grounds which furnish them restored or kept up to the mark. Such applications may, in some instances, not corre- spond in their effect to the results anticipated ; but there is this to be said for them, that they rarely do permanent injury to the soil on which they are used ; and only in certain instances, and that solely through the intervention of the draining system, so largely carried on by the moneyed tenantry'of the day, are other interests affected by them. It is to this draining mania (for the spirit with which draining operations are carried on has grown to be nothing less), that I would direct my remarks. As a means of reclaiming waste land, and of improving soils overlying retentive subsoils, the utility of the drainage system stands unquestioned. When judiciously carried out and brought to bear upon places, the natural products of which, in the shape of rushes and rank herbage, betray the underlying presence of water, the improvements which result cannot be too highly estimated. But, on the other hand, the application of the system universally, without regard being paid to the requirements of the soil, or to the results wluch that appli- cation may bring about (results, be it noticed, when pernicious, not merely of a temporary or remedial nature, but permanent AND ANGLING SONGS. 249 and irretrievable), is mucli to be condemned. I fear, however, that it has been already carried to an extreme in our Borderland ; and I would warn loudly the landed proprietors and their tenantry, in the more backward districts of Scotland, against rashly prose- cuting a system which, although they may profit by it for the moment, cannot fail to depreciate the value of the tillage-grounds, and affect, beyond repair, the future interests of their holders. Of the misapplication of the system in question, on Tweed- side, I could adduce a number of instances, were it prudent to do so. In those cases where improvident and expensive operations have been conducted at his individual outlay, it is upon the tenant that the primary loss falls. The mischief done at length becomes entailed, in a permanent form, at the throwing up or expiry of the lease, on the land itself, the juicy virtues of which have been disturbed and abstracted. But not only are the lessee and his landlord made sufferers by so improvident and violent a method of dealing with the subsoils, the community also are brought in to bear their share of the consequences. Am I asked how ? I point, without hesitation, to the present state of our rivers during the greater part of the year, contrasting with it their former condition when the system of thorough drainage was, comparatively speaking, in its infancy. A noble river like the Tweed, running, with its numerous feeders, through the heart of a thickly populated district, — a river famed of old for the fulness and purity of its waters, not to speak of their riches in the shape of salmon, trout, and other fish, which afford food and sport to an extent almost fabulous — such a river is surely not a subject for desecration and abuse, such as it receives to a large and increasing extent, at the hands of the tenantry on its banks, in the strange belief that the grand secret of remunerative farm- ing consists, under every circumstance, of disturbing the subsoils. It is to the draining mania which at present prevails, in con- 2 so AN angler's rambles nexion with the pasturage -lands and tillage-grounds of the • Borders, that are to be traced, without question, these droughts to which, during the summer and autumnal months, the whole range of our valley land has become statedly subject. Five-and- twenty years ago such phenomena were of rare occurrence. Tweed could then be relied on as aifording opportunities, during the grUse season, for thousands of fine fish to ascend its waters as high as Innerleithen. At St. Boswell's Fair, which is held on the 18th July, the caterers for the entertainment of its frequenters were not dependent, as they now are, for their supply of salmon from Berwick-on-Tweed, but could trust to its being furnished to them from the fisheries in the upper reaches of the river, those in the vicinity of Kelso, if not of St. Boswell's Green. Such has not been the case for a number of seasons. Other reasons may be given, but the main one is that the fish now-a-days are not there. For the last twelve years and upwards, owing to the droughts entailed upon the river, they have had no opportunity, save as stragglers, to ascend higher than Tweedmill, situated three or four miles below Coldstream ; and not before the nets are laid aside in the middle of September, nor even then, unless floods actually occur, do they show face in any quantity in the higher stretches of Tweed. The community and fishing interests being beyond a doubt prejudiced by the wholesale system in operation, the question may be put. Are they bound to submit to it, or rather, seeing that it has been submitted to so long, with the faintest show of protest, have they the power to arrest it ? I cannot but foresee the time when it will become a subject of national regret that no steps had been taken at the proper juncture to sustain the repute of our noble river, and rescue it from a fate similar to what ha.s befallen many of the finest streams in our sister-land, associated, like Tweed, with events of historical interest, and at one time teeming with salmon. AND ANGLING SONGS. 25 I Another evil resulting from thorough drainage — one which I believe has hitherto escaped remark — is the enormous increase of rabbits in the districts where it has been carried on, and that, be it observed, in teeth of the most strenuous efforts to keep them down ; and I may add, notwithstanding the demand made for them, and so largely responded to, as our poulterers' shops can testify, as an article of table consumption. No one requires to be twice told, that the immense number and stretch of cavities formed even over a single farm under the system protested against, furnish both harbour and breeding-ground for what the agriculturists themselves have proclaimed to be a nuisance of the worst description. THE DROUGHT OF 1864, HOW IT AFFECTED THE ANGLER. PART I. . I. The lips of all the springs are dry, And parch'd the throats of every rill ; A fiery shape hath scaled the hill With blistering foot and brazen eye. II. A fiery shape hath cross'd the lea, And trodden out its summer life, Filling the hags with fetid stife, And staggers onward to the sea. IIL Within the range of its regard, Drop silenced all the tongues of mirth ; Aspiring flowers crouch back to earth, The emeralds of the mead lie charr'd. 252 AN angler's RAMBLES IV. His thirsty tooth the gad-fly whets, Incited by the cruel glare ; The spider wrapt in crafty lair Watches the flutter of her nets. V. The lizard basks upon the bank ; The slow-worm in our pathway crawls ; The loathly adder, on the knolls, Lies coil'd among the herbage rank. VI. All nature wears an air of spleen — A cast of languor, not repose. That in the season of the rose Seems alien to her wonted mien. VII. Upon the feather'd tribe, the charm Works in a more or less degree ; The swallow, which hath cross'd the sea. Within the circuit of the farm VIII. Shows flagging wing. The doves retire Below the curtains of the grove. And in the under-tones of love Communicate their one desire. IX. With furled canvas, under thatch Of a desponding willow, stands. Like the carved work of cunning hands, The heron keeping weary watch. AND ANGLING SONGS. 253 X. The valley's glory broad and bright, Which flash'd with life the May-month long, And with its challenges of song Saluted the starr'd ear of night, XI. Has shrunk into a narrow thread, Or, if assuming ampler course, It still affects the'river's force. The life and song alike are fled. XII. The valley's glory now no more. So straiten'd are its ways and means. So cast the tints — the golds and greens — Which ranged across from shore to shore. XIII. So lazily the pulses beat. Which once their merry throb sent out. And stirr'd the hidings of the trout And^wing'd the river's twinkling feet, XIV. And buoy'd with promises of cheer The angler's heart, like sough of com. That with the breezes of the morn Comes flowing on the sower's ear. XV. Alas ! the angler's hopes fall crush'd, Arrested in their radiant flight His aspirations of delight. Their music and persuasion hush'd. 254 AN angler's rambles XVI. The weapon of his prowess lies Neglected. The grey moth invades His feathery stores ; the beauty fades From his prospective paradise. XVII. And languor, such as reigns without, Enters into his inmost soul, And by its pressure, past control. Puts every longing to the rout. Even the soft, seducing dawn Allures not with its temper'd hues ; Nor yet the shedding of the dews Across the carpet of the lawn ; XIX. Nor yet the rustling of the trees. The conference of oak with oak, That ushers in the midnight stroke, And predicates the showery breeze. XX. A strange, low wind, without an airt, A whispering of leafy sprites, The running to and fro of lights Mysterious, through the forests' heart. XXI. Such held their influence till now — The wildfire and the Dryad's talk, The steppings in the river's walk. The plumelike beckonings of the bough. AND ANGLTNG SONGS. 255 XXII. But the old faith, which fondly clung To signs and omens, is disturb'd ; The tide of superstition curb'd That wander'd betwixt heart and tongue. XXIII. Ay ! even his wishes lie repell'd By the fierce furnace overhead. Or reach the lips, to die unsaid ; So sunk the heart from which they well'd. XXIV. Oh ! quickly melt, ye skies of brass ! Drop, cruel heav'ns, your crystal stores ! Open at length the long-barr'd doors. And let the glad libation pass ! XXV. Relent apace, oh ! eye of day That blazing smitest, like a sword Grasp'd by an angel of the Lord, And give the brimming tears their way ! XXVI. Ye eyes of night ! a token^ bring. Entreat for us, thou Dian chaste ! The coursers of the watery waste. And round thee bind thy mystic ring. XXVII. The cloud no bigger than a hand. Awaits thy signal in the West, Ready to do thy high behest, And roll salvation o'er the land. 2s6 AN angler's rambles XXVIII. Oh ! welcome rain, oh ! welcome rain ! Welcome the smile-precursing tears — The weeping of the clouds and spheres Which, pass'd, restores to life again, XXIX. Freshens the hues of eve and mom — Dilates the humid orbs of night, And from the treasuries of light Replenishes the lunar horn ! XXX. I hear it coming in my sleep From cloudland and the vast behind ; From the four Castles of the Wind, From the green caverns of the deep. XXXI. I hear it coming, as they came That are the messengers of God, And harness'd chariots at his nod, — Horses of cloud to wheels of flame. XXXII. The vision that so often pass'd Before me, fraught of longings vain — The wishes of the heart and brain — Is surely realized at last ! XXXIII. Oh ! welcome rain, oh ! welcome rain ! Welcome the quickenings all around The cloud-drift and the moaning sound. The shiftings of the gilded vane ! AND ANGLING SONGS. 257 XXXIV. The ringings as of liquid bells That break the silence overhead, And hovering o'er the river's bed Set bubbling the enchanted wells. XXXV. Hands feebly dropt are raised again — Tongues loosen'd to make thankful prayer — Hearts cheer' d^-eyes lighten'd everywhere ; Oh ! welcome rain ! oh ! welcome rain ! PART II. Oh ! angler, thine experience tell, In faulty rhymes, of this fierce drought. How it prevail'd within, without And chain'd thee with its weary spell. Speak to the reason running wild Of those who waste our valley's wealth, And on the crystal tide of health Cast things defiling and defiled ; Who drain the juices of our land, Reckless of what the need may be To us and to posterity. So that the profit comes to hand. R 2S8 AN angler's rambles IV. Counting but for themselves alone The cost and chances of reward ; But taking into no regard The future of the evil done. How fountains broken up and spilt— The life-blood driven from the soil, Never to be restored by toil — Commit to the reward of guilt. VI. All honour to the noble art Which into corn transmutes the weed, And turns the waste into the mead, — The alchemy of hand and heart ! VII. But woe to those who so abuse The license given to scourge and drain, As, in their fell pursuit of gain. All sight of what may come to lose ! VIII. Who of its fragrance rob the wold, And of its wild-flowers strip the hill ; Who check the frolics of the rill. And push it from its courses old ; IX. To Nature's remnant laying siege. And, under guise of tenant skill, Rake God's own garden with a will. Committing conscious sacrilege. AND ANGLING SONGS. 259 X. God speed the honest mill, and feed Its merry spokes by night and day ! The rivers as they dance away Repeat the blessing, God it speed ! XI. The trout within the dam and lead Love the sweet clatter of its wheel. And with its flushings forth reveal Their joy, and bid it — the God Speed ; XII. But let a malison descend Upon those structures of the day, That with palatial display Shadow our streams at every bend ! XIII. Those strongholds of monopoly That mar the pictures of the mind. And come betwixt us and the wind, Tainting its natural purity ; XIV. Which, to allay the thirst of fire That hugs their vitals, and torments, Drink in a valley's whole contents. And sputter out a rush of mire. XV. Must this great wrong pass unredress'd — This rifling of our valley's wealth — ^ This wanton tampering with health. And no one venture to protest ? 26o AN angler's RAMBLES XVI. Shall it go on from bad to worse, Until all remedy is past, And we conniving stand aghast. Partakers of the withering curse 1 XVII. 'Tis the Bard's privilege to foresee — His bounden duty to forewarn ; Thus prompted, I uplift the horn. And signal the calamity. xvm. The cry for corn was late abroad — The cry for cheap, untrammell'd bread ;- For the big quartern blood was shed. And the great cry went up to God ! XIX. Tkat cry hath ceased ; but in its place Threatens to come the fiercer cry, Give us pure water else we die, And, dying, curse you to the^face ! XX. Arrest the evil while you may, Nor pause to argue, on the plea That to advance utility Is the first duty of the day, — XXI. That interests where selfish strife Goes hand in hand with factory pride. Admit of claims which set aside The grave necessities of life. AND ANGLING SONGS. 261 XXII. With air and fire at their control, And the electric power divine, Why trespass on the Naiad's shrine These taskers of the hand and soul ? XXIII. Forbid it, ye strong powers that be ! Arrest the evil while you can, And let not the Leviathan Swallow the tribute of the sea. XXIV. Its rivers are a nation's trust — The people's dearest heritage, Which it is bound from age to age To hold inviolate from lust ; XXV. With jealousy the fountain-heads To fend against all reckless waste ; Nor suffer elements unchaste To dim the diamond of their beds. • XXVI. Up and be busy, ye to whom This sacred duty appertains ! Our rivers rescue from their chains, And snatch from their impending doom. XXVII. No weary drought will vex them then. No fiery shape invade the lea ; But salmon riches crowd the sea, And roll up to our doors again. 262 AN angler's rambles XXVIII. The mill and farm will thrive apace, And with them peer and peasant both ; Only repel the Hun and Goth, And meet the Vandal face to face. THE OTTEK OF OUR BORDERS. To every angler of standing who subscribeth not to the spirit of the song^ — 'Up in tlie morning's no for me, Up in the morning early ! ' the otter is a familiar animal. Whether on purling brook, or broad shining river, or crystal lake, or sedgy fish-pond, it may be his chance to fall in with this crafty rival, I shall not call it foe. Why regard it even as a rival ? I know but few anglers of the sterling sort who do so. Its presence as a creature of beauty on our waters, is desired rather than objected to. It forms, in common with the heron, seiPguU, water-ousel, and king-fisher, all enemies to the scaly tribe, one of the attractions of the river-side. Bereft of the otter, our waters would lose a large portion of their interest ; so too would our mountains, were the death- dirge of the last of their eagles sounded on Ben More of Assynt, and an exterminating policy had struck the raven, the wild-cat, and the badger off the catalogue of Highland vermin. The otter is welcome, for my part, to its full share of the sport going, and its bit of fish into the bargain. I do not quite coin- cide, however, with my friend, the late Mr. Andrew Young of AND ANGLING SONGS. 263 Invershin, in his estimate of its deservings. He carried, I must say, his partiality for the Intra a little too far. Some of his notions were expressed before the Committee of the House of Commons sitting on the Tweed Bill, in 1857. They are not, I believe, incorporated as evidence in the report of the investiga- tion, having been elicited from him in order to gratify the curio- sity of one or two members, at the conclusion of the day's inquiry. If I mistake not, Mr. Young placed the otter in a most estimable light, shielding it strenuously from the imputation of being an enemy to the salmon ; nay, he even went so far as to affirm that a salmon-river is all the better of being harried regularly by this animal, and that its occupancy of a retreat on the banks of a water having, the above-mentioned reputation, acts as a check upon the increase of river-trout, and prevents much of the mis- chief done by these intermeddlers during the breeding season. But here are his own words, taken from The Natural History of the Salmon : — ' The otter is a most wonderful and useful creature in a.salmon- river, and yet its usefulness is but little known. It has long been represented as one of the salmon's worst enemies, while in truth it is one of their best friends. It is true ' that the otter will, at very rare times, hunt and kill a salmon ; but this only happens in tjases of severe necessity ; only at times when frosts or other natural causes have debarred it from the lake or trout-pond. Indeed, it is very seldom that the otter will catch a salmon by fair hunting; for when hunger forces him on to the uncertain attempt, it is done more from cunning than from speed. He entices the salmon into some small or shallow corner, where escape is impossible, and there gets hold of it. But the only attempt to do so is when his easier managed neighbour, the trout, is not to be got at all ; for when the rivers are open, and trout numerous, the otter has full sport, as he often hunts and kills more for amusement than for food ; and he kills hundreds throughout the 204 AN angler's RAMBLES season that he leaves whole on the banks of the rivers, not even taking out the " otter's bite." We have, in the space of half-an- hour, seen him lay a dozen of trout on the bank of one pool ; he seemed to spring on them and catch them by stealth rather than by fair hunting ; and, on the whole, otter-fishing seems to pe a nice amusement, and therefore his value on a salmon-river must be very great. We would therefore recommend their strict pro- tection, and not, as has been done formerly, almost drive them from the face of the earth. Save the otter, but destroy water- ousels and river-trout ; and in due time,' etc. Had Mr. Young resided on Tweedside, and devoted the same attention to the habits of our Lowland otter which he appears to have sought credit for having given to those of its congener in Sutherlandshire, he would not have been so very positive in regard to the favourite food of his amphibious friend, or estimated ipite so highly its services as a skilful trout-slayer to the breed- ing salmon. I quite agree with him, that this animal, unless pressed by hunger, shows no great disposition to intermeddle with the grown-up salar. It seldom, considering its opportuni- ties, does so. But is such forbearance, according to his own views, extended by it to the smolts ? Or does the usual exercise thereof lead satisfactorily to the conclusion that the otter, on a salmon stream, will efficiently perform the duties of a protective ? Of course, Mr. Young explains how it would do so, viz., by keep- ing the fresh-water trout under control ; or, in other words, by thinning them out, and thereby, be it noted, forming a pretext for attacking the royal quarry. What, however, would Mr. Young have said to the fact, that on our Border rivers, where the otter abounds, its predatory demonstrations are almost entirely directed against the common eel, rarely indeed against the fresh-water trout ? This is made known chiefly by an examination of its spraints or sealings, which invariably discover mixed up with them portions of the backbone of the anguilla. A thorough AND ANGLING SONGS. 265 acquaintance also with the reputed haunts of the otter on Tweed and its tributaries, leads to the conviction, that in the immediate vicinity of those lurking-places no extraordinary or wanton onslaught of river-trout is at any time in the way of being per- petrated. Many of those resorts I know well, and have occa- sionally, besides descrying the marks, seen otters at play close to them ; but so far from discarding such localities as trouting- casts, I hold them, seeing they are generally furnished with under-bank shelter of the best description, in high esteem, and have often met with excellent sport, especially when dibbling with the natural fly and worm, at the throat of the animals' kennel. The pool below Teviot Bridge, near Kelso, the Castle Pool, Thorntree streams, and Upper Maisondieu, Heaton Millcauld, the Turn-pool, Ninewells, and Ormiston Water, all belonging to the lower portions of Teviot, share this character, and while they teem with trout are well-known habitats of the lutra. Taking together the abundance of otters on Teviot and Tweedside, and the abundance of river-trout, I am quite per- suaded that the former play but a sorry part in keeping down the latter. That they molest them to a certain extent, is pro- bable enough. They disturb, if they do not actually molest, salmon as much ; but the real slaughter committed is very trifling, — eels, frogs, snails, and herbs forming their chief food. From fishermen in the district who have paid attention to the habits of the otter, and from such of my friends as take delight in otter-hunting, I can elicit nothing in their whole experience corresponding to what has been affirmed by Mr. Young. Of the ' hundreds/ of fresh-water trout caught by a single otter in the course of the season, and left intact on the rivers' banks, not one ever happened to fall either under their observation or my own. Our Lowland otters, it may be, are not quite so sportively in- clined, nor so expert, as the Sutherlandshire ones. Possibly the eel-flesh they indulge in inclines to indolent habits. I have 266 AN angler's rambles never heard of an instance, at any rate, of the nocturnal prowler fetching to bank ' a dozen trout in the course of half an hour,' and, when I shall be so informed, I may expect to become further regaled with the relation of how these were salted and put aside for winter food by their clever and considerate captor. Mr. Young, in witnessing this feat on the part of the otter, has been peculiarly favoured. It is certainly not an everyday occurrence, or a common ex- hibition of the dispositions of the animal, or indeed of any animal in the wild state. The weasel, with all its wicked pluck and blood-thirstiness, has never been accused of such wanton slaughtei* as Mr. Young has attributed to the otter, and magnified into a good oflEice. That teethy despoiler of our waters, the pike, is quite an embodiment of clemency and moderation compared with those whiskered old Thugs whom my late friend at Invershin would intrust with the custodiership of our salmon-rivers. The sedgy skulker, with all the vice and ferocity imputed to him, never at least ' runs a-muck.' He kills to appease his appetite, not out of sport or sanguinary caprice ; and although I don't like him as a craft cruising piratically among our Highland lakes and rivers, I must do him the justice to say that he is provident and forbearing, quite a paragon, in fact, of discretion and gentle- ness, compared with the otter of the North. Mr. Young, evi- dently, judging from the confident manner in which he spoke of its habits, shared in the belief — a somewhat prevalent one — that the otter has been driven by force of circumstances, exemplified, for instance, in the extended or extending scale of agricultural improvements, beyond the pale of common regard, into the secluded glens, rocky fastnesses, and undisturbed marshes of the upper Highlands ; in other words, that there is no proper field of observation for its instincts and habits south of the Gram- pians. It may perhaps surprise the reader to be told that there are more otters at the present moment in occupation, as their AND ANGLING SONGS. 267 hunting-grounds, of Tweed and its feeders, than in the whole of Sutherlandshire ; and that, so far from agricultural improvements haying acted as a check upon their increase, these very improve- ments, with drainage at their head, have proved the stay and main support of the breed, if they have not, as I am inclined to think, increased it fourfold. This I can affirm, that within the last five or six years, in the course of my river-side rambles, rarely undertaken at dusk or daybreak, I have come across more otters than it was my fortune to stumble on, throughout the previous portion of my angling career, when nocturnal and matutinal expeditions were of fre- quency. While residing, in 1835-6, in the centre of the most romantic and finely-watered, as well as wooded district in Eoss-shire, close to the Conon and Blackwater, the Meig and the Orrin, and in the vicinity of Lochs Garve, Luichart, Achilty, and numerous other lakes containing trout, pike, and char, my daily occupation, for nine or ten months, being fishing and studying the habits of wild animals, I do not recollect coming across, in the course of my wanderings, which not unfrequently com- menced at daydawn and terminated after sunset, a single speci- men of the web-footed fish-slayer. On the following year the scene of my pursuits was transferred to Nairn, and, while living there, I made excursions in all directions, without being favoured even with a fancied glimpse of the spoliator in question ; nor at that period was there any report of its existence in circulation among the sporting community. In the notes to The Lays of the Deer-Forest, by John Sobieski Stuart and his brother, an interesting account is given of the Pindhorn otters ; but I am not led by it to allot the preference to the Highlands as a stronghold of the lutra mustela. The note I allude to embraces the details of an incident which tends to upset Mr. Young's favourite notion as to the expediency of giving en- 268 AN angler's rambles couragement to otters on a salmon-river, and would lead me to infer that it is against the solar, in particular, they direct their hunting propensities. I cannot, however, subscribe to any such conclusion. With Mr. Young, I agree that the otter does not instinctively and habitually persecute or molest the salmon. It gives the preference, as far as its fish-diet is concerned, to much humbler fare, and it is only on occasions when the latter is not to be got that it will give chase to higher game. Where I directly differ from him is, as to the fresh-water trout being its favourite food, and the pursuit of it its favourite occupation. Otters, as T have stated, so far from having become scarce among our Border rivers, are, owing in a great measure to the increased drainage, more abundant than they ever were ; and, what may be held singular by those who look upon them as of a retiring, unsocial disposition, their chief haunts are not among the uplands and pastoral districts, but in the vicinity of towns and large villages. Thus, in the neighbourhood of Galashiels, the southern bank of that portion of Tweed which has its lye a short way above Abbotsford, known among salmon-fishers as the Glenmain Pool, is noted as a resort of this animal. The fisher- man Geddes, employed on the Boldside casts, can speak as to the otters in that locality, being an expert trapper, and having in his day dealt no little damage to the breed. Farther down the river, in the vicinity of Melrose, and especially about the heights of Bemerside and Old Melrose, I have seldom failed to observe their tracks. Approaching Kelso, the Maxton, Ruther- ford, and Makerston waters give constant proof of their attach- ment to these sections of Tweed. The Elshie stream, in par- ticular, is associated with their piscatorial raids. Old Rob Kerss, a well-known character, the genius of the Trow Crags, whose like on our Border river, or elsewhere, we shall never, I fear, look upon again, allowed every latitude to this sly ' rascal,' in the way of picking up a stray fish. Now and AND ANGLING SONGS. 269 then, however, the cubs, sometimes the old dodgers themselves, got entangled in his cairn-nets, and his mode of dealing with them on these occasions was, as may be imagined, pretty sum- mary. Our G-rand Master, for I consider Rob to have been so in the art of salmon-fishing, among the strange happenings which befel him, used to descant upon the capture of a couple of otter cubs which had been decoyed by the glitter of some struggling fish, into one of his inset nets. No sooner had he drawn them to bank and taken hold of them, than, as if by magic, up shot from the depths of the Kill-mouth the bereaved mother. In a moment she clambered up the rocks, and Kerss had barely time, with his disengaged hand, the other grasping the cubs, to seize hold of a leister- shank, which fortunately lay within his reach, before she was close upon him, snapping with fury at his legs, and showing every determination to rescue her offspring. For a few moments Rob succeeded in warding her off, and was beginning to antici- pate a safe retreat with his prize, when she laid hold of the pole with her teeth, and actually managed to wrest it from his grasp. The guard thus broken, our old friend's best policy, so he thought, in order to save his legs, was to come to terms with the animal by dropping one of her cubs, which he accordingly did, and a most compromising effect it produced, for no sooner had he quit- ted hold of the juvenile, than the amphibious dame, snatching it up, retraced her steps to the edge of the rock, over which she slid, and instantaneously disappeared with her recovered charge. ' I could easy hae managed them baifh,' quoth Rob, ' by rinnin' awa frae the limmer, but faith I tuk a kind 0' likin' to the auld besom, she stuck to me wi' sic freedom, and seemed sae unco wae aboot the bit craturs, I couldna help pleasin' her.' 2/0 AN angler's RAMBLES THE LAIRD'S CAST. Fast, fast, we have him fast — A prime one by the gleam ! In the auld Laird's shadowy cast Above the Elshie stream : 'Tis a salmon plump and strong. Newly run from the flowing brine — Newly run, newly run — a right thundering one- Tell him line ! Away, he darts away Across the gleaming Tweed ; Nor art nor arm can stay The glorious creature's speed : From our reel the swift line flies, As he feels the galling scar, And in vain, all in vain, shakes his length'ning chain From afar ! To shore, slow draw to shore ; The light boat edges in. While moves the cautious oar. Like some sea-prowler's fin, In the creeks of an Indian isle ; Now the flowery bank we 've gain'd, And in hand, firm in hand, with our labouring wand Hold him chain'd. AND ANGLING SONGS. 271 IV. See, see in fierce despair He seeks by frantic spring To snap the yielding hair, To fly the madd'ning string, In vain, all in vain, his headlong plunge ! For the fatal die is cast O'er his eyelids soon death's glimmering swoon Shall have pass'd. With quick revolving hand The good line home we wind, While obedient to our wand The worn fish floats behind ; And the bright pebbled edge as he nears, With our gafif-hook we check his retreat. And see, here he lies — a weltering prize At our feet ! OTTEBS— {continued. ) It is in the winter season, when the pools have become frozen over, and are slightly covered with snow, that both the numbers and daring of our Border otters become pressed upon common attention. During the rest of the year, the imprints of their cautiously planted digits can only be detected by the practised and inquiring eye. On the occasion of a severe frost, however, the difficulty of. ascertaining their numerical strength, and of coming to some conclusion as to their whereabouts and occupa- tion, is greatly removed. Such opportunities are met with, in our uncertain climate, only now and then, but in so far as they 2/2 AN angler's RAMBLES have happened to me personally, they have assisted to throw a good deal of light upon the subject under treatment. I am con- vinced, through what I have observed, that, in the neighbourhood of Kelso, Tweed and Teviot are, in the winter season, regularly and systematically traversed by otters ; also, that in the course of their nocturnal forays, these animals exhibit great boldness, and will pursue their quarry in the shadow of human habitations, beneath the flare of gaslight, and within a stone's-cast of a country- town ; moreover, that although, more especially under the cir- cumstances which have favoured me in drawing these inferences, they will not scruple, now and then, to fasten on the shoxilder-bit of a salmon ; still, when doing so, they act with great prudence, taking care not to disturb the remainder in the pool, or cause, by recklessly betraying their presence to the breeding fish, the desertion of the spawning-grounds, — a lesson set by animal instinct which the pretenders to a higher source of guidance would do well to profit by. Close to the Bridge at Kelso, and communicating with Spring- wood Park, the seat of Sir George Douglas, lies the entrance to a large covered sewer or tunnel, capable of being explored as far as the mason-work extends, by a grown-up person in a stoop- ing posture. To this ' cundie,' as it is termed (a corruption pro- bably of the word conduit) a few winters ago, a couple of otters were to be traced, both by the up and down tracks which, for several mornings in succession — so long, in fact, as the frozen state of the river permitted — came under the direct observation of the passers along the bridge. In their night forays these animals appear to have acted in concert. Invariably, instead of creeping up the ice close to the banks, they struck out towards the centre of the river, showing their anxiety to reach the open current. It was through the second arch, not that superintending their retreat, the up-trail usually led. From the top of the bridge the eye could follow it, AND ANGLING SONGS. 273 until it came to where the river was free of ice, and ran with con- siderable rapidity in the shape of a narrow lade or race, on the other side of which the foot-prints of the animals re-appeared,,, and took their course towards a small island, or Ana^ as it is locally called, situated above the junction of the Teviot with Tweed. Above the island, and accessory, no doubt, to its ori- ginal formation, stands the cauld-dyke, built for the purpose of directing a sufficiency of water-power towards Kelso corn-mill. Below this barrier, on the south side of the river, where the slap lies, a great number of salmon were collected that winter, and had commenced spawning. These fish, many of which had been exhausted by fruitless efforts to reach higher ground, formed an object, no doubt, of attraction to the otters. On three successive mornings a salmon was discovered on an exposed part of the Ana, killed, and partly devoured by the pair in question. The severe frost having deprived them of all access to their usual food, they had evidently been pressed by hunger to commit this series of ravages. A singular fact in connexion with this circumstance is, that although a large proportion of the fish assembled below the cauld- slap were at that time on the spawning-beds, and might have been approached and pounced upon with great ease, the salmon selected by the otters were all well-conditioned, such as, judging from their appearance, it would give some trouble to hunt down and secure. The paired breeders evidently were not thought palatable, and had been left unmolested ; at any rate, they had not been scared away from the stream, for, during the days which followed these repasts, they were observed at work on the redds as unconcerned and apparently as numerous as ever, close to the spot where their less fortunate associates had been victimized. The fact that only one fish was discovered next morning, as the result of the previous night's foray, where there was opportunity for a wholesale massacre, goes to prove that the instincts of the s 2/4 AN ANGLER S RAMBLES otter tribe do not lead them to indulge in wanton slaughter. The facts also of the breeding-salmon not having been dispersed, and of the animals' selection of the best-conditioned fish, help to show with what amount of cunning discretion they carry out their concerted plan of attack, and how fastidiously discriminating they are as to the object of it. On the occasion of a large spate which took place in December 1860, and had reached its height about nine p.m., I happened to be on Kelso Bridge, the moon being at its full, when four otters, two of them half-grown, were dislodged from the drain above mentioned. Observation was attracted to them by the cries of distress, a sound betwixt a whine and a whistle, they gave vent to. All the four were plainly discernible in the moon- light, but the bullet-head of the dog-otter was the most conspi- cuous, and presented, under the circumstances, a supernatural appearance. Unable to stem the current, they were quickly carried down into the Maxwheel Pool, on the banks of which, below Pinnacle Hill, they probably effected a reunion ; but their strange cry was heard above the roaring of the waters for the space of several minutes after the animals themselves were lost sight of. In its character as an epicure, the otter has often been talked about, and the otter's bite brought under observation, as a part of the salmon, selected on account of its superior excellence. There is no doubt that invariably, in capturing a large fish, the otter abstracts its first morsel from the shoulder, immediately behind the head of its victim, and continues feeding on from that point until satisfied. But it is not, as afiSrmed, on account of any superiority or richness distinguishing this portion of the scaly prey that it battens upon it in particular. It does so simply because its instincts direct it to that quarter as the most vulner- able. The weasel tribe, to which the Intra belongs,— in fact, all vermin, — it may be noted, when they fasten on their live prev. AND ANGLING SONGS. 275 observe the same law, and are guided by it to a corresponding point of attack. The daintiness and fastidious discrimination of the otter in that respect savour of exaggeration ; nor is the otter- bit in reality the tit-bit of a salmon. In some measure the habits of the tamed otter will assist to illustrate those of the animal in its natural state ; and by every one who has visited the Zoological Gardens in Regent's Park, and taken an opportunity during feeding hours of watching the otters there confined, the way in which they pounce upon their food, the manner in which they bring it to bank and masticate it, will become at once apprehended. It wiU be observed that when the dead fish are emptied into the moat which forms part of the necessary fitting up of their cage (flounders appear to be the fare usually allotted to them ; why not live eels now and then ?) with what unhesitating rapidity each in its turn makes selection of the primest of the lot ; how noiselessly it dives, and gracefully steers towards the spot where they have been de- posited, and having effected its almost instantaneous seizure, how stealthily it climbs the inner parapet, the more timorous retiring with their booty into the kennel, and the bolder ones feeding unconcernedly and at ease in presence of the spectators, how- ever numerous. There are no choice morsels in the carcasses of the bony flat fish it is dining off; yet it will be noticed that it is at the head and shoulders it invariably commences, and crunches on towards the tail, until it has devoured the whole fish. During the winter I have referred to, the Teviot Bridge Pool, facing Kelso, was also occupied by a couple of otters ; and higher up, judging from their tracks, a third set had established thfem- - selves, at a turn of the river known as the Maisondieu streams, above which, favouring their shelter, lies a small islet thickly set with willows. I am not aware, however, of any depredations having been committed on the Teviot salmon, during the pressure spoken of, by these animals. Means of sustenance were most 276 AN angler's rambles likely furnisted to them in connexion with the drains and bank shelter of Springwood Park, which made it unnecessary to dis- turb the royal fish. Besides these opportunities of estimating the numerical strength of the otter tribe on this portion of our Border rivers, others have presented themselves still more con- firmatory as evidence on this subject. The late Duke of AthoU several years ago visited Kelso with his celebrated otter pack, and was very successful in obtaining sport. Two of the swims made are still talked over, being of unusual duration and interest. In one of them the otter was vented at Rutherford, six or seven miles above Kelso, and killed close to the town ; in the other the dislodgement was effected near Kirkbank, on the Teviot, and the finale, of which I was an eye-witness, took place below Roxburgh Castle ; the length of water gone over in the course of the hunt being about the same iu either case. In 1864 a friend of mine brought over from Dumfriesshire a small scratch pack, with which, on two succes- sive occasions, we tested the lower portion of Teviot, and the Kale, one of its feeders. On the former, and a smaller feeder, the Oxnam, we had, on the first occasion, two splashing runs, but failed to kill ; the scent, owing to the lateness of our start, getting cold. Next day, on the Kale, we fell in, shortly after the dogs were put on, with a barren female, which tested pretty severely for a time the powers of the hounds, but was at length, after a noble resistance, mastered, and I have her stuffed in good style by the huntsman's brother, an adept at the business, within my domicile. We had another exciting hunt on the same stream immediately afterwards, but owing to the wooded nature of the banks, or the drains pervading them, failed in bringing it to the desirable crisis. The dogs and huntsman engaged, I may mention; are the same which stand depicted by Samuel Bough in a landscape taken by him neai- Canobie, and shown at Edin- burgh in the Royal Academy's Exhibition of 1865. AND ANGLING SONGS. 277 I have authenticated to me, by the farmer who captured them, an instance of two otters which, not many years ago, took up their quarters in an old fox-cover among whins, and committed extensive depredations among the young lambs. Under the im- pression that the mischief was perpetrated by some loose dog, traps were set, and the culprits apprehended. The scene of action lay not far from the village of Gordon, in Berwickshire. Otter-hunting, it may be remarked, is on the ascendency as a sport ; and one of the reasons for it plainly is, that owing to the drainage system in vogue, otters, as well as rabbits, are more abundant than formerly. THE WARDERS OF THE WATERS. I. Ye warders of the waters ! Is the alder'd stream-side free 1 Hath the salmon sped From his winter bed Adown to the azure sea'? Rideth afloat The fisher's boat Below the white-thorn tree 'I Go forth, ye anglers jovial ! The waters are open wide ; No longer we ward f From vernal sward The glittering salmon glide ; Free at your will The crystal rill And rolling torrent-side. 2/8 AN angler's rambles Ho ! warders of the waters ! Is the yellow trout at feedl And the March-flies brown Are they sailing down Where current and zephyr lead 1 See you abroad With busy rod Some gentle brother speed ? Go forth, ye anglers jovial ! The ring of the trout we spy, And the south winds pour In a living shower The naerry March-brown fly ; With busy wand The fisher band Among the dark pools ply ! KUNS WITH SALMON. One of the most exciting salmon-runs I ever witnessed took place in the neighbourhood of Kelso several years ago, near the close of the season. The fish was hooked about three p.m., at the neck of the Hempside Ford stream, by Mr. Meiklem. After making several pushes in the direction of Maxwheel, it set off at lightning speed towards Rosebank, the boat, managed by one of the Kersses, following with all haste. On reaching Eose- bank, after parading up and down for more than half an hour, it AND ANGLING SONGS. 279 made at a strong pace for the head of the Grain, a rapid stream, situated nearly a mile below the point at which it was hooked. During its course hitherto it had only favoured us with one surface demonstration, exposing a breadth of tail which led to the belief that it was a fish of very uncommon dimensions. It was by this time quite dark, and any further- evolutions which might have assisted us to pronounce upon its size, were undis- tinguishable. After making a show of pressing further down into the Grain stream, it suddenly wheeled round and made its way up again, the boat in full chase, to Eosebank, where it lay down for a short period, and gave opportunity to Sandy Smith, who acted "as attendant to the fisherman, to procure a lantern from the toll-house. On being again started, it continued, notwithstanding the strong pressure laid upon it by Mr. Meiklem, who was an expert fisher, and was armed on this occasion with a powerful salmon- rod, fitted next the hook with a triple-gut casting-line, to make play for a long time, not certainly in furious style, but in the form of strong pushes or runs, its snout evidently directed to- wards the bottom of the river, and its pectoral and ventral fins put into severe exercise. The winding up of the performance was not accomplished until eight p.m., when it is customary at Kelso to ring the bells of the Town-Hall, during the chiming of which, the gaff-hook, by aid of the lantern, was brought to bear upon the fish, which proved, after all, to be only a kipper-salmon of seventeen pounds, the secret of its strength and protracted exer- tions lying partly in its being provided with fins of uncommon size, adapted to thick, muscular sockets, and partly also in the circumstance of the night being dark, a condition which, it is averred, encourages the salar to show spirit and resistance. 28o AN angler's rambles TO THE TWEED. Twined with my boyhood, wreathed on the dream Of early endearments — beautiful stream ! The lisp of thy waters is music to me, Hours buried, are buried in thee ! II. Cheering and sinless, the mirth of thy springs ! " The light and the limpid — the fanciful things That mingle with thine the gleam of their play And are wafted in quiet away ! III. The voice of the city — the murmur of men, Regardless I hear them, and weary again For the lull of thy waters — the breath of the brae Brought down in a morning of May. IV. Go ! hush'd o'er thy channels, the shadow' d, the dim; Give wail for the stricken and worship to him That sang the old feats of the outlaw'd and free, — The legends that skirted on thee. V. Broken the shell ; but its lingering tone Lives for the stream of his fathers — his own — And the pale wizard hand that hath glean'd out of eld Is again on thy bosom beheld. AND ANGLING SONGS. 281 VI. He hears not, but pilgrims that muse at his urn, At the wail of thy watfers, all tearfully turn And mingle their mourning, their worship with thine. And gather the dews from his shrine. VII. Tweed, winding and fair, where the heart is unbound. They wist not, they dream not, who linger around, How the sadden'd will smile and the suffering re-win From thee — the bliss wither'd within. VIII. And I, when to breathe is a burden, and joy Forsakes me, and life is no longer the boy. On the labouring staff and the trem'rous knee. Shall wander, bright river, to thee ! Thoughts will come back that were with me before, — Loves of my childhood left in the core That were hush'd but not buried — the treasured — the true, In memory waken anew. And the hymn of the furze when the dew-pearls are shed. And the old sacred tones of thy musical bed Will close, as the last mortal moments depart. The golden gates of the heart 1 282 AN angler's RAMBLES I HATE Been an actor in several lengthy and exciting salmon - runs, but in none that lasted above an hour and a half, not one- third of the time occupied by the struggle above detailed. Even with trout-tackle, and in contests vpith dour kelts of more than a stone weight, I have managed, without the aid of boat, gaff, or attendant, to bring my fish to grass in the course of less than half an hour. One of the most severe runs I ever recollect meeting with took place below the Thorn-tree Nick on Teviot, in 1856, the subject of it being a newly-run kipper-salmon, which turned the scales at thirty-two pounds. In landing him, I was indebted for assistance to a passer-by armed with a gaff-hook, and no doubt the duration of the run was greatly curtailed by this circumstance, the lower portion of my casting-line being made up of single gut. As it was, it took fully half an hour to master him. This was the largest salmon I ever caught. On the Floors Water, in November 1863, his Grace the Duke of Roxburghe having kindly invited me to enjoy a couple of days' fishing at a period when the river was well-stocked with large fish, I was successful in bringing to bank a splendidly-formed salmon of twenty-eight pounds, and, on the same day, another of twenty-two pounds. Having strong tackle and a trusty rod, I managed, with the assistance of Mr. Stevenson, his Grace's head fisherman, who handled the punt and landing-net, to compass the capture of the larger fish in less than a quarter of an hour ; but the water being large, he was evidently out of his beat, and in consequence succumbed quicker than a salmon of that size, acquainted with the rocky underlie would have done, for there is no doubt that a thorough knowledge of its position, and every surrounding advantage, operates greatly in increasing the resist- ance, and calling into play the strategic resources of the fish. My second day's sport that year, on the same stretch of river, embraced five salmon, averaging eighteen pounds each. Perhaps the most exciting encounter with a large, strong fish. AND ANGLING SONGS. 283 I ever engaged in, took place on the 21st of November 1864, on Teviot. The reel ordinarily used by me happened to be out of order, and I had substituted for it, without taking the pre- caution of examining the state of the handle, one which had been laid aside for an indefinite period. After setting up my rod and attaching the casting-line and fly, I commenced opera- tions at the head of a well-known salmon-cast, the Ninewells, along the edge of which the wading, where it can be accom- plished, is deep and unequal. I had not taken above three or four throws, when the nut or screw by which the handle of the reel was fastened on, becoming detached, the handle itself, by the force of my throw across the pool, was precipitated forwards and lodged among some large stones lying at a depth of nearly five feet, and at a corresponding distance from the spot which I occupied when taking the cast. It was some time before I could detect where it lay, and nearly an hour passed before I suc- ceeded, by means of a large hook fastened to a stick,' in recover- ing it. In the interim, three salmon-fishers, one after the other, laid line carefully over the pool. As 1 had taken several good fish from it, among them a twenty-two pound salmon, about a fortnight before, and knew that, although they aU. failed in bringing one to the surface, others were there, I was not dis- couraged by their want of success ; quite otherwise, for, had a fish been hooked in my presence by . one or other of them, I should probably have deserted the cast without giving it a trial. My only source of discouragement arose from the state of my reel, of which, although I had regained possession of the handle, I was unable, from want of the nut, to make active use of in the way of recovering line. I could still manage, however, to apply it in the manner of a watch-key, so, as to accomplish a few revolutions at a time when it would invariably become detached and require replacement. Under this drawback I recommenced fishing, using as a fiy 284 AN angler's rambles the silver- doctor, — a late edition of the old well-known persuader. In the course of a few minutes I got hold of a good fish of eleven pounds, which, as may be imagined, I had some dif5culty, in the winding-up scene of the play, to secure — a difficulty increased by the want of a convenient landing-place, and the interference of branches with the free use of my rod. I succeeded, however, in so tiring him out, that I could use the liberty of laying this implement down, and, descending the bank, pounce upon and toss my prize ashore. This done, and the coup-de-grace given, I again set to work with the same fly. Before long, the gleam of a large salmon in the act of seizing my hook discovered itself below the surface. Raising my rod, I felt that I had him fast, not by the mouth, however, but, as it turned out, by the tough skin which lies under the pectoral fin on one side. After the pause of a second or two, off he set at a tremendous pace up the pool, exhausting, at the first rush, nearly my whole supply of line, about seventy yards, and concluding the heat with a vigorous somersault. He then, after another short pause, doubled in upon me in such a way as completely to slacken the reins, and compel me, in order to retain the master-hand, to use speed in an opposite direction ; nor was it until a minute or two of high excitement had passed, that I became satisfied as to the fact that we were still in firm conjunction. The only resource left me was to make use, as I was best able, of the loose reel- handle, and recover line as quickly as possible. This, to a certain extent, I had succeeded in doing, when the fish again set off at steam-speed on a cruise down the river. To humour this movement, I was compelled not only to follow as fast as the nature of the bank permitted, but to pay out the larger portion of my recovered line, in doing which the handle of the reel was again thrown off and fell, lost to view among the rank grass. Taken up, as I was, with my fish and his vagaries, I had no time to search for it, but, marking the whereabouts of its fall. AND ANGLING SONGS. 285 hurried, or rather was dragged, forwards in rear of the chase, the respectful distance of seventy yards being kept up betwixt us. Still the salmon pressed on, but at a more leisurely rate, and, to keep pace with him in his way towards the foot of the pool, I had to pass my rod across the stems of several trees and bushes ; also to hold it low, and in a direction nearly parallel to the water, in order to avoid coming into contact with the branch-work overhead. On reaching the shallows which divide the Nine- wells from the Turnpool stream, the fish once more doubled rapidly in upon me, skimming the surface, as he did so, and making the water fly on all sides of him. In order to keep a taut line, I had again, with all possible speed, to retrace my steps upwards, and managed at length, in spite of a good deal of manoeuvring on his part, to arrive at the place where my reel- handle had been jerked off. Fortunately, I stumbled on the object of my search, and, notwithstanding that I could only derive slow and imperfect assistance from it in the way of winding-up, it was to its recovery alone that I owed, after a protracted and exhausting contest, my good fortune in securing what turned out to be a fine newly-run male salmon of twenty pounds' weight. The casting-line, I may mention, was of single gut, and the hook of size No. 8 in Philips' arrangement. In running a salmon, two rules should always, if possible, be observed. To these, in the above instance, it was put out of my power to give effect, but the generality of occasions admit- of their being followed to the letter. The one is, always keep up to your fish, and at right angles, or nearly so, with his head, no matter whether he presses down or up the stream. The other is, having studied the strength of your line, which every salmon- vfisher should do, never employing faulty tackle, keep an equable, it need not be strong, pressure upon him. Let him know at once you have the mastery over him, even with a light line, by acting decisively ; and when humouring him, never so far relax 286 AN angler's rambles the reins as to give him the impression that you are doubtful as to the issue of the struggle. Should you do so, depend upon it he will discover the weak point in your treatment, and, seeing that with him it is a matter of life and death, make the most of it. A steady, consistent pressure, regulated, as regards force, by the strength of rod and tackle, will do more to insure the speedy capture of a salmon than any other expedient. A PECK O' TROUBLES. Gi'e me my gaud, my guid auld gaud. The wan' I lo'e sae rarely ; But faith, gudewife, its unco thraw'd. Ye haena used it fairly 1 The bairns ! plague tak the thievin' things ! They play the very deevil ; Wha 'd think, they 've hash'd my lav'rock-wings. An' ta'en my mennin-sweevil 1 III. They 've made sair wark amang the flees. There 's neither huik nor hackle ; What 's a' the guid o' brew or breeze An' no ae skein o' tackle 1 But hinnie, whar 's my muckle reel ] Gi'e up yer cloots and needle — I wudna lose my honest wheel For a' the wives in Tweeddale. AND ANGLING SONGS. 287 No to the fore ! I micht hae guess'd Some ill or ither cam' o't ; It 's gane the gate o' a' the rest, And nane to bear the blame o't. VI. Aweel, aweel ! mishaps, we ken, Are coupled aye thegither ; Sae, gudewife, rax us yonner hen — She 's dainty in the feather. VII. A mawkin lug and tinsey braw, Ben in the kist ye '11 find them, Auld reel and tippets, aims and a' — . The aims be shure and mind them ! VIII. It gangs a wee agen the grain To thole sae mony troubles ! And yet, gudewife, to ilka ane There 's graith amang the stubbles. It 's neither dole nor deep lament Will mend a bodie'S grievance ; Sae e'en we '11 haud ourselves content Wi' thae wee bits 0' leavins ; AN angler's rambles An' gin a sawmont soom the Tweed (The thing's no that unchancy), We '11 gar the ilka tooth o't bleed, May fortune fa' the fancy ! PISCICULTURE. A VISIT TO MR. SHAW, DEUMLAXRIG. The greater part of the month of May 1859 was spent in liumfriesshire, on the banks of the Esk and the Nith, in company with my friend Wilson. One of the excursions undertaken by us was to Drumlanrig, with the view of meeting Mr. Shaw, the fruits of whose researches into the fresh- water habits of the sal- mon have been accepted by naturalists as a most valuable addi- tion to science, and given an impetus to the pursuit of pisciculture, in its highest branch, both at home and abroad. A long-pro- mised visit, which my friend and I were paying to Sheriff Trotter at Dumfries, gave us an opportunity, our kind enter- tainer during the forenoon being occupied with his judicial duties, of hurrying up Nithsdale by an early train to the station near Thornhill, and thence, by gig, proceeding to Mr. Shaw's cottage, which stands overlooking the valley a short way beyond the ducal castle, and commanding a stretch of landscape to which, with all appropriateness, the term ' magnificent ' may be applied. Drumlanrig, of the several princely residences in Scotland possessed by his Grace the Duke of Buccleuch, is certainly the most princely. It greatly surpasses in command of situation, and extent of pleasure-grounds, Dalkeith Palace, Bowhill, and AND ANGLING SONGS. 289 Langholm Lodge. On arriving at our destination, we found Mr. Shaw deeply engaged, within the precincts of his lovely abode, in the mysteries of gardening. Many years had elapsed since my friend Wilson, then in company with his father, had formed his acquaintance, and the mutual recognition which took place was in consequence not so instantaneous as to preclude a preliminary query or two, capped by a reflective ejaculation on the changes which tell on men and things. A hearty wel- come followed this preface to my introduction, and the lapse of a few moments beheld us seated in a comfortable parlour, plied with the best of cheer, and in the heat of a discussion, on a sub- ject not yet fully made clear, namely, the breeding of salmon and sea-trout. Mr. Shaw's views, expressed in a paper pub- lished among the Transactions of the Koyal Society of Edinburgh, have been generally accepted by naturalists. On most points I give my assent to them ; but there has always rested a difficulty in my mind in regard to one particular, the existence of which led me some years ago to attack his theory with indiscreet asperity. Since that time, 1 have been induced through observation to surrender, in part, my former belief, and to regret that I should so inconsiderately have set up a raw and untutored opinion against the facts ascertained and registered, of which Mr. Shaw was the promulgator. Luncheon over, we descended to the salmon-trap, an ingenious contrivance devised by Mr. Shaw, on the Nith, for the twofold purpose of taking and of keeping alive and uninjured, until re- quired for table, the ascending fish, which at the season of our visit consisted principally of sea-trout. This device (it has pro- bably, under the New Solway Act provisions, been done away with) occupied a part of the river narrowed in by rocks and overhung picturesquely with trees. The force or pressure of water, naturally strong, was enhanced by artificial means, and made subservient to the purposes of the erection. The cage or 290 AN angler's rambles prison into which the fish became thrown by the directive force of the current was a roomy one, covering, in the form of a paral- lelogram, a superficial area, which, so far I can remember, was not much short of a hundred square yards. It was built very compactly of stone, clinched and riveted from the founda- tion upwards. A grating, constructed of strong iron bar.s, pro- tected it from depredators, access to the interior being given by means of a trap-door, which was kept under lock and key. From this entrance a short ladder conducted to a ledge or parapet about two feet in width, which surrounded, and was nearly on a level with the aqueous contents of the cage when plenished. Taking the superficial area of this tank or conservatory to be a hundred yards, and the usual depth three feet, these contents amount to no less than 2700 cubic feet of water, a considerable bulk when so estimated, but one which, in order to facilitate the capture of the fish, it was necessary to get rid of, or at anyrate greatly reduce. This was accomplished by a simple but ingeni- ous piece of machinery, set agoing by the pressure of the current at the upper end of the trap, an oar-blade, or piece of planking similarly shaped, being employed as the primary lever-power the results of its action being^ at one and the same time to shut off the supplies by the gradual lowering of a sluice-gate at the feeding point, and effect a displacement of the watery contents of the reservoir without opening up a means of exeunt to the finny ones. The whole process did not occupy above ten or twelve minutes. On the occasion of our visit, the inmates of the cage consisted of five or six sea-trout, vai-ying in weight from one-and-a-half pound to three pounds, all of them fresh- run, and in good condition. Of these Mr. Shaw selected three, which were forthwith secured by the assistance of a hand-net. despatched by the nabby or doctor, and sent off to their various destinations ; a prime one to his own cottage, to be greeted and further commented on by us at the dinner-table, along with other delicacies, in the course of the afternoon. AND ANGLING SONGS. 29 1 A stroll down the rivor succeeded our visit to the salmon-trap. The day was bright, and not adapted for fly-fishing ; the Nith also was clear and low, presenting, in these respects, some temp- tation to an adept with the worm or creeper. On looking into its pools and streams, however, which the nature of the super- intending banks allowed one to do with effect, I was greatly dis- appointed in discovering that they contained, in proportion to their extent, and considering the advantage given them of being strictly preserved, such a poor supply of river-trout — not a tithe, in fact, of what I had been led to expect. The size also of such specimens as met the eye was very inferior. It did not exceed that which characterizes the trout of a third-rate tributary of Tweed. The paucity in question was attributed by Mr. Shaw to the limited extent of the spawning-grounds ; the feeders of the Nith, which at one time furnished a tolerable supply of breeding accommodation, being now, for the most part, rendered inacces- sible by erections for the purpose of hoarding up water-power. A better explanation, I think, may be given, by taking into account the absence of permanent shelter, and the want also of a regular and sufficiently ample supply of food, A mere deficiency in point of numbers, resulting from the narrowing up of the breeding- grounds, would, were food and shelter only ordinarily abundant, become atoned for by a superiority in respect of size and con- dition, a superiority which the Nith trout at Drumlanrig certainly did not discover. I could easily adduce a score of instances to prove, in regard to river and loch trout, of what essential value the provisions above named are, in the way of maintaining the breed ; also showing that an immense stock may be raised over a very limited extent of breeding- ground, provided that breeding- ground be of the right sort. The inquisition held on the Nith trout from the banks was followed up, I may mention, by a fur- ther trial with the rod and line, of which, after nearly an hour's perseverance, the result was the capture of two herring-sized 292 AN angler's RAMBLES trout, one of which betrayed its whereabouts previous to its being hooked, by rising at a natural fly. Before leaving Drumlanrig, our enjoyment after dinner of a reeking tumbler was enhanced by the account our entertainer gave us of his progress, so far, towards the introduction of the grayling to Dumfriesshire. As regards the first step, the great secret of success in connexion with the experiment lies in the keeping up of the supply of pure air in the transporting medium. It is now indeed well known how necessary, in a greater or less degree, to the existence of fishes, especially the Salmonidce, is the oxygenic constituent, and how quickly, through the action of their respiratory organs, the element they live in is liable to become deprived of it. In the transportation of the finny tribe in their live state, the employment of the air-pump as an adjunct to the vessel containing the specimens under way may hence- forth be considered as indispensable. The success met with by Mr. Shaw in the safe conveyance of the grayling, was capped, as is pretty well known to those who take an interest in such mat- ters, by the more important one of obtaining a hatch or breed. The paired fish, on being brought to Drumlanrig, were committed to a carefully-selected and well-secured spot in a rivulet passing through the policy-grounds, where they shortly afterwards com- menced breeding operations, and in due time the infant broods discovered themselves. Several specimens, bottled in spirits of wine, were set before us, of the hatch referred to. They were about an inch and a half or nearly two inches in length, and, so far as I could judge, not more than six weeks old. That the grayling will thrive, and eventually become plentiful in the Nith, I ajn by no means sanguine. The adaptation of that river to its requirements certainly does not discover itself to the casual visitor. Mr. Shaw, however, looked forward to success with strong confidence, an element which, in an experiment of this sort, is absolutely essential. If pisciculture, in fact, is to AND ANGLING SONGS. 293 become established among tbe arts and sciences, it can only attain that dignity by the aid of sanguine experimentalists like Mr. Shaw. Even in the failures of such men there is a measure of success. Thejf pave the way to the detection of what caused them, and lead in most instances to the application of corrective measures. The triumphs of agriculture have been attained, and are stiU in progress, owing to the zeal and devotedness paid to its study as a science. It is no longer an occupation for mere serfs — the tilling of the soil ! No longer is it left to nature to give us harvests of plenty. As well as the hand, the head and the heart — good heads and brave hearts — are at work in this branch of industry. Art joins with nature in the field, aids, regulates, nay, even dictates to it, and as a result — as the result of this grand putting forth of energies, this active enthusiasm — we have corn and fodder in tenfold abundance, thicker fleeces and roomier fleshpots ; the principle which nourished the tare and thistle transferred to the useful plants, and made to contribute to the support of human life and the increase of national wealth. Such are the triumphs which have crowned, and are still crowning, the art of agriculture. Pisciculture, as earnestly pursued and devotedly engaged in, will no doubt lead to results of equal importance. The require- ments of a growing population, in the matter of diet, will be assisted by it, and the transactions of commerce become more numerous. Rivers, lakes, and estuaries, hitherto barren and unprofitable, will be converted into storeholds, and made capa- ble, in the day of dearth and famine (a day which, as regards the produce of our stalls and corn-fields, may occur at any time) of assuaging, if not of warding off, one of the most terrible forms of calamity. 294 AN ANGLER'S RAMBI-ES THE TRYSTING-TREE. I. Sing, sweet thrushes, forth and sing ! Meet the mom upon the lea ; Are the emeralds of spring On the angler's trysting-tree 'i Tell, sweet thrushes, tell to me, Are there buds on our willow-tree ? Buds and birds on the trysting-tree ? II. Sing, sweet thrushes, forth and sing ! Have you met the honey-bee Circling upon rapid wing Round the angler's trysting-tree ? Up, sweet thrushes, up and see, Are there bees at our willow-tree 1 Birds and bees at our trysting-tree ? III. Sing, sweet thrushes, forth and sing ! Are the fountains gushing free ? Is the south wind wandering Through the angler's trysting-tree ? Up, sweet thrushes, tell to me How stirs the wind through our willow-tree I How bend the boughs of the trysting-tree i IV. Sing, sweet thrushes, up and sing ! Wile us with a merry glee, AND ANGLING SONGS. 29S To the flowery haunts of spring — To the angler's trysting-tree ! Tell, sweet thrushes, tell to me. Are there flowers 'neath our willow-tree 1 Spring and flowers at the trysting-tree ? THE GRAYLING. Since my visit to Drumlanrig, and the introduction of the grayling into the Nith, a question has arisen regarding the de- sirability of adding this fish to our river-stock in Scotland. It has been affirmed that, since its introduction to the Clyde, the trout of that river have shown a considerable decrease in point of numbers, — a circumstance traced, I have been told, to the ravages committed among them during the spawning season by the grayling, which, in October and November, when the fario usually deposits its ova, is in prime condition and high-feeding humour. The fact of trouting-rivers once in high repute being greatly injured by the introduction of the grayling into their waters, has been confirmed to me, viva voce, by the proprietor, to a large extent, of one of the finest streams in Yorkshire. It staijds to reason anyway, that, seeing this fish and the common fresh- water trout breed at nearly opposite seasons of the year, they do not in other respects harmonize ; moreover, that encouragement given to the grayling in our Scottish rivers amounts to direct encouragement to poaching, and serves as an excuse for anglers to be out with rod and line during the winter months. On rivers frequented by salmon and sea-trout, like Tweed and Teviot, on the latter of which attempts are being made to cultivate the grayling, which, if successful, will eventually extend to its reci- 296 AN angler's rambles pient all the evil consequences, — on such rivers I would cer- tainly set face against so hazardous an experiment being carried out, and would have no more scruples in excising a stray Thymallus vulgaris than T would have in slaying Master Pike when in the act of running ' a-muck' among the smolts. The superlative excellence of the Teviot fresh-water trout, and the propriety of securing for the migratory species in close-time undisturbed possession of the fords, furnish reasons suiEcient for an interdict against the introduction of grayling into its waters, and I trust will prove deterrent when fully considered in those quarters where the misjudged experiments are being carried on. TWEED FOR EVER! I. Let ither anglers choose their ain, An' ither waters tak' the lead, O' Hielan' streams we covet nane, But gi'e to us the bonnie Tweed ! An' gi'e to us the cheerfu' burn That steals into its valley fair — The streamlets that at ilka turn Sae saftly meet an' mingle there. II. The lanesome Tala and the Lyne, An' Manor wi' its mountain-rills. An' Etterick whose waters twine Wi' Yarrow frae the Forest hills ; An' Gala too, and Teviot bright. An' mony a stream o' playfu' speed ; Their kindred valleys a' unite Amang the braes o' bonnie Tweed. AND ANGLING SONGS. 297 III. There's no a hole aboon the Crook, Nor stane nor gurly swirl aneath, Nor drumlie rill, nor faery brook That daunders through the flow'ry heath, But ye may fin' a kittle troot, A' gleamin' ower wi' starn and bead ; An' mony a sawmont scorns aboot Below the bields o' bonnie Tweed. Frae Holylee to Clovenford, A chancier bit ye canna ha'e ; Sae gin ye tak' an angler's word, Ye '11 through the whuns an' ower the brae. An' work awa wi' cunnin' hand Yer birzy heckles, black and reid ; The saft sough o' a slender wand Is meetest music for the Tweed ! O the Tweed ! the bonnie Tweed ! O' rivers it's the best ; Angle here, or angle there, Troots are sooming everywhere. Angle east or west. LOCHMABEN— FIRST VISIT. My friend W. and I having accepted a kind invitation to spend a day or two with the late Mr. Macdonald of Eammer- scales, and, under his guidance, to visit the Lochmaben lochs, 298 AN angler's rambles availed ourselves of it on the 23d of May 1859, proceeding by way of Lockerbie from the heart of Eskdale to our place of des- tination. "We were favoured during our excursion with fine sunny weather, and 'arrived at Rammerscales (a barbarous cor- ruption of Eandolph de Scalis, equerry of Robert the Bruce, to whom the property had formerly been granted) early in the morning, in time to partake of breakfast with the family. Jlr. Jlacdonald, who was well known and appreciated as a classical scholar and Orientalist, performed, until the day of his demise, in December 1862, the duties of secretary to a club composed chiefly of the gentlemen in the district, the meetings of which are held once in the twelvemonth on the banks of the Castle Loch. Its designation is the Vendace Club. Sir W. Jardine, Bart., of Applegarth, has been for many years its president, and to him it probably owes its institution. The object of its meetings may be considered as social ; and, viewed in that light, along with the gratification derivable from witnessing the capture of that rare and delicate fish, peculiar to Loch Maben, the vendace, or Gore- gonus WillugJibii, unites the further pleasure of testing its merits as a subject for gastronomic indulgence, dainty as the whitebait of the Thames, the burbot of the Trent, or the char of TVinder- mere. The capture of the vendace in the Castle Loch (there are five expanses of water bearing the designation Loch in the Loch- maben range, as well as several ponds or water-holes ; but the Castle or Palace Loch is the principal, covering upwards of 200 acres, Scottish measure, of gi-ound), the capture of this fish is conducted entirely by the net and coble — an unsportsmanlike way confessedly of going to work, but one which there is no help for, as the vendace cannot be taken by any other means, — feeding, as it has been declared to do by Dr. Knox, on ' very minute entomostracous animals, not exceeding seven-twelfths of a line in size.' The impossibility, however, of taking the vendace AND ANGLING SONGS. 299 with rod a'nd line is a matter of no great regret, as the dimen- sions of the fish are very insignificant, and it possesses no game qualities. Its ordinary length is from seven to eight inches. In appearance it bears some resemblance to a' sprat or a sardine, but the scales and colouring are a trifle more delicate. Our visit to Lochmaben had been- arranged a fortnight before it took place ; and Mr. Macdonald, in the interim, had kindly, as promised, taken an opportunity to acquaint the then t^enant of the shootings and fishings. Dr. Scott, of our wish to investigate the contents of the Castle Loch, close to which, in a beautiful little rustic dwelling, yclept Vendace Cottage, he resided. The intimation of our wish, conveyed by Mr. Macdonald, had been responded to by the assurance that every endeavour would be made to further the object of our visit, and that notice would be duly given to the fisherman and his assistant to have the net and coble in readiness at any hour we chose to fix on. On our arrival we found all prepared, and our entertainer on the look- out, agreeably to promise, so that, after devoting a few minutes , to the inspection of his eel-traps, and a small canal or reservoir filled with roach, which occupied a corner of the garden, the roach being collected and kept up as a provision wherewith to bait lines for pike, etc., we made our way down to the boat- house. I had taken, I may mention, a trouting-rod with me, under the impression that I might have an opportunity of bringing it to bear against one or other of the various kinds of fish, eleven in number, inhabiting the Castle Loch ; but this idea received a check the moment I came to the water's edge. The element, which I had expected to find, not crystalline certainly, like the contents of some of our Highland lakes, but moderately pure and transparent, was thick, if not unctuous — full of floating particles, which, when submitted, I was told, to microscopic test, teemed with insect life in great variety. 300 ' AN angler's rambles , In Yetholm and Dunse Castle Lochs, I may add also the Drummond Castle Ponds, and those at Raith in Fifeshire, Beal in East Lothian, and Grartmorn near Alloa, I have noticed somewhat similar conditions of water, but never at the corre- sponding period of the year ; only in their case during autumn, and after a disturbance by rain and wind of the rank and decay- ing lacustrine vegetation, run to a head since the spread, particu- larly, of the water-weed Anacharis alsinastrum, in one or more of the localities above mentioned. There is more, however, than the mere decay of vegetable matter, in its primary stage, to be accounted for here in the Loch- maben district. The aqueous contents of the Castle Loch owe their peculiarity, no doubt, to the alveus itself, and the conjunc- tion of mineral agencies with those derived year after year from the decay of plants. The feeding properties of the water account plainly enough for the finny wealth of the lake, which is both varied and abundant. They also account for a certain de- gree of fastidiousness as regards their food, which renders it difficult, by means of the angler's resources, to command a suc- cessful day's sport among those of its denizens whose habits are held predatory. The very pike and eels of Lochmaben, I am told, are saucy fish, more capricious in their humours than the pike and eels' of other localities. On the bream, which is here very numerous, they disdain to feed. As a dead-bait on the set-line it possesses no charm. A fresh roach so presented they will bolt occasionally ; a live one to the pike is more attractive. He gives preference, however, to the vendace, in proof of which, when taken with the net, he is frequently found gorged with this dainty, showing that he possesses the tact to discriminate betwixt the objects of his prey, and that feeding with him is not always a mere question of gratifying hunger. The vendace being butj a rare fish, in comparison with the roach and bream, in the Castle Loch, renders his acquisition of it, in any number, AND ANGLING SONGS. 3OI the more extraordinary, and demonstrative of the fact that our friend lucius must especially esteem this delicate little morceau, and hunt it down, when his appetite and tastes are so inclined" with great pertinacity. The descent of the pike of Till into Tweed in pursuit of the smolts, which I have made mention of in the course of these chapters, affords another instance of the preferences of our fresh- water shark, and his power of discri- mination, an instinct so frequently questioned by anglers. But I return to our investigation of the lake with net and coble, under the conduct of Dr. Scott and his assistants. The first haul was an unpromising one, consisting of a few roach and small bream, a perch, and some sticklebacks. It was taken, however, on beaten ground, so to call it, in front of the cottage. The next capture (a circuit, as far as it could be accomplished, of the loch, in successive sweeps of the net, forming the pro- gramme usually followed on such occasions) discovered a decided improvement in point of numbers. This improvement continued as we advanced, and reached its height at a haul taken near the mouth of the principal feeder. The contents of the net, in this instance, amounted, taking a rough guess, to nearly a thousand fish, nineteen-twentieths of which were bream (Abramis brama), the remaining twentieth consisting principally of roach. There were also four or five pike, the largest not exceeding five pounds, and about half a score of small perch. Among the bream were some fair-sized specimens, running from half a pound up to two pounds, but the generality of them were not more than three ounces in weight. Subsequent hauls, taken on the north side of the loch, discovered still larger specimens of this insipid fish. Of these we retained the pick, setting the others at liberty. As to the vendace, to procure which was our main object, we failed to obtain a single specimen. At no time, it appears, is it abundant, at least it has not been so of late years. On the occasion of the Vendace Club meetings, held two or three 302 AN angler's RAMBLES months later, when a net of greater compass is employed, the takes of this delicious little fish rarely do more than satisfy the immediate requirements of the Club, in the way of affording each of its members his respective bonne louche. It has been ascertained that the habits of the vendace confine it, during the greater portion of the year, to the central ranges of the loch, where the depth of water is greatest, and where it is most secure from the attacks of pike. It is only late in summer that it approaches the margins, and can be taken by means of net and coble. Not to have obtained even a solitary specimen of this fish was, I allow, a great disappointment, and quite upset my preconceptions of its comparative abundance. With the grand facility presented by a small-meshed long-net, equal nearly in dimensions to what is used on Tweed in the tideway, I certainly looked forward to more satisfactory results than those actually obtained from our investigation of Lochmaben. I expected a greater variety of fish, and I expected also to come across a magnate or two in the shape of a pike, perch, or trout. The last-mentioned fish are, I am told, scarce. One of four pounds or thereabouts had been taken by Dr. Scott with the spoon-bait during the previous season, but its capture under these circumstances was quite an event in the history of the loch, and the experience to boot of its captor. Among the fishes enumerated as belonging to the Castle Loch, and peculiar to it, is one termed the greenbone. This designa- tion, however, I have ascertained to be local, applied, in fact, to what is neither less nor more than the roach in its younger stage. It is quite out of place when made use of in order to characterize a species of fish belonging to the same genus {CyprimdcB), of which Lochmaben is the only known habitat. The month of May being the spawning season of the bream, I was made alive to this feature in its natural history, by being introduced by Dr. Scott to the exact spot in the lake where tlie AND ANGLING SONGS. 303 spawning process is carried on. A thick post, erected on a shoal which occurs not far from the centre of the Castle Loch, marks the position of this accustomed gathering-place. Here, within the compass of a circle not twenty yards in diameter, the fish draw together in immense numbers. Eowing close up to it, we had no difficulty, notwithstanding the semi-opaque state of the water, in distinguishing them ; that portion at least of the shoal which hung on the surface. Dr. Scott, our entertainer, was, as I mentioned, the tenant of the fishings of the Castle Loch, and a portion of the shootings in its neighbourhood, belonging, at the time of my visit, to the late Lord Murray, one of the Senators of the College of Justice. Although taken as subjects of sport, the fishings cannot with pro- priety be held as such. The rod, no doubt, may be employed, and a large- sized pannier implemented occasionally through means of it ; but the amusement of catching insipid bream and roach in this way is quite as insipid as the fish themselves. In the setting and drawing of lines for pike and eels there is a cer- tain amount of satisfaction, and it was chiefly by this mode of fishing that Dr. Scott made use of his right as the lessee of the loch. He also, as he informed us, took advantage of the perio- dical emigrations of the last-mentioned fish, the outlet of the Castle Loch running close to Vendace Cottage, to capture them by means of traps. I may mention that, during my trip to Lochmaben, on the conclusion of the netting operations, a simple and speedy method of flaying a pike, preparatory to its being cooked, was communi- cated to us by our host, who gave the credit of it, as an ingenious process, to the late Sir Humphry Davy, with whom, in his younger days, he had formed an acquaintance during a Conti- nental fishing- tour. We had several subjects to choose from, the best of them a well-fed lucius, of about five pounds in weight. A fiat board being obtained (of course, a kitchen-table or dresser 304 AN angler's rambles would have answered the purpose better), the fish was placed upon it at full length on its side, and with a common dinner- knife, to which a rough saw-edge had been given, the keeper, or fisherman, who acted as operator, after making an incision im- mediately above the tail, proceeded to insinuate the levelled edge of his instrument below the skin, and by a dexterous movement of the hand, detached, in three or four strokes, the whole of the scaly coating lying betwixt the gills and caudal fins, strip after strip. The fish was then turned over, and similarly operated on on the other side. In fact, in the course of a few seconds, it was entirely dispossessed of its slimy armour, and after being crimped was despatched to the kitchen for further manipulation, prior to its appearance at the dinner- table. THE GREETING OF THE SPRING. I. Bless with me the spring-tide bland, All ye anglers of the valley ! Wave aloof the slender wand, And around the oak-tree rally. II. Bless the birds that all along Send us such a merry greeting ; To their measures of kind song Joyously our hearts are beating. III. Fleeted now the winter snow From' the foreheads of the mountains ; And the ransom'd waters flow Freely from their teeming fountains. AND ANGLING. SONGS. 30S IV. From its hiding in the brake, Peeps the primrose — spring's sweet vassal ; And the wild bees music make Round the willows' golden tassel. Hark ! the concert of delight Holding in the hazel cover, And the piping on the height Of the restless-footed plover ! VI. How the lambs in sunny sport Mock their mother's piteous bleating ! Every voice in Nature's court Is loud and emulous with greeting. VII. Fresh and free the 'breezes blow, And the amber stream runs gaily ; Forth and warble as you go. All ye anglers of the valley ! LOCHMABEN — SECOND VISIT. By the kind invitation of my friend the late Mr. Macdonald of Eammerscales, I was present at the annual meeting of the Vendace Club, at the Castle Loch of Lochmaben, on the 5th of August 1862, and had the gratification of witnessing what was regarded by Sir William Jardine of Applegarth, the president of the Club, and other members, as a very satisfactory day's fishing. u 3o6 AN angler's rambles The result, so far as the capture of the vendace was concerned, made up amply for my disappointment on the occasion of my first visit to this celebrated lake. The long-net was laid on early in the forenoon, close to the ancient little burgh which bears the name of the parish or district. At the start, the results certainly were not promising, the first four or five hauls embracing merely a few bream and roach of insignificant size. On approaching the Castle the takes were heavier, and included some fair specimens of pike, the largest, however, not exceeding in weight seven pounds, several perch, and a rudd or red-eye, which Sir WiUiam remarked was a rare fisli in the Castle Loch, and in our Scottish waters generally, although common to many of the slow-running rivers in the south of England. An eel, also, of attractive beauty, as regarded colour and shape, was taken, and a fine trout of two or three pounds' weight made its escape when on the point of being landed. It was not, however, until more than half the circuit of the loch had been completed, and the net brought to bear upon that portion of it which is over- looked by the Castle ruins, that specimens of the vendace dawned in upon us, first by twos and threes, and afterwards, about luncheon-time, and during a pelt of rain, in considerable numbers, the whole proceeds amounting to four or five dozens. In the opinion of Sir William, they were the largest and finest specimens of the Coregomis Willughhii which had been taken for a number of years, several of them exceeding eight inches in length. One of their characteristics, that of bearing on the top of the head the well-defined shape of a heart, glaaed over, as it were, with a thin transparent substance, exposing to view the brain of the fish, was particularly noticeable in the newly-caught specimens. A small collection of the different fishes belonging to the Castle Loch was made on this occasion by Professor Archer, who was present at the meeting. Prepared under his careful superintendence, this souvenir now occupies a case AND ANGLING SONGS. 307 among the curiosities of the Edinburgh Industrial Museum, of which he is the zealous and highly intelligent principal. As the guest of BIr. Macdonald, I was present at the Club dinner, which was numerously attended by gentlemen belonging to the district. Sir WiUiam Jardine occupying the chair. Among the viands the vendace was included, along with pike and eel. It was cooked after the smelt fashion, with the entrails left in- tact, and somewhat resembled that fish in flavour. The repast was crowned by a remarkably fine haunch of Annandale venison, from the deer-parks of Mr. Hope Johnstone, who in this shape annually adds his contribution to the good fare of the Lochmaben feast. Enlivening but virtuous libations of Glasgow punch, and the national beverage, agreeably sweetened and diluted, wound up the meeting. THE HERON-LAKE. I. The breeze is on the Heron-lake, The May-sun shineth clear ; Away we bound through the ferny brake, With our wands and angling gear. II. The birch-wreath o'er the water edge Scatters sweet flies about ; And round his haunt of whisp'ring sedge. Bells up the yellow trout. III. Take heed ! take heed ! his eye is bright As falcon's in the sky ; Biit artful feather hove aright. Will hood a keener eye. 3o8 AN angler's rambles IV. Beware, beware the water-weed, And the birch that weeps behind, And gently let the true line speed Before thee on the wind. Oh ! gently let the good line flow, And gently wile it home : There 's many a gallant fin I trow Under the ribbfed foam. VI. A merry fish on a stallion-hair, 'Tis a pleasant thing to lead On May-days, when the cowslip fair Is yellowing on the mead. VII. When the breeze starts up, and tlie sun peeps out, And grey flies two or three Hold merry frolic round about. Under the green-wood tree. VIII. Oh ! then the heart bounds pleasantly. And its thoughts are pleasant tilings. Gushing in joyous purity, Like mirthful water-springs. AND ANGLING SONGS. 309 THE TRANSPLANTATION OF FRESH-WATER FISHES. In connexion with pisciculture and the acclimatization of fishes, how best to transmit from place to place, in a live and healthy condition, the finny inhabitants of the lake and river, becomes a question of no little importance. Much practical difiGiculty, there can be no doubt, was formerly experienced in the stocking of rivers and fish-ponds, arising from the distance which the stock in many instances had to be carried. This difficulty, since the spread of railway communication, has been greatly lessened ; but even the facilities which at present exist for the promulgation, through transference, of our fresh-water fishes, do not abstract from the care and nicety with which the process in question requires in every case to be carried on. It is still a process which, if committed to ignorant or slovenly hands, runs a strong chance of failure, and, as it admits of being conducted on ar basis of well-ascertained facts, a notice of these may be found useful. The fresh-water fishes belonging to our lakes and rivers, which it is most expedient to cultivate and introduce to a larger area, are, I premise, disproportionally endowed with the life-power, so to call it, which qualifies them for being readily shifted from place to place and planted out as stock. In some of them — the various species of the Salmonidce for instance, — this capacity is extremely limited, and the subjects of transmission accordingly require, in the course of it, the most careful and judicious treat- ment ; in others, again, it discovers itself to a much fuller extent, and there is less occasion for ceremony. Without descending to the Murcenidce, examples of fishes, so constituted, may be adduced from the carp family ; also from the Percidoe and Esocidce, all of which deserve notice. The life of the carp, we have been credi- 3IO AN angler's rambles bly informed, may be suBtained for several weeks, apart from any direct communication with its native element, a mere sprinkling thereof being from time to tipie administered. Rest- ing on wet moss, and suspended in net-work in a cool cellar, this fish [Cyprinus carpio), it appears, is not only capable of retaining life, and of making use, for that purpose, of its respira- tory organs, but will also accept of nourishment in the shape of bread soaked in sweet milk, under such circumstances. The tench, also, a fish belonging to the same family, is inde- pendent of those delicate attentions which are required by trout or salmon during the process of transplantation. Loosely placed among wet, sedgy grass, in a basket made of coarse wicker- ware, through the interstices of which the air circulates freely, specimens of it may be conveyed by a train moving at the rate of twenty or twenty-five miles in the hour, from London to Inverness, or any corresponding distance, vrithout injury to their vital functions, — the precaution being observed every now and then to sprinkle fresh water over them and keep the package cool. In the case of the minnow [Letisciscus phoxinus), another of the same family, which is made use of to such an extent as a spinning-lure by the angler, its capability of retaining life when in confinement is well known. Within the area of a common soda-water bottle, I have frequently kept twenty and upwards of moderate-sized minnows for a period varying from three to nine hours, changing the water, according to the prevailing tempera- ture of the day, about once in the hour, on the average. When salmon-fishing in frosty weather, or when the river is low, I sometimes resort to the minnow as a more sure persuader than the artificial fly ; and usually, on such occasions, provide myself with a dozen large-sized specimens, more or less, which, although taken with the hook, I have known to exist for the space of eight hours, without showing any symptoms of exhaus- AND ANGLING SONGS. 3 1 1 tion, in a glass vessel of the description mentioned, no fresh supply of water being administered to them during that period. Care should be taken, when minnows for convenience are cooped up in this fashion, not to introduce into the bottle more water than shall occupy two-thirds of its area. By filling it com- pletely, and then closely corking it up, you deprive your pri- soners altogether of the sustaining principle, air, which is as necessary for piscine as for human existence. The effect of its seasonable introduction may be shown on an occasion when the minnows, by rising to the surface of the water, and no longer probing with their noses towards the bottom, exhibit signs of languor and distress. In such an emergency you may, without changing the water, restore them, in a certain measure, to their wonted liveliness, simply by extracting the cork and shaking the contents of the bottle, so as to combine with them a fresh supply of the atmospheric element. Another method adopted by me in carrying minnows, is the one above recommended in the transportation of the tench.. It consists simply in the committing of these little fishes to a loose wrapping of grass or moss, well- wetted and placed in a corner of the fishing-basket. Through means of this expedient, which has been occasionally forced upon me in absence of a bottle or other vessel, I have been enabled to preserve the life-power, and con- sequent freshness, of my spinning-bai,ts, throughout the day. Upon the inconvenience which may arise from so primitive a mode of managing my live-baits, I need not enlarge. It is worth while, however, for the learner in piscatorial lore to know all this, as the knowledge one day or other may prove serviceable to him. The same treatment, I may add, wiU be found success- ful when extended to loaches and sticklebacks. With all its adaptation for ready transference, it is somewhat singular that the minnow has not as yet been introduced into the northern counties of Scotland ; Ross-shire, Caithness, and 312 AN ANGLER S RAMBLES Sutherland. It is rarely met with also in Inverness- shire ; and yet it would be very desirable to have it acclimatized, for thfe purposes both of feeding trout and accommodating the angler, throughout those well-watered districts. In the extreme North,/ on the banks of the Thurso and the Naver, the variations of tem- perature are not, as is generally supposed, such as would affect this fish in the least ; indeed, some years ago, on talking with Mr. Horsburgh, at that time his Grace the Duke of Sutherland's factor, at Tongue House, on the practicability of introducing perch into some of the superfluous lakes belonging to the Keay territory, he mentioned to me, as a notable fact, that the tempe- rature in that quarter is usually, during winter, four degrees higher than it is in the vicinity of Edinburgh. In the minnow, I think, a fair subject offers itself for intro- ductory experiment, in the way of transmitting alive some of our fresh-water British fishes to New Zealand, or other of our colonies, adapted for its reception. From what I know of its capability of sustaining life in a confined state, I consider it practicable, using very simple means, to keep in healthy condi- tion a stock of minnows, say three or four dozens, during a three months' voyage, on an allowance of four gallons of -waXeT per dtein, which water, after they have had the fuU benefit of it, might be used with perfect safety for other purposes. I have known a stock of the above amount kept in a sleeping-apartment for more than a twelvemonth, and that in a wash-hand-basin, into which rain water from a cistern was admitted, by the drop, at the rate of thirty or forty drops per minute, and drawn away in the same proportion, through a small orifice leading into a waste pipe at the bottom of the basin, which, I may add, was provided with a wire covering, in order to prevent the minnows from leaping over its edges. On a similar plan, the transportation of this little fish might, I think, be conducted, precautions being taken in the con- struction of the receiving jar or basin, to prevent the effects of AND ANGLING SONGS. 313 violent agitation ; also to increase the supply of water, and intro- duce, if necessary, ice, as a cooling medium, into the cistern from which that supply is drawn. THE JOLLY ANGLER. Below a shady hazel-tree An angler trimm'd his flies, Singing, hey derry ! trout that are merry No longer — no longer are wise ! Of dapper make and ruddy hue, 'Twas a jolly blade, I ween, With his hey derry — fresh from the ferry, Over the meadow so green. III. Right gladsomely he eyed the stream. And shook his wand anon. With a hey derry — brown as a berry, The wandering waters run. IV. Oh ! well I wot that ruddy blade Is one of our hearty band. With his hey derry — trout that are merry Swim to the angler's hand. Derry hey deny — Trout that are merry Swim to the angler's hand. 314 AN angler's RAMBLES THE TRANSPLANTATION OF FRESH-WATEE FISHES. Contmued. The perch is one of our fresh-water iishes which admits of being readily transplanted and made abundant. Its culture, however, as an article of food, or as a subject of sport, has not hitherto, in this country, received the attention it deserves. In the latter respect, certainly, its pretensions are not to be classed with those of the trout, but they are not altogether inadmissible. There is diversion, after its kind, in watching for the dip of one's float, near the edge of a lake or pool, in which you have reason to know that the fish in question are tolerably plentiful, and of a size, in the long-run, worth capturing, — diversion, sufficient at least, to content and even excite thousands among the Waltonian order of anglers ; nay, to work upon the fancy, now and then, of the experienced slaughterer of trout and salmon. I admit, for my own part, under these circumstances, that I take special plea- sure in a few hours' perch-fishing. The variety itself is most acceptable ; and many a time would I gladly exchange, on that score alone, a promising forenoon's sport on Tweed or Teviot for a quiet fling in Yetholm or Fasten Loch, two well-known pre- serves situated at the foot of the Cheviots, the nearer of them being within an hour's drive of Kelso. Indeed, notwithstanding the clamour against bait-fishing raised in certain quarters, I feel inclined to hold the opinion that diver- sity in one's sport gives a sustaining relish to every individual branch of it ; and that an occasional indulgence, by way, as it were, of interlude, in the tamer and ruder, adds to the enjoyment of the more exciting and refined department. I have frequently also, among rod-fishers of my acquaintance, adepts in trout and salmon-slaying, noticed, that however much at starting they may affect, in the way of comparison, to despise the amusement of perch-fishing, they will quickly enter into the spirit of it, as a AND ANGLING SONGS. 315 diversion, when the game is fairly set a-going, and evince by their keennesb that, in the sudden dive of the float and the leisurely sailing out of the line, under conduct now and then of a two-pound fish, they experience a fair measure of satisfaction. As an article of food the flesh of the perch is in good esteem — very superior to that of the carp, the tench, the bream, and the chub, and is held preferable by many to the flesh of the common trout. When in season, its firmness and curdy white- ness rival the same qualities as they are displayed in some of our most highly-prized salt-water fishes — the sole, for instance, and the red gurnard. One of the drawbacks to its more frequent appearance at the table, results from the supposed necessity, before cooking it, of removing the tough coat of scales and spinous flns with which, for defensive purposes, it is accoutred, — ' an operation, no doubt, which, when performed on a number of small-sized perch, involves a great deal of trouble. In the cook- ing of perch, however, be it known that the flaying operation is against aU rule, and contrary to the practice of the experienced cook, whose aim it is, or ought to be, to keep intact the flavour of the fish, and preserve to it its juices and commendable pro- perties. On Lentrathan Loch, and other famed perch-yielding expanses, it is considered barbarous to subject this fish to any other process, before brandering, than that of simply wiping it. Were proper attention paid to the culture of the perch, in the way of an endeavour to improve its size, a step would be gained towards its being more generally appreciated as an article of diet, if not as a delicacy. With a great many of our landed proprie- tors who rigidly preserve the aqueous portions of their domains, a notion prevails that by such a system of conservation they help, not only to augment the numbers, but also to improve the size and condition of the finny stock. They may succeed, I allow, in effecting one of these two objects ; but should they do so, it is at the cost, proportionally incurred, of the other : the increase 3i6 AN angler's rambles in size and quality in most instances giving way before the increase in numbers. This effect of injudicious conservation I have seen exemplified over and over again. It has been com- mented on before me more than once by the parties most inter- ested, but always under the impression on their part that the deterioration in question proceeded either from some undis- covered cause, or from an infringement of the system they were acting on, whereas the mischief complained of arose from the system itself, and nothing else. In the transportation of live perch from one pond to another, the same plan which I have recommended to be used with tench may be safely adopted. It will be found attended with a great deal less trouble and hazard than that of carrying the fish in a barrel or pitcher. Even barrel-bulk, without a change of water, or the assistance of an air-restorer, will hardly suffice, at a tem- perature of 45° Fah., to convey three brace of perch, averaging half a pound, a ten hours' journey; whereas a wicker-work basket, occupying much less room, and, along with its contents, not one-sixth the weight, in which moistened grass has been placed, may, under proper management, be used as a safe medium in the transmission of double that number. MUSINGS. I. Welcome svi^eet southern showers ! Welcome ye early flowers Woo'd by the bee ! Ever gentle and bland, To all wights of the wand, Welcome are ye ! II. Oft at the wintry fire, Nursing our heajrt's desire, AND ANGLING SONGS. 317 Fondly we dream Of joy in the breeze — Singing-birds in the trees — Flowers by the stream. III. Often our fancy brings Pictures of sunny things Home to our hearth ; And we seem as we stray'd Amid sunshine and shade — Music and mirth ! IV. Then with unconscious hand Grasp we the idle wand, Full of the boy, When to our sad surprise Swiftly the vision flies, Summer and Joy ! THE TRANSPLANTATION OF FEESH-WATER FISHES. Gontinuedj, The transportation of one and all of the different species of the Salmonidce has, as far as experience goes, been attended with difficulty. In conducting it there is required the greatest care, both in the regulation of the temperature of the water and in the keeping up of a proper supply of oxygen — an element which the respiratory organs of the fish in question consume with some rapidity. The secret of success in transporting trout from one place to another, consists in employing as a medium the coldest and purest water that can be procured, and in giving plenty of accommodation in the vessel made use of to the subjects in 3l8 AN angler's RAMBLES transitu. In water at or below a temperature of 40 degrees, grayling, trout, or parrs under six inches in length will survive a journey of three or four hours' continuance without exhibiting any marked symptoms of distress. With trout of much larger dimensions it is hazardous to deal in the way of transmission, without the aid of a force-pump or other apparatus, through means of which the consumption of oxygen in the water may become remedied. In addition to the oxygenizing, a refrigerative process might, I think, be introduced with happy effect, in the transfer of the Salmonidas. An external application of ice to the vessel employed would be preferable, there can be no question, to an infusion or occasional admixture of the frozen element, which, as is well known, is incapable, however much it may serve to lower the temperature of the aqueous medium, of giving forth the sustentative principle, in shape of oxygen. The conversion of water into ice by the abstraction of the air, an experiment which every one has seen performed, is sufficiently elucidatory on this point. THE KING O' THE CAULD. Ow^ER at the cauld-foot, There bides an auld troot, No mony there be that are wiser ; It baffles a' skill To tether his gill, An' gi'e the sly boy a surpriser. He 's thick an' he 's braid, Wi' sprecks lik a taed. An' spangles o' ilka dimension ; AND ANGLING SONGS. 319 Mirk spangles an' reid, Frae his tail to his heid, In number ayont comprehension. III. Sic a swasher, I ween, Is rare to be seen, An' no to be grippit wi' thinkin' ; It gars ilka chiel Lay his loof on his reel, An' sets e'en the wisest a-blinkin'. IV. Auld Purdie cam' doon Ae braw afternoon, (Ilk angler tak's wale o' his weather,) Quoth he, 'I'll sune bring The rogue to the -spring. An' teach him the taste o' a feather !' V. Sae e'en he set till't. Like ane muckle skill 't. But faith ! let the braggin' come last o't ; Frae the mirk to the dawin'. In spite o' his crawin', He ne'er could mak' out the richt cast o't. VI. There was Foster and Kerss, An' a chiel frae the Merse Wad set a' the water a-seethin' ; Watty Grieve an' Jock Hay Cam' ower the way, Wi' Scougal o' fair Innerleithen. 320 AN angler's RAMBLES The mair were the han's, The rifer the wan's, Our king o' the cauld grew the braver ; He bobbit aboot Wi' his wonderfu' snoot, An' cockit his tail out o' favour. VIII. But cast as they micht, To the left or the richt, Wi' mennin, flee, crayper, or rawin' ; No a rug wud he gi'e, For weel ettled he O' the gear whilk the wind was a-blawin'. IX. Come, anglers, come a', Baith meikle and sma', Tak' yer fling at the cunnin' auld reiver ; For aught that ye ken, Mither Fortune may len' Gude speed to yer wan's, an' ye deive her. THE EFFECTS OF TRiNSPLAiJTING TROUT. An error prevails, and is encouraged by some writers ou fish- culture, viz., that in plenishing a stream, late, or pond with fresh-water trout, it is of great importance, in order to secure a superior quality of fish, to levy the supplies from a well-reputed stock, such, for instance, as that of Loch Leven. The mistake consists chiefly in overlooking the qualification of the stream or AND ANGLING SONGS. " 32 1 lake intended to be stocked or replenislied for sustaining, up to the required mark, tlie breed in question, whether in the shape of fry or in a more adult form. To test and ascertain this fit- ness, before committing one's-self to the experiment, will save, in most oases, both trouble and expense. The stocking of arti- ficial ponds with the Loch Leven breed has frequently been undertaken, indeed it is an experiment of old date, but in no one instance that I am acquainted with has it fulfilled what I am entitled to suppose were the anticipations of those interested in the results, whereas, in the case of other well-known artificial ponds or reservoirs, with which no pains in the way of stocking them from extraneous sources had been taken, the result has been a very superior caste, both as regards size and quality, of fresh-water trout, the origin of which may be traced simply to the rill or brook acting the part of main feeder to the reservoir. What I maintain is this, that, in rearing a trout stock, its antecedents are of secondary consideration"; that the accommo- dation given, in the shape of feeding-grounds, shelter, etc., is of primary importance ; that, in default of such auxiliaries, the best reputed breeds will quickly become deteriorated, and aided by them, mere starvelings, those freckled pigmies which in their native rills were never known to exceed in length six or seven inches, will attain large dimensions, and acquire in a very brief space of time that curdiness, richness of flavour, and fine internal colour which characterizes, when in condition, our best trout. SEA-FISHING. Sea-pishing with the line and hook is greatly dependent, for its character as an amusement, upon fine weather, and the mode X 322 AN angler's rambles in which it is pursued. Some of the fish on our Scottish coasts are of a much more sportive nature than others. Among these, the one of which there is the greatest abundance holds a prior claim upon our notice, — I mean the pollack. This fish, which, although its appearance is in its favour, f<)r it has a symmetrical build, and both fore and aft is well-shaped and proportioned, engages little attention from the British public in an edible point of view. As an article of food, in many of the places where it is caught, it is no doubt used extensively, but it is rarely brought to market under any one of its numerous designa- tions. That species or variety, however, named the lythe, in its adult stage is by no means bad eating. It excels, in my esti- mation, the mackerel and the rock-cod, particularly in respect to firmness, — a quality which, I am quite aware, London epicures hold in disregard ; so also do those habit and repute fush-eaters, the Shetlanders, who give preference to this, their usual diet, when it has arrived at a state bordering on decomposition. Such a perverted taste cultivated at the extremes of the island is happily not universal. It does not prevail, as yet at least, in respect to the king of fishes, in such royal landing-places as Newburgh, Speymouth, and Berwick-on-Tweed, where, without a certain amount of curdiness and consistency, fish-flesh is held in utter disrelish, the cooking and flavouring of it with rich sauces being looked upon as a direct interference with its flavour and wholesome properties. The pollack of our coasts admits of at least two distinct species, the saithe or coal-fish (Merlangus carbonarius), and the whiting-pollack, or lythe. These, in their early stages, are called indiscriminately podlies, dargies, cuddies, and sillocks. There is scarcely a rock or harbour connected with our shores round which they are not established in various depths of water, ac- cording to their size and the season of the year. The largest are usuajly found in tangle -covert, at a depth varying from two AND ANGLING SONGS. 323 to four or five fathoms, off the points or headlands, the smaller ones edging in with the flow of the tide among the creeks and baylets. They may be taken either from the rocks or from a boat, when the sea is not too rough, at almost every stage of the tide ; but their favourite feeding-time commences about an hour and a half after its turn, whether at flow or ebb (tha former period being the preferable), and extends over two or three hours. The neap-tides are also more advantageous than the spring or stream tides 'for fishing in, the currents being less violent. In the latter end of August, and throughout September, after the herrings have spawned, and the fry begin to make their appearance, immense numbers both of saithe and lythe are occasionally to be met with pressing shor^wards in pursuit of the young fish. In the month of August 1843, I was sojourning with my family at Eyemouth, on the coast of Berwickshire, when an occurrence of the above description took place. I happened to be walking on the sheltered piece of beach belonging to the little bay or cove on the north side of the harbour, when my attention became directed, the water being smooth, to the feurface- breakings of numerous fish close to the promontory called the Port, a spot where Cromwell and his troops are said to have encamped. On approaching the water's edge I found it actually fringed with herring-fry, thousands upon thousands of the length of one's finger thronging in, in solid masses, towards a corner of the bay. So plentiful were they that they could be taken up in ' neivefu's ; ' and the filling by my children of a large pitcher with the primest of them did not occupy five minutes. There could be no mistake as to the cause of this hurry-skurry and disastrous confusion, or as to the sort of fish in pursuit of the infant shoal. The opportunity thus offering itself for an. on- slaught was not to be neglected. I had plenty at hand of the right sort of tackle, and having engaged a boat and the assist- 324 AN angler's rambles ance of a man and lad to manage it, in the course of half an hour I was busy at work among the marauders. The tackle usually employed by me, I may here mention, con- sists of a set of tinned hooks (which not only show better, but take on the rust less speedily than the ordinary steeled wires) corresponding in size to Nos. 14, 15, and 16 Adlington, and tied on triple or strong single gut. The rejected threads of a salmon-hank are reserved by me for this or a similar purpose. Several slips of white feather, two inches, or two inches and a half in length, from the quill of a goose or swan, are fastened to the shank-end of each hook ; nor is it a bad plan to attach these again by a turn of white thread to the bend of the wire, or im- mediately above it. Linen-thread is commonly made use of for this purpose. The body of the lythe-fly, when mackerel are reported to be off the coast, is sometimes made of crimson or orange-coloured wool, laced with tinsel. I prefer it plain white, but have no objection to its being wound over with silver-twist, or, what is still better, a, thin stripe of skin taken from the beUy of the gurnard. This skin is remarkable for its lustrous purity and toughness. It is frequently made use of as a lure, inde- pendent of feather, and might be employed with advantage in the fabrication of the artificial minnow for trout-fishing. The simplest, and not the least deadly way of using it, is to cut it with the penknife or a pair of scissors into the shape of a small fish, the size and figure of which find their best representative in the old-fashioned mother-of-pearl card-counter. In baiting, thrust the tinned-hook through at the eye-point, allowing the piece of skin to dangle from the bend. Another method is to insert the hook about two-thirds of the way down, and tie up the skin at its shank- end. In fishing with the lythe fly, although the hand-line will gene- rally answer the purpose, it may be found more convenient, especially in shoal water where rocks and tangles abound, to AND ANGLING SONGS. 325 employ a stiff tie-rod, twelve feet or so in length, made of well- seasoned ash. A salmon reel, provided with seventy or eighty yards of stout oiled cord, will in this case be required, and a couple of swivels, one attached immediately above the plumb, and the other below it, about three yards' distance from the hook, are next thing to indispensable. The rings on the rod, whether fixed or movable, should be large and strong. In plumbing the line, weights, varying from two ounces up to a pound, are re- quired. In mackerel-fishing, with the running hand-line, under a stiffish breeze, it will often be found necessary to increase the plumbing to six, eight, or even ten pounds. In order to keep the line from kinking, and give play to the lure or fly, it will be found expedient, besides employing a brass swivel at the head of the traces, to make use of a pin or wedge of ash, hickory, or whalebone, in length about ten inches, and as thick nearly as one's little finger. This should be used, either inserted into the plummet or sinker, so as to project from it six or seven inches, or made fast to the main line immediately above it, the traces, or foot-line, being secured to it by a succession of hitch-knots. On the occasion I refer to, no plumbing to talk of was neces- sary, the pursuing body, which comprised saithe, lythe, and large podlies, having, under unusual circumstances, been tempted away from their ordinary beats into shoal water. The mere coil- tact of the hook with the surface, in fact, brought the fish up to the scratch. No sooner had the boat cleared the sandy part of the bay, and approached the rocks, than the sport commenced. I had provided myself with an old triple gut casting-line used for salmon-fishing, attaching to it, by way of a bob and trailer, two lythe flies. From this arrangement no disadvantage accrued, so long as the bottom was comparatively free of sea-weed, and I had the mere stragglers to deal with ; but in rowing in where the fish showed thickest, and the tangles below lay dense, the snapping of my line, through the agency of a brace of lythe. 326 AN angler's rambles which simultaneously seized the hooks and rushed off in different directions, convinced me that the safer and speedier way of carrying on would be with the single fly. This casualty oc- curred after the capture of exactly a score of fish. My line being repaired, however, I soon began to lose all idea of committing to figures the exact amount of the afternoon's slaughter. For the space of nearly four hours, it was a continuous and uncere- monious dragging in of pollacks, large and middle-sized. Among the large ones, several exceeded in weight seven or eight pounds. A much greater number ranked betwixt five and two pounds ; whereas the smallest astir on that memorable occasion exceeded in size the usual run of the podley tribe in that neighbourhood, one which much exceeds that of the podlies in the Firth of Forth. Some estimate of the quantity caught on that afternoon's fishing may be formed from the circumstance that, on entering Eye- mouth harbour, at dusk, nine hampers or creels of fish, each creel requiring two persons to carry it, were conveyed ashore. Of these a proportion, numbering nearly a hundred, was taken, by means of a short hand-line, by my eldest son, then a boy of ten years old. In the same year, about the end of July, I caught, with the herring-jiggers, as they are called, two large specimens of the coal-fish, weighing severally upwards of twenty pounds. Her- ring jigging, or jiggering, is a method of catching that invaluable fish not generally known. It is carried on off the Berwickshire coast, at the commencement of the season, before the fish incline to come near the surface, and within scope of the nets. The herrings taken by this expedient are among the best, in point of condition, caught off the east coast of Scotland. The jigger may be described as a ladder, supported, in the shape of strong cord-line, by a central stay, the cross-bars or steps of which are formed of pieces of whalebone twenty inches in length, and in thfbkness corresponding to the ribs of an AND ANGLING SONGS. 327 umbrella, out of which, when in a wrecked state, they are usually constructed. From these, which are arranged five or six inches apart along the mainstay, are made to project, busked with white waxed thread upon hog's bristles, five inches in length, small tinned hooks. The series of cross bars may be extended to twelve, in which case twenty-four hooks will be required. It is chifefly in the tinning and size of the wire used, calling forth, as these unquestionably do, the resemblance of some small fish or sea-insect newly started into existence, that the attractive power lies ; and although naturalists of repute have expressed their belief that the food of the herring consists of very minute animalcule, I am satisfied, for my part, of the inclination of this fish to prey upon larger objects when pre- senting themselves. The tinned hook they probably mistake for some small fish, and seize it greedily, under the circum- stances above-mentioned. Jiggering for herring is usually carried on at a depth of water varying from eight to twenty fathoms. It is only during calm weather, for an hour or two before sunset, or at sunrise, that it can be pursued with success. A curious circumstance, which bears to some extent on the natural history of the herring, was urged upon my attention while amusing myself with the jiggers off Eyemouth. The boat, of which I formed one of the party, had hit upon a shoal of fine herrings, and we had just commenced hauling them in by threes and fours, when suddenly, rounding St. Abb's Head, hove in sight one of the large steamers which ply betwixt Grranton and Lon- don. Although the vessel itself was at the distance • of several miles, the tremor communicated by it had its instantaneous effect upon the fish, which, in ten or twelve fathoms' water, had risen in a body at least one-third of that depth from the bottom. The whole shoal sank immediately, and refused to bite. This, the fishermen who were with me declared, is the invariable effect 328 AN angler's rambles produced by the approach or passing by of a large steamer. The question arises, may not some of the other fishes on our coast be affected in a corresponding manner by steam naviga- tion ? Many of the rivers in the United States, which, it is well known, swarmed formerly with salmon, are now destitute of them altogether ; and I was recently told by a gentleman from New York, that the introduction and increase of steam navigation are confidently placed to account for their disappearance. If this be the case, it is high time to determine the amount of injury in- flicted on our salmon rivers, the Tay and Tweed in particular, by the laying on at their mouths of steam passage-boats, I do not speak of tugs, which have becomea necessity, but of those vessels, which at all states of the tide, every half-hour or oftener, plough across the direct course of the salmon, and communicate their tremulous movements to a large and im- portant portion of the estuary. OUT OF THE GALLERY OF MEMORY. I SIT by the river and weep a farewell, My musings have grown to regrets, As I gaze on the tranquil stream leaving the dell. And the fishermen shooting their nets. Roll back on the memory summers of joy. And the shadowy sands of the Past, Discover the wandering tracks of the boy Uninjured by billow or blast. AND ANGLING SONGS. 329 III. Ah ! each feat and each frohc — the pastimes of old, They seem as if left for me yet ; While a-near on the indolent pool I behold The fisherman shooting his net. ■ But see ! how the silvery salmon springs Exultant under the shade ; And the trout is rearing its wily rings Before me, all unafraid. Why grasp at the wand 1 what matters it now That they range unalarm'd to my feet, And alway, as the alder-fly drops from the bough, Their wandering circles repeat ? Despoil'd of the sorrowless scenes of my youth, I may toil my past loves to forget ; But Mem'ry will keep 'mid her portraits of Truth, The fisherman shooting his netj The herring jigger should be plumbed in the same way as the hand-line ordinarily made use of, having a cross-bar of stout iron wire or whalebone, from the centre of which the lead is sus- pended by a piece of cord two or three feet in length. By the fishermen on some parts of the Fife coast the cross-bar in hand- line fishing is considered inconvenient ; one hook only is em- ployed, and the plummet attached a short way above the snood or tippet. On reaching the presumed herring-ground, the boat having 330 AN angler's rambles swung to anchor, the jiggers are lowered without delay, and on the lead touching the bottom, are slowly and cautiously drawn up towards the surface. This is done for the purpose of ascer- taining the presence of fish, and also of determining the exact depth of water at which they have taken up their position. Should the herrings be present in any quantity, the jigger, in its pro- gress through the shoal, will indicate their whereabouts, in respect to depth, by the occurrence of a slight nibbling sensation, which communicates itself to the hand, and is intelligible to all anglers. When this sensation becomes evident, a knot should be made in the hand-line, which shall serve as a regulator when the apparatus is re-lowered, and conduct without loss of time to the feeding- ground. Having tied your knot, the operation of a few seconds, move the line gently up and down with the hand. You will thus attract the fish, and multiply your chances of a good haul. You then up with your jigger, which, if fortunate, you will find graced with a double row of sparkling herrings, as many sometimes as eight or nine at a lift ; seldom, if you have hit upon fair fishing- ground, fewer than three or four. These you get quit of by a shake of the apparatus, when they will fall to the bottom of the boat, and shortly expire. No time should be lost in re-commit- ting the jigger to the water, and allowing the line to run freely off through your hand, as far as the check-knot. You cannot, in fact, do so too quickly, unless you are in quest of saithe or dog- fish. For the first quarter of an hour or thereabouts, it is seldom that any interruption will occur from these intruders, and ofie accordingly ought to make the most of it. The crowding of the herrings towards the jiggers, and the glittering of the fish strug- gling on the tinned hooks, rarely however fail to attract them, and that usually at the moment when the sport has become ex- citing, and you have begun to congratulate yourself on the pro- spect of its continuance. AND ANGLING SONGS. 33I Under such circumstances it was, the jiggers working merrily, that the large saithe referred to were taken ; the more common and less acceptable assailants are dog-fish. On the, occasion of these saithe being entangled on the jigger-hooks, the advice I received from the fishermen was to employ main force, and take my chance of sacrificing both fish and tackle to the exigency of the moment. Neither the one nor the other was of much con- sideration ; but I had no notion of parting with them so uncere- moniously ; and as there was plenty of spare line, I tried the experiment, in both cases, of allowing the fish a little of their own way, the bottom being clear of tangles. I had armed the hooks on my jigger with stout pieces of salmon-gut, instead of bristles, so that I could keep a pretty tight rein on the movements of the saithe. After a few strong pushes, like those of a kelted salmon in dead water, I succeeded in bringing them to the top, within reach of the gaif-hook. The chief nuisance, in the shape of predatory fish, met with on the east coast of Scotland, is the picked dog-fish (Oaleus acan- thias sive spinax). It is impossible to estimate the enormous amount of damage done annually, both by it and the coal-fish, to our herring and salmon fishings. All the mischief proceeding from seals and porpoises is a mere trifle in comparison. The instincts of the coal-fish lead them to watch for the descent of the smolts at the mouths of our rivers, into the estuaries of which they press in great numbers, the dog-sharks carrying on their depredations further out to sea. To the ravages committed by the black pollacks, the fishermen at Tweedmouth can bear tes- timony, as scarcely a day passes during the smolt season in which they fail to secure quantities of them. The examination of a single specimen on these occasions will often excite surprise ; four or five smolts undergoing the digestive operation, being fre- quently abstracted from a podley not two pounds in weight. It would dishearten as well as astonish our friends at Stormontfield, 332 AN angler's rambles were they to be made acquainted in full with, the hazards run by their petted pondlings, at their entrance into the sea-world. As to the mischief wrought by the dog-fish, it chiefly discovers itself in their attacks upon the haddock-lines and herring-nets ; but there can be little doubt, judging from the position of their encampments on our coast-line, that, in their turn, the migratory fry of our rivers engage their attention to a large extent. I may be wrong, but the impression holds with me that the fishermen of our coasts don't exercise much judgment in their dealings with this fish, and take little pains either of one sort or another to keep it under. The occasion which led to this impression is cer- tainly not very recent ; but I am tempted to relate it, as it bears upon an expedient which, I think, if adopted, might assist to keep in check the increase of this marauder. I happened to be out all night with the herring-fleet belonging to Eyemouth, and having no idea of being a mere spectator of its operations, had provided myself with a stout hand-line, in the prospect of hauling up a few cod or skate during the intervals set apart for the drift- ing of the net. A more inviting evening could scarcely have been selected. The sea itself was in such phosphorescent state, so full of living splendour, that no poetical description I ever happened on could do justice to it. Our progress to the fishing- ground, which lay five or six miles from the coast, was managed under sail, with the exception of a mile or two at start ; but it was ploughing through silver the whole course. On arriving at the spot, after the nets were dropped, and the drift-rope connecting them made fast to the bow of the boat, my hand-line was brought into requisition, temptingly set off with morsels of fresh-herring— a more acceptable bait than the sand- launce, the lug-worm, or even the mussel, to large fish. The hooks made use of were busked on black horse-hair snoods, loosely twisted, and of considerable strength. A cross-bar of iron wire, with plummet appended, assisted to separate and steady them AND ANGLING SONGS. 333 when lowered. Scarcely had the hooks touched the bottom when I felt a bite, and tugging smartly, was fast in a fish, which I was in hopes might turn out to be a cod or ling. Under this expectation I bent over the edge of the boat while hauling up line, in order to get a view of my prize, the calm and phospho- rescent state of the sea enabling me to discover objects in agita- tion at a great depth. The suspicion that I had got hold of a dog-fish had just come across me, when suddenly, without any extra strain having been put upon it, my line became lightened of its burden. The snood, in fact, immediately above the hoot, had been bitten through. The same thing happened three or four times in succession, on the tackle being renewed. I could not, of course, ^knowing what I had to deal with, have expected otherwise ; but I was unwilling to quit the hope of falling in with more valuable booty. The fishermen, however, gave me no encouragement to persevere, and evidently looked upon my pro- ceedings as a heedless wEtste of tackle. I was on the point at length of submitting to their views, when it occurred to me, in- stead of large tinned hooks tied on horse-hair snoods, to make use of a couple of the double gorge-hooks employed in catching pike, several of which, fitted up with twisted brass wire, I happened to have along with me. The idea was an excellent one, and being acted on led to the capture, in a short space of time, of nearly a score of these petty sharks. What helped to impress the cir- (;^mstance on my memory was the attention excited by it among the boat's crew, to^whom the gorge-hook was a novelty, and who apparently were delighted in seeing the dogs dealt with in such a summary manner. The office- of extracting the hooks they took upon them with great gusto, and I must say that in this part of the business I had little inclination to give a helping hand. Arising from what took place, it may be asked, Might not something be done, through change of tackle, to obviate the loss 334 AN angler's rambles which in that material alone is annually incurred by the use of the horse-hair imp or tippet, as the snood is termed in Scotland, say, through the substitution of gimp or prepared wire ? Being viviparous, the hoe or dog-fish cannot be set down as a prolific breeder, but it is gregarious in its habits, and the numbers which for predatory purposes occasionally assemble off our British shores are astonishing. There appears on some parts of the coast a strong prejudice against the flesh of the dog-fish as an article of food. In others it is made use of chiefly in a dried or salted state. I have tasted it, not as treated by the fisher- men, but fresh, and found it quite palatable, more so than that of the wolf-fish or sea-cat, which was served at table on the same occasion, and by some pronounced excellent meat, notr- withstanding the forbidding and ferocious appearance of the animal. In many of the small harbours appertaining to the fishing vil- lages on our coasts, the wasteful, disgusting, and unhealthy practice prevails, in clearing the herring-nets, of throwing the dogs and diseased fish overboard among the moorings, and allow- ing them to float to and fro in the tideway, and accumulate on the beach in large quantities, vitiating both air and water. I have noticed this particularly of late years in connexion with Eyemouth and Holy Island, and it excites my surprise that such a practice should receive no attention from the Fishery Board, or fail to be dealt with by this or other commission. Looking upon them in an economical point of view, these fish, if regularly collected and stowed away in an appropriate depot, could readily be converted into valuable manure, and be made, with little trouble, a source of increased revenue to the fishermen themselves as a community. AND ANGLING SONGS. 335 / A CRUEL DRINKING-SONG. I. Death ! death to the bald-heads — no quarter ! The rogues, they shall taste of our steel ; We '11 give each a turn of the torture, And lay him agape in the creel. Drink death to the bald-heads ! Why spare them To revel in plunder and gore 1 Forbearance to plead, we can dare them, So replenish the goblet once more. III. Our wands to good fortune they guide us. Meanwhile bear the cup to the mouth ; Let the break of grey twilight decide us. And winds wand'ring soft from the south. IV. We anglers should quaff and be jolly. Ere the time to be doing draws nigh, Short season will sleep away folly. And we '11 up with the lark by and by. V. Drink death to the bald-heads — no qiiarter ! Why spare the sly rogues of the brook 1 We '11 give each a turn of the torture — Drink success to 'the wand and the hook ! 336' AN angler's rambles SEA-FISHING. Concluded. The coast of Fife, compared with a large stretch of our sea- margins, is, generally speaking, with respect to scenery, of an unpretending character. There are some points belonging to it, however, which are far from being destitute of sublimity ; no- thing, I admit, like what is possessed of this feature by many of our grand old headlands, such as St. Abb's or the BuUers of Buchan, or the Stacks of Duncansbay, or those massive break- ' waters extending down from Cape Wrath to the Solway, which stem the storms of the Atlantic. Still the term ' sublime ' may very appropriately be applied to them, even in their usual bear- ing. Of those coast-line attractions, one or two of the more prominent adjoin the small town called the Earl's-Ferry, near which I engaged some years ago summer quarters, and took a humble part in the crusade ever carrying on betwixt pole and pole against the subjects of the briny sea-god. In particular, there is a huge wall of rock, nearly two hundred feet in height, Kincraig by name, lying about a mile to the westward, perforated with caves, one of which, accessible at low water, tradition re- ports to have been occupied by Macduff, Thane of Fife, as a place of concealment from the vengeance of the usurper ^Macbeth. The entrance to this retreat presents an imposing appearance. On the cliff above, the eye may detect a falcon's nest securely situated in a fissure of the crag. I observed its tenant one evening in the act of making a successful stoop on what appeared to be a young rabbit. The cave itself, in its present state, being choked up with fragments of rock and masonry, is of no- great depth. There are other two natural excavations not far from it, one of which, quaintly termed the Deil's Lug, promises to be a subject of more lengthened investigation ; but it can only be explored at the risk of a broken neck. Sea-caverns of the same AND ANGLING SONGS. 337 description abound on the Fife coast. They are nearly all con- nected with historical traditions. One near Wemyss, termed the King's Cave, was the scene of an adventure met with by James iv. Another, of considerable amplitude, and chiselled over with rude hieroglyphics, is said to have been used as a temporary place of encampment for his army by one of our earlier Scottish kings. Robbers, smugglers, the Danes and other Northmen, in their invasions, are all mixed up with the history of these subterraneous recesses. I recollect, when a boy, being incited, by some relation of the defeat of a Danish force by Banquo, one of Macbeth's comrades-in-arms, a.d. 1040, to dig in the sand, not far from a choked-up hollow belonging to the series, at a spot supposed to have been a centre- point in the struggle, and turning up, along with human bones, pieces of metal, which T had reason to conjecture wpre the remains of armour or iron harness belonging to the discomfited invaders. Another of these caves, lying to the eastward of Kinghorn, is associated in my personal recollections with the death of a seal, which, when wandering in quest of sea-fowl, I came suddenly upon, basking at full spread on the rocks at low-tide. I was armed on the occasion with an old musket, the contents of which were unceremoniously discharged at the head of the poor animal before it was actually aware of my presence. Reverting to the sea-caves at Kincraig, it was almost imme- diately facing them, and stretching west towards a bay famed equally in song and in story, that I prosecuted my summer's sport. Who is there among the lovers of Scottish song but has listened with delight to that winning melody, ' Weel may the Boatie row,' and treasures up those simple words — ' We cast our lines in Largo Bay, An' fishes we caught nine ; There 's three to fry, and three to hoil, An' three to bait the line.' 338 AN angler's rambles And who in the wide world has not heard of Alexander Selkirk ? A rough commonplace vagabond he is said to have been, but the prototype, nevertheless, of ' Eobinson Crusoe' in Defoe's admirable fiction. In the ileighbourhood of my fishing-ground. Largo Bay, and Largo, the birthplace of this hero, formed part and parcel of the objects of interest within view. Away from them are to be seen, in varjdng distinctness, the Bass Rock — famous as. a State prison in olden days, and famed still as the headquarters of the solan goose, — North Berwick Law, and, occupying a prominent place at the mouth of the Firth, the Isle of May. To the west, in the landscape, the Lomonds of Fife lift up their heads, leading the thoughts of the angler across from the sea-depths to Leven Loch, contiguous to which, in the north-west, their base extends. Associations such as these, romantic, songful, and historical, with the surrounding scenery, have a powerful effect in rendering sea-fishing an agreeable sport. I have but yaguely hinted at a small portion of them, for Fifeshire, in its coast-line particularly, with its numerous castles, battle-fields, religious edifices, abbeys, cathedrals, palaces, and royal as well as baronial burghs, is rich in great memorials. Without some tie to terra firma, the amuse- ment, generally speaking, soon flags. The heart for it requires to be kept up by auxiliary objects, which, in the case of river and lake-fishing, as we all know, are seldom wanting. It is true that the sea itself will now and then present phenomena suffi- ciently attractive to give zest to the fisher's occupation. But such phenomena are rare, or appreciable only by the few, and cannot, as enhancing sport, be put into competition with coast- scenery in the combination spoken of. In the year reverted to, the kindness of a gentleman in the neighbourhood placed at my service a nice little pinnace, which I made use of more or less daily for about three weeks, generally in the afternoon and evening. Being a light craft, a couple of AND ANGLIl^G SONGS. 339 stout boys could manage her with ease, so far as rowing went, and it was more convenient, as well as safer, in lythe-flshing close to the rocks, to make use of the oars. Had the presence of mackerel in the Firth been ascertained, it would have invited to a more open range of water, and called the latter into re- quisition. Our afternoon fishing parties occasionally brought three rods into play, but we found two a more convenient num- ber, especially under sail, when it was necessary to tack about every five minutes and haul in line. The lythes, which were far from numerous, were fallen in with on marked ground, off the headlands, — rarely among the coves or small bays. In the latter, however, we found the black pollack, rock-cod, and gur- nards, the last-mentioned fish in great, almost troublesome abundance. We also secured some fair specimens, ranging from four up to six pounds, of the keeling or common cod-fish. To take cod with the lythe-fly or white feather, it is necessary to keep the hook well sunk, and slacken the pace of the boat. A lug-worm run up over the wire will be found to act as a strong incentive, and insure, in case the fish should miss its aim, a re- newal of the attack. The gurnards taken were mostly of the grey species {Trigla gurnardus), but off Elieness, while cruising for mackerel about a couple of miles from the shore, I hit upon some fine specimens of the rocket or red gurnard (Trigla cuculus). What draws the attention of the captor on his first acquaintance with the gurnard, is the singular faculty this fish appears to pos- sess, of emitting sounds when expiring. These, which proceed from the escape of the air or gases in its singularly formed swim- ming-bladders, have been compared to the note of the cuckoo, hence the term cuculus applied to one of the species ; but they are better described in the general designation gurnard, the ven- triloquial sounds emitted more resembling repetitions of the monosyllable gurr. In many parts of Scotland this fish is called 340 AN angler's rambles a crooner, the verb ' to croon' signifying to utter a low plaint or singing sound, expressive of grief or dole. The irritability of the gurnard also attracts notice, forming, as it does, a marked contrast with the conduct of most fishes when captured. It is in the habit, on finding itself transferred to the boat, of erecting im- posingly and menacingly its spiked fins, apparently conscious that its power of ofi"ence and causing apprehension lies solely in this manoeuvre ; nor are the prickles with which it is furnished, its operculum as well as dorsal ridge being pointed off with these weapons, to be treated, in their wounding capacity, as simple needle-thrusts. Poison lurks in them to an extent su£Elcient to induce dangerous inflammation, and the precaution of gloving, or otherwise shielding the hand, should always be taken. The flesh of the gurnard is really excellent, and resembles that of the perch, one of the best of our fresh-water fishes. Neither of them, however, is in favour with the cook, as the flaying of them causes trouble, and is accompanied with some risk. When fishing with the lythe-fly off the Kincraig rocks, I noticed, on more than one of the small cod taken by me, clinging to the exterior, on different parts of the head and body, the veri- table Monoculus piscinus, which, as a parasite, is generally thought to be peculiar to the salmon, and supposed by some fishermen to form such a source of annoyance to that fish as to account for the appearance in our rivers of the spring ' schule.' As to the identity of the insect observed by me with the salmon- tormentor or sea-louse, I could entertain no doubt ; but having failed to discover it on the pollack or gurnard, the only deduction I feel inclined to draw from its appearance on the Morrhua vul- garis is with respect to the marine habitat of the salmon, viz., that it corresponds with the anchorage-ground taken up off our coasts by the common cod or keeling. A good boat, properly manned, and fine weather, are indis- pensable in order to enjoy sea-fishing. The gratification also AND ANGLING SONGS. 34I derived from its pursuit as a sport, is, as I have already said, greatly dependent upon the character of the scenery in view. I know of few places on the east coast of Scotland that can vie with St. Abb's Head, in adding to the attractions of this amuse- ment — none where, personally, I have entered into its spirit with so much enthusiasm, or felt so inclined to give it preference even to salmon-fishing. The elevation of the animal spirits conse- quent on being wafted or impelled over the glassy waves at the base of stupendous cliifs perforated with caverns and fronted with fantastically-shaped rocks, rising, some of them, in a detached state, in form of cathedral spires, cannot well be expressed. The great variety of aquatic birds — gulls, cormorants, terns, guille- mots, oyster-catchers, and solan geese — -which arrest the eye, all assist to produce this elevation ; so also, on a favourable day, does the character of the sport met with. In the months of July and August 1862, while sojourning at Eyemouth (confessedly during the herring-fishing season not the cleanliest of sea-bathing quarters), I took several opportunities, accompanied by my youngest son, a sailor by profession, of crossing Coldingham Bay in a punt, for I could not procure any- thing better on permanent hire at the fishing village above men- tioned, to the foot of this noble promontory. Of course, as a means of propulsion, the oar alone could be made use of ; the punt, as every one knows, being a flat-bottomed boat, unprovided with a keel, and only adapted for river or harbour use. Its want of grasp upon the water, should a breeze spring up, or when the tides run strong, renders it a dangerous kind of craft to venture in oif an exposed coast. However, I could procure nothing else that was at all ihanageable, without the necessity of engaging at least a couple of hands, which I occasionally did, along with a more suitable boat, when the state of the weather required it. From this punt, sometimes with the hand-line, and at anchor, but more frequently by troUing with the white-fly under oars, we 342 AN angler's rambles made some very satisfactory captures of fish ; our average weight, on the generality of occasions, exceeding a hundred pounds. With the hand-line, using slips of fresh herring as bait, our takes consisted of flounders, rock-cod, saithe, podlies, gurnards, and whitings. On one occasion, at a spot where the gurnards were very numerous, I hauled up, in company with one of them, what I recognised to be the gowdie or great weever, a fish that reciuires some caution in handling, as the spines of the dorsal fin are known to be highly venomous, and wounds inflicted by them are almost instantaneously followed by intense paifl. The great weaver appears not to be common on that part of the Scottish coast, as, on submitting it to the inspection of some of the Eye- mouth fishermen, they declared their complete ignorance of it. One of the herring-fishers belonging to a Yarmouth boat recog- nised it at once, and gave his testimony as to the dangerou,s nature of the opercular and dorsal spines. Notwithstanding its offensive weapons, the great weever is held in estimation as food. Its general appearance also commends it to the eye. On our trolling lines, using the white-fly with variations, in addition to gurnard and saithe, we caught several mackerel, and numbers of fine lythe, running from three up to six pounds in weight. Also, on one occasion, a herring, and a fine specimen of the gar-fish, or green-bone, another unusual visitor of our Scottish coast. A shot at a solan goose, gull, oyster-catcher, diver, hawk, cormorant, or rock-pigeon, occasionally presented itself, of which my son took advantage, with a fair amount of success. My experience in sea-fishing, which I admit beai-s no propor- tion to my practice on our rivers, has nevertheless been sharp- ened by the latter ; and I feel authorized in consequence to state my belief that the art of taking fish, whether by trolling or hand-line, off our coasts, is as yet very imperfectly understood, and its pleasures, as a sport, very inadequately appreciated. AND ANGLING SONGS. 343 Many of those who have grown to be fond of it, have plainly, from what I observe, been initiated into its mysteries by the simple, hard-toiling fisherman, and adopted, along with the coarse tackle used by him, his conceits and prejudices. The employ- ment of strong, coarse-looking tackle, on the long line set at night for cod, ling, skate, halibut, and other powerful fish, at a considerable distance from the shore, is rendered necessary, and forms, so far as we can ascertain, no drawback on success. But it is otherwise with the sportive fishes that resort in summer and autumn to our sea-fringes, and by daylight, when the weather is calm, can make use of the faculty of vision, which they possess in high perfection, to discern, as an adjunct to the lure offered them, a thick indigestible-looking piece of cord or plaited hair. I feel quite convinced that by the substitution of salmon-gut, twisted or single, for the clumsy traces usually employed, and by the bringing into play of brass swivels and revolving baits, a step will be taken towards rendering sea-fishing an exciting and delightful amusement. THE FAREWELL MEETING. I. We part not thus, nay, anglers ! nay, A farewell to the season ! So fill the bowl and drink away — Who drinks not harbours treason. II. Oh ! fill it high ! the joyous draught Is native to our heather ; If bravely drain'd and fondly quaff'd, 'Twill bind our hearts together. 344 AN angler's rambles III. Now wintry winds with furious pace O'er moor and mountain sally, And gloomily the waters race Through each deserted valley. No longer birds in merry strain Sing from their bowers of beauty ; Lay down the wand ! the spring again Will call it forth for duty. Lay down the wand — no longer now The starry trout is belling ; All leafless left, the alder bough Moans o'er his glassy dwelling. VI. Then heap, heap high our social hearth ! Why should the good fire flicker 1 And quaff — quaff on ! the best of mirth Lies deepest in the liquor ! AND ANGLING SONGS. 345 A PEW OBSEKVATIONS ON THE CHARE OF OUR SCOTCH LAKES. With the celebrated charr of Windermere, I never had an opportunity, except in the potted state, of becoming acquainted. Its reputed spawning-ground, however, at the mouth of the Bra- thay, has been visited by me, and the general habits of this fish inquired into. As I am conversant, to some extent, with the charr found in several of our Scottish lakes. Loch Achilty in par- ticular, I feel at liberty to remark on a feature which has not hitherto received attention, namely, the difference occurring in the conditions of the breeding- grounds of the Westmoreland and Highland charr. In Windermere these fish crowd up from the lake into the stream at its head, which is formed by the union, a short way up, of the Rothay and Brathay. The formet, and more direct feeder, has a sandy bottom ; that of the other, which traverses Langdale, is rocky, and covered, above the point of confluence, with weeds. Although the charr has been observed to enter the Rothay, they have never been known to conduct their spawning operations over its bed ; but invariably, on dis- covering their mistake, they retrace their way back to the junction, and ascend the lateral water — a still portion of which, expanding into a small lake, forms their usual halting- place. In the case of Loch Achilty, which lies about ten miles west of Dingwall, the spawning accommodation resorted to by the charr is exactly, in one respect at least, of an opposite character. This sheet of water, which is not more than three miles in cir- cumference, occupies a romantic hollow in the ridge of high ground lying betwixt the Conon and the Rasay or Blackwater. On many accounts it is a remarkable and highly interesting lake ; but chiefly from the circumstance of there being no visible outlet 346 AN angler's rambles or channel of discharge for its aqueous accumulations, notwith- standing that it possesses several sources of supply, one of which is entitled, from its dimensions, to be termed a burn or rivulet. The lie of the lake, and the direction taken by this feeder, assisted by other indices, lead to the assignation of an upper and lower end, the latter of which is located about a mile from the Blackwater, where it passes Contin Inn. There Loch Achilty (which, in the main, is of great depth, the converse in that re- spect, it has been alleged, of its Tor or highest approximate hill) becomes subjected to a change of condition, and shelves off in the form of a shoal, sandy at bottom, and mixed up irregularly, but, as far as scenery is concerned, attractively, with islets and wooded promontories. Although covered with fine gritty particles, the bed of the lake hereabouts is oozy, and of a spongy nature, leading to the conclusion, which is borne out by the occurrence of numerous springs below Contin Bridge, that the overcharge of Loch Achilty makes for itself a subterraneous escape from this quarter. Be that as it may, it is over the shallow sandy stretch in question, fronting Craig Darroch, that the charr invariably congregate for spawning purposes. In the principal feeder, which communicates with a chain of smaller lakes, three in number, they have never been observed ; nor has an instance, as far as I can ascertain, ever occurred of their being taken in any of the super- intending tarns ; the central one of which, Loch Nech Beannh, is nearly a mile in circumference, and abounds with fine red- fleshed trout, averaging three quarters of a pound in weight. Why the Windermere charr should repudiate a sandy, and incline to a rocky bottom for spawning purposes, while those of Loch Achilty lean to the former, is a question for the natui'alist to take up. That the charr of Loch Achilty are not .singular in their affec- tion, at the breeding season, for the sandy shoals with which many of our Scottish lochs are furnished, can be satisfactorily proved. AND ANGLING SONGS. 347 When in Sutherlandshire in 1850, on the margins of Loch Slam, which subtends or forms a continuation with Loch Loyal, places similar in their general character were pointed out to me, over which the charr were known to congregate in immense numbers. On Lodh Leven, in Kinross- shire, also, where this fish [Salmo alpinus) is now understood to have become extinct, the spawning- grounds possessed the same conformation. The sudden disappearance of the charr from Loch Leven has been attjibuted to the partial drainage, to which, nearly fifty years ago, its waters were subjected — a surface of 4638 acres having been reduced to 3543 acres, and the depth, which pre- viously averaged 18J feet, suffering in proportion. By this reduction, the spawning-grounds of the charr must have been seriously curtailed ; but I was told, when at Kinross in 1857, that the total disappearance of the fish in question from that quarter had been occasioned by a successful attack made by poachers with the long-net upon the entire stock or body, when in occu- pancy of the shoal over which their breeding-ground operations were wbnt to be conducted. There is no doubt, at least, that in common with those of Loch Achilty and Loch Loyal, the spawn- ing resorts of the charr on Loch Leven consisted of a stretch of shallow water, sandy and level at bottom, which gave great faci- lities for the accomplishment of an act of outrage on the whole- sale scale, such as I was informed, on excellent authority, had been committed. The preference shown by the Windermere charr to a rocky bottom is, in face of those facts, not easily ex- plained. I suspect, however, there has been a standing, or tradi- tional assumption, not actual proof or determination, upon that point; In this suspicion I find I am borne out largely by Dr. Davy, F.R.S., brother of the late Sir Humphry, in The Angler and his Friend, an interesting volume published eight or nine years ago. Residing, as Dr. Davy has done, at Ambleside, for a long period, during which subjects of natural history, and 348 AN angler's rambles ill particular that of our fresh-water fishes, have engaged his minute attention, he is entitled to be looked up to as a high authority, even when he differs, which is not often, from Yarrell. ' From the information,' he says, ' I have been able to collect, and I have made it a special subject of inquiry, the charr, in most instances, does not leave its lake for the purpose of spawn- ing. Remember, it is not a river fish, and as a lake fish it is one of great delicacy. The only instances that have come to my knowledge of its choosing the river in preference are two, and these, I think, can hardly be called exceptions ; one is in the instance of the charr of Windermere, some of which, not the majority, run up a little way into the Brathay, and deposit their spawn on its weedy, rocky bed, in its widest part, where it ex- pands so as to form almost a little lake. The other is in the instance of the charr of Ennerdale, which leave the lake in the spawning season, and crowd into a pool, the wider part of the stream, a feeder of the lake, and near its entrance into the lake, called " the charr-dubb." ' Again, referring to the observations of a set watcher, one in whom he held confidence, he states that their spawning month is September, and that they spawn on shoals in the lake. The opinion of Mr. Yarrell in regard to the Windermere or northern charr, viz., that the kinds locally recog- nised under the terms gilt and silver charr belong to one and the same species, is adhered to by Dr. Davy, but he thinks it doubt- ful in the case of the Torgoch or Welsh charr, the Sah-elinus of Donovan, found in the Llyn Cawellyn, and formerly in Llanberris Lake, that the slight difference which occurs in the form of its gill-covers and size and number of its teeth, entitles it to be classed as a distinct species. He considers it, in fact, only a variety of the Alpinvts or Salmo unibla of Continental ichthyologists. The charr of Windermere are usually taken with the net, occasionally by trolling with the minnow, and very rarely with the artificial fly. Their unwillingness to come to the surface is AND ANGLING SONGS. 349 owing to their being lavishly supplied with bottom-food of a minute description, and of a rich nutritive quality, similar to what the vendace of.Loohmaben subsist on. In Hawes Water, however, near Bampton, they are said to take the fly freely, and do not seem particular as to colour, the ordinary trout-flies of the district answering the purpose. This is the case also in the smaller Highland lakes, Loch Achilty in Eoss-shire, and Loch Lee in Forfarshire. In the former I have basketed as many as a dozen and a half in a forenoon, along with some dozens of trout. The flies which seemed to take their fancy most were the yellow professor and a light-brown ha,ckle. The charr approach the lure slowly and cautiously, not like trout, — still, an individual once raised, having missed his aim, will usually make a second attempt to seize the hook on its being repassed over the spot. On Loch Stack in Sutherlandshire, in 1850, I captured, while fishing from the boat, not far from the centre of the loch, the wind blowing strong, one of these fish. The fly was a small grilse, one of bright Irish pattern. Its capture was looked upon as an unusual circumstance. The neighbouring district, however, that of Assynt, abounds in small lakes, where the cha,rr are dis- posed to favour the angler. Loch Fewn is noted among these. The heights of Kildonan, also, where the HelmSdale has its sources, are interspersed with natural reservoirs, in which the charr forms a subject of sport. In Perthshire, many of the larger lakes are known to contain this fish ; Lochs Tay, Earn, and Voil among the rest ; but, as in Windermere, they are not readily tempted to the surface, nor, where there is a great expanse of water, can the net be brought to bear against them, except during the spawning season, on their resort to the shallows. Depth of water, and a low temperature in combination with it, appear to be essential to their existence, and from what I have observed subaqueous springs are also in their favour. As a delicacy the charr has not hitherto been held in such high esti- 350 AN angler's rambles mation as to have become a subject of demand in the home market. No attempt that I am aware of has ever been made to give it a place on the stall of the fishmonger, or bring it in a potted state into competition with the scanty and often comiter- feit produce of the Lake district. The lochs which contain these fish are numerous, but they are located, almost all of them, in the heart of the moor or the deer-forest, and there has as yet been shown little desire, on the part of their owners, to convert them from their sporting uses, and make profit of their contents. In respect to lochs which actually yield sport, this unwillingness to change their character is highly commendable, but there are many large stretches of water in the Scottish Highlands which will admit of being termed superfluous, lying idle from year to year, unvisited by the angler. Not a few of these, which teem with charr and trout of the finest quality, might be turned to account, and made to supply, lawfully and sufficiently, a gap in our market produce, which at present is being precariously filled up by, and gives encouragement to, the exertions of poachers. I have associated these remarks on our Scottish charr with the Lake district of England, as the repute attached to the Salmo alpinus is bound up with that portion of our island, and it was but natural to link to it'the acquaintance I have formed with this beautiful fish in a latitude slightly more northern. The standard size, I may notice, ascribed by Mr. Yarrell to the charr, although correct as applied to the produce of Windermere itself, has, I think, been a little overrated. From eight to ten inches may be held as the average length of this fish in Scotland, and such specimens as that possessed by the late laborious ichthyologist, measuring eighteen inches in length, are, as far as I can ascer- tain, very rarely to be met with. An individual two feet long, the size which it is said occasionally to attain, taken from any of our charr lakes, would form a most valuable curiosity in a first-class collection of our British fishes. AND ANGLING SONGS. 351 THE OTTER. I. A JOLLY life the otter leads That lurks by Eden Water ; He has nothing to do but frisk about And take his pick of the eels and trout That revel at dusk among the weeds, - The dainty old thief of an otter ! n. Below the mill at Stichel Linn, I met the miller's daughter ; Her cheek it was pallid with affright ; But when she told me of a sprite With rounding eye and demon grin, I recognised the otter. III. Now hie thee home, my timid girl. And dream away thy flutter ! We '11 up betimes the morrow's morn, Before the throstle heads the thorn. Or from its nest the joking squirrel Plays bo-peep with the otter. We '11 up betimes at break of day, With ho.unds well versed in slaughter, — As fleet and musical a pack As ever cross'd the valley's track. And splash'd and dash'd, from bank to brae, A-hunting of the otter. 352 AN angler's rambles Old Druid, he 's the boy to find, And as the scent grows hotter. With chiming tongue and steaming pace Keep up the spirit of the chase ; No abler header of the wind Ere grappled with Sir Otter ! VI. Young Spurgy to old Druid's bell Responds with swatter, swotter ; Shaking his jowls in grim delight, And sniffing up with all his might. Among the perfumes of the dell. The fragrance of the otter. We '11 bring to bear the Grip and Gurl Against the crafty plotter ; The ' wee bit birkies,' Flam and Flor, Will no' be hindmost in the splore. And snarling Bob, the mongrel churl, His teeth show to the otter. Oh ! little recks the oily thief That harries a' our waters, Of what may be his morrow's fare. Who goes a-prowling, here or there. And how may come to sudden grief The j oiliest of otters ! AND ANGLING SONGS. 353 ROSS-SHIKE AND ITS ZOOLOGY. There is perhaps no county in Great Britain so amply stocked with subjects of interest to the zoologist as Ross-shire. It harbours, either permanently or as visitors, almost all the native animals, winged or four-footed, which are sought after by the sportsman and naturalist. Possessed, as well as Sutherland, of lofty mountains, numerous lakes and rivers, furnished also, in its connexion with Cromarty and the Island of Lewis, with an extensive coast-line having relations both with the North Sea and the Atlantic, it has the advantage over the contiguous shire, in respect to wood and vegetation, elements which contribute largely to the maintenance and protection, as well as increase of animal life. The variety in the feathered tribe embraced within the compass of Contin parish, and the three or four parochial divisions stretching seaward which adjoin it, is quite astonishing. Lists which I have seen make mention of more than 120 differ- ent kinds of birds, inland and aquatic, resident and occasional, shot or captured within the range spoken of. Along with the white-tailed and golden eagles (Falco alhicilla and F. chrysmfos) there were comprised in these records nine other species belong- ing to the geiius Falco, viz., the kite or gleadd {F. milvus), the peregrine (Peregrinus), the hen harrier [F. cyaneus), the merlin {F. cesalon), the kestril (Tinnunculus), the sparrow-hawk {Nisus). These six are natives, and common to many parts of Scotland. The occasional visitors are the goss-hawk {Astur palumharius), the ger-falcon or Iceland-hawk {F. Islandicus), and the" honey- buzzard (Pernis apivorus). Among the rarer birds in these lists are the cross-bill or shield-apple (Loxia cuni-rostra), the rose-coloured ousel {Turdus roseus), the ring ousel (Turdus tor- quatus), the chatterer {ampelis garrulus), the ash-coloured shrike or great butcher-bird (Lanius excubitor), the snow-bunting z 354 AN angler's rambles {Emheriza nivalis), the king-fisher (Alcedo ispidd), the siskin {Fringitla spinus), and the goat-sucker {Gaprimulgus Euro- pcBus). With the ornithology of this portion of Ross-shire, I link the recollection of coming across a brood of young woodcocks, four in number, one of which, with the assistance of a Newfoundland dog, which had stumbled upon them at the edge of a plantation near Craig Darroch, I secured, not, however, until it had been stripped of a quantity of its plumage, and was so injured in other respects as to warrant me depriving it of life. This happened in the month of July. The bird captured was full-feathered, and in such plump condition that I had no hesitation in per- forming upon it, when roasted, with knife and fork. On the banks of the Blackwater, I flushed another woodcock a day or two after; and have been led to understand that the circumstance of the Scolopax rusticola taking up its summer abode in this and other parts of Ross-shire is not an unusual one. Among the quadrupeds belonging to the district under notice, may be mentioned the five species of Mustelidce native to Scot- land, viz., the otter, the polecat, the marten, the stoat or ermine, and the weasel. From the animal first mentioned the river Conon derives its name ; and as to the prevalence of stoats and weasels, there were stories afloat, when T resided in the neigh- bourhood of Contin, which described them as periodically arrang- ing themselves into packs or gangs, in which state of combina- tion, they now and then had the audacity to attack the ' human form divine.' For such relations there was no doubt some ground. I was incredulous of them for a while, and might have remained so until the present day, had not an incident occurred, five or six years ago, which removed to a certain extent my scepticism on that point. Immediately subtending the railway bridge which crosses Teviot near the village of Roxburgh, a via- AND ANGLING SONGS. 355 duct constructed of wire and planking has been laid down for the convenience of foot-passengers, and in lieu of a ferry-boat until lately made use of a short way below. This means of transit, which stands at an elevation of about twelve feet above the ordinary level of the river, and is accommodated with a wire railing on both sides, has been discovered to be splendid parade- ground for an adept in salmon-fishing. It superintends, in fact, one of the choicest halting-places in Teviot, which can only be fished, however, under certain conditions of wind and water, and at the risk of falling foul of an underlying rock ; it being neces- sary that, in order to canvass it properly, the angler should let out, foot by foot, at least fifty yards of line. From the vantage-ground described, I have met more than once with a casualty of this kind, resulting in the loss of tackle to some amount. On many occasions, however, I have been more fortunate, my fly, which is necessarily kept at play several inches below the surface, having been taken sure hold of by large fish. One autumnal afternoon, while occupying the centre of the foot-bridge in question, I observed what, at first glance, seemed to be a single object comipg towards me at full speed along the line of planking. As it drew nearer, however, I recognised it to be a gang of weasels, nine in number, so closely packed to- gether that I could have covered them all with a trout landing- net of the ordinary size. They were evidently in chase of game of some kind, probably a rabbit, which must however have passed at least ten minutes before, for I had been on the bridge fully that length of time. On coming up to me, the whole gang simultaneously turned neck, and halted for a second. Although prompted to set foot upon them, I abstained from doing so, the idea flashing across me that they were not 'to be lippened to,' and remained motionless. Their curiosity appeased, the vermin resumed their hunting attitude, and, crossed the bridge at full 356 AN angler's rambles scamper, disappearing from my view in a turnip-field not far off. I have been furnished through this incident with ocular proof of the fact, that weasels occasionally band together, and follow their chase under the direction of the nose. A singular instance of the fearlessness and ferocity of this little animal I also recollect meeting with. A partridge had fallen winged to a friend's gun, and was on the point of making its escape on its legs into cover, when I laid hand over it oppo- site the mouth of an old rabbit-hole. Before, however, I could secure it, out glided a weasel, and, fastening upon the bird, dragged it away into the retreat mentioned, leaving only one of the wings visible, by seizing which I disputed possession with him for nearly a minute, nor did he quit hold of his presumed prize until actually pulled along with it out of his den. THE GREETING. Good cheer ! brother angler, say. Is the swift salmon abroad to-day ? Have you noted the flash of his glittering mail, Or the free wild curl of the Triton tail 1 Hath he sprung at the winsome fly, Smitten by the treacherous feather. Heedless of the steel and tether, And of human subtlety t Alas ! brother angler, nay ! Salmon none have I stirr'd to-day. Feint, frolic, nor break have I beheld, But round me the wily grey trout bell'd ; AND ANGLING SONGS. 357 One in greed, and one in scorn, And a tliird one, out of pleasure, Sprang at my fly. See all the treasure Taken by me this blessed morn ! III. Ply on, brother angler ! hark ! The wind is rolling across the park ; It ruffles the river from bank to bank. And shakes the green covert of rushes lank. See how it paces round and round, Wild of foot— ^with step unsteady, , Dancing with the dizzying eddy. To a low, uncertain sound. Ply on, brother angler ! deep Along the rapids the brave fins sweep. And the salmon holdeth his vent'rous track O'er ledges of rock, through fissure black. Oh, most hath an angler need Of sweet patience and of plodding ; For the good wand ever nodding, Better than cunning, bringeth speed ! SERPENTS AND GOATS. The reptile portion of the animal creation, in the district of Ross-shire under notice, includes the adder, or common viper (Felius berus), and the slow-worm (Anguis fragilis). With the former, Tor Achilty and the banks of the Blackwater are numer- ously infested. In the course of my rambles I have frequently fallen in with them ; and on ascending the Tor on a hot day, one 358 . AN angler's rambles can scarcely avoid doing so. The reptile is usually found occu- pying, in a coiled state, the centre of some mossy patch or open- ing in the heather, to the cover of which, on being disturbed, it will, in most instances, quickly retreat. Except when trodden on, there is little danger of the adder acting on the offensive. I recollect once, however, when fishing for salmon on the Black- water, in the month of February, close to Contin Bridge, coming suddenly upon two large adders basking, not in the coiled state, but at full stretch, on a bare portion of the bank. Instead of betraying apprehension, they simultaneously, with violent sibila- tions, erected themselves on the ventral portion of their bodies, their necks stretched, and heads thrown forward, in the shape of a kettle-spout. Stepping back, I called the attention of the Coul gamekeeper, by whom I was accompanied, to the presence of these reptiles, and their menacing attitude. He happened to have his gun along with him, and as they were about, after vent- ing forth their spite for several seconds in the manner related, to attempt an escape, a discharge from one of the barrels blew the nearer one to shivers ; the other contriving to glide out of sight through a crevice on the bank. The time of the year when this occurrence took place, coupled with the condition of the atmo- sphere, which was cold and frosty, make it somewhat extraor- dinary ; the supposition among naturalists being, that strong and continuous heat is required to arouse the viper, and serpents in general, from their hibernating and torpid condition to one of conscious activity. With the ringed snake [Natrix torquata), common in the south of England, I wns not so fortunate in this quarter as to form an acquaintance. The only places in Scotland where I have come across it are Glen Gyle, at the head of Loch Katrine, and the hill in Selkirkshire skirting St. Mary's Loch, on which the chapel dedicated to ' The Lady of the Lowes' formerly stood. This reptile, I am told, is frequently met with in Dumfriesshire, a AND ANGLING SONGS. 359 county which also lays unsettled claim to a new and distinct species of the Golubridce — the Coluber Dumfrisiensis. The ringed snake is certainly more of a rarity north of the Tweed than the adder. There is a specimen of it in the Museum at Kelso, which, singular to say, was taken hold of on a market day, on the staircase of the White Swan Inn, by a farmer from the neigh- bourhood, under the impression that it was the thong of a hunting- whip which had been dropped inadvertently. It being the com- mon belief that all snakes are venomous, his alarm on finding the supposed piece of plaited leather suddenly endowed with life and motion may well be imagined. It did not, however, pre- vent the capture of the reptile, which was committed, while still alive, to the tender mercies of the custodier of the Museum, and immersed, without further ceremony, in spirits of wine. In accounting for its appearance, the probability is that it had been conveyed in a torpid state to Kelso, inside of a piece of bog-turf, or what is usually in Scotland called a peat or divot, of which material a cart-load, it appears, had been shortly before deposited in one of the cellars belonging to the inn, for the purpose of being used as fuel or kindling. What I consider to have been the Lacerta agilis, or sand-lizard, I have noticed more than once on the north bank of the Conon, immediately below Loch Luichart. The forest remains, which give character to the scenery of this Highland pass, have already received notice (p. 153). A feature omitted to be mentioned, which engages the eye, is the charred appearance of a consider- able portion of the surface, and its occupation by ant-hills of enormous size — enormous, at least, in comparison with the general run of these structures in other parts of our island. I do not over-state their dimensions when I speak of them as rising seve- rally to the height of two feet, from a base of as many yards in circumference. The vegetation, in the shape of ferns, heaths, and mosses, which is strewn here and there over the spot, linked 360 AN angler's rambles to the peculiar feature above described, gives the impression of its being an inviting field for reptiles ; but, although in passing to Loch Luichart I have crossed it frequently under that impres- sion, I could never gain sight of anything more formidable than the harmless sand-eft. This circumstance in itself was not sin- gular, but it was rendered so in my estimation by the fact that I rarely, when the weather was hot, ascended the contiguous hill. Tor Achilty, without disturbing one or more adders, in places seemingly less adapted for their abode ; and I was led accord- ingly to give some credence to a notion long entertained among the peasantry and pastoral population of Scotland, which at length, after encountering a good deal of ridicule, has been accepted and indorsed, subject to some degree of modification, by modem naturalists. In my approach to the falls of the Conon by the picturesque remains of forest glory which I have described, I was invariably confronted by a huge goat, the most formidable and noble-looking specimen of the Capra hircus I ever cast eye on. To compare him, in point of size, to a red-deer, would be to indulge in the hyperbolical ; but there was that in his appearance and whole deportment which raised him, as an object of admira- tion, to nearly the same level. Swarthy in colour, with masses of hair hanging shaggily down over his flanks, a beard of patri- archal growth, and horns of enormous length, thrown back in a fine curve, so as almost to touch the shoulder-points, he seemed an impersonation of the rugged and fantastic scenery round about, reminding one of the wild hirsute figures introduced in classical mythology into the orgies of Bacchus, or the Arcadian festivals held in honour of Pan and the Fauns. There was, moreover, a sort of negative history attached to him, for although the goat's life is not reputed a long one, I could meet with no one in the village of ScatweU, among the simple inhabitants of which he was held in terror, who could remember him as a kid ; nor had any claim ever been laid to him as a domestic animal. On the AND ANGLING SONGS. 361 occasion of my first meeting with this tenant of the rocks, he showed every inclination to dispute my advance ; but the sight of the fishing-rod, which was set up and ready for action, evi- dently disconcerted him, and he hung back in his approaches to the distance of nine or ten yards from my person. It was not, however, until I had commenced, fishing, that the spirit of im- patience which he had shown at the outset appeared to become exchanged for one of curiosity ; and although I have spoken of our introduction as an unfriendly one, at least on his part, I am apt to think, judging from his after conduct, that he regarded my future visits to his domain in a better spirit. He certainly appeared, at least, to take great interest in my operations, plant- ing himself, on collected all-fours, on the most convenient pro- minence within view, and continuing his survey so long as I remained at the river's edge, within bounds of his assumed juris- diction. I have introduced this old acquaintance into notice, because I attribute to him the credit of thinning out the viperous population, which, there was every reason to apprehend, would be even more numerous on his particiJar beat than on the adjoining ground. The notion I have alluded to, as current among shepherds, is that the goat is an avowed enemy to serpents, and will lose no opportunity of attacking and devouring them, notwithstanding their venomous nature. This belief is one of great antiquity. It is represented by the figure of a goat holding a snake in his mouth in the zodiacal sign Capricorn, and has been adopted, if I mistake not, as an armorial crest in British heraldry. The per- tinacity with which it has been clung to, in our hill districts especially, has no doubt instigated an investigation by naturalists into the subject. Through means of this inquiry, the mortal antipathy of the goat to serpents has been established. Its mode of attacking and depriving them of life has also been ascertained ; but proof that it actually devours them is still wanting. In 362 AN angler's rambles assailing the reptile tribe, the wattled quadruped makes use of its forefeet, raising itself up on its hinder ones, and with great force, rapidity, and accuracy of aim, bringing the others to bear on the object of its dislike. This form of attack, should the snake not immediately succumb, is repeated without delay ; in fact, a succession of blows is usually administered before the dealer of them appears to become satisfied. Such are the latest received accounts of the wars of the goats against the ser- pents. FISHER ROB. Fisher Roebie 's deid an' gane ; Death amang his cairns has gripp'd him ; Aft afore, when he wad fain Ha'e made the kittle chiel his ain, Robbie gied a flaff an' slipt him. II. Noo at length the mools amang, The elrich carle has laid him fairly ; Quoth he, ' Ye 've play'd yer pliskies lang. My faith ! but ye maun end yer sang, An' pack awa to saxton Charlie.' Wae's me ! sin' canny Rob's awa, I feel sae lanesome an' sae weary ; Tho' simmer winds abune me blaw, Ilk burnie seems a rin o' snaw, An' Tweed gangs daundrin', douf and drearw AND ANGLING SONGS. 363 IV. Aft I dim' the bosky brae, Aft I seek the haly rowan, At the gloamin o' the day. Ere the starns assume their sway. An' the lav'rock woos the gowan. V. Aft I wanner to the stane — The warlock stane whaur late we pairted ; Wae 's me ! sin' fisher Robbie 's gane. My soople wan' I wald alane, Wi' feckless arm, ower pools deserted. Here the hazel boughs aboon That to their mirror beck sae gaily, Auld Rob upon an April noon Gied his last fish its deidly stoon', An' as it wammell'd, gaff' d it brawly. VII. There, in yonner stream sae blate Quoth he, ' Whane'er the cock 's a-crawin', Anither cast we'll aiblins get ;' But death was tirlin' at his yett An hour or twa afore the dawin'. In the kirkyard beild sae green, Puir Robbie 's laid by saxton Charlie ; An' aye on ilka simmer's e'en, I think upon the time that 's been, An' as I wanner, miss him sairly. 364 AN angler's rambles THE WATER-OUSEL. Amono the enemies of the salmon has been classed the water- ousel (Oindus aquaticm). The fact that this joyous bird, one of the few among the feathered race which welcomes with a carol the Christmas-tide, is addicted to the picking up of salmon spawn, has been made patent to me by observation. What other object can it have in frequenting the shallows of our salmon rivers during the pairing season, after these have been denuded by frosty influences and the Martinmas floods of all other kinds of sustenance, and by indiilging in cold-bath exercises and sub- aqueous peregrinations vying with those of the Oriental pearl- diver ? None ! this is plain. But that the water-ousel does mischief is quite another question. All that it does is to claim a share, along with the common trout, of the wastage of the spawning-beds, in other words, of those beads or particles of ova which, not having been buried in the redd, are, to all intents and purposes, lost to the river. With this much vituperated hibernal songster no true angler and lover of river-side amenities will interfere. The water-ousel is not only a partaker in the super- abundance of our streams, but a large contributor to their pleasures. GLEE. I. Seek ye whaur the bumie travels, Sullied wi' the simmer showers ; Whaur the fairies baud their revels, In the cleuch amang the flowers — Seek ye there, free o' care. To dip the flowin' line Wi' cunnin' han', to ply the wan', An' lead the flowin' line ? AND ANGLING SONGS. 365 II. Or mayhap, whaur, glen desertin' Winds the river, blue an' braid ; Noo some quiet meadow skirtin', Rinnin' noo below the shade. Seek ye there, etc. III. Or amang the hills uncheery, Whaur the mirk-mere slumbers lorn, An' his dirges wild and dreary Pipes the grey whaup to the morn. Seek ye there, etc. THE WASTAGE ON THE SPAWNING-BEDS OF THE SALMON. I AM naturally led, in talking of the water-ousel, to say some- thing about the wastage which occurs, to an extent that can hardly be credited, on the natural spawning-grounds of the sal- mon. When I affirm that not above one-sixth part of the ova is properly deposited, or so placed at the desirable depth in the bed of the river as to have the chance of eventually becoming hatched, I do not overrate matters. Observations made by me at the spawning season, from well-reputed points of outlook, for nearly thirty years, have led to this conclusion. Eive-sixths at the least of salmon ova go directly to waste ; nor, in respect to the remaining sixth, is the chapter of accidents it becomes sub- ject to unworthy of notice. The droughts in connexion with the drainage of our valleys, leaving dry at the hatching season por- tions of the river's channel where spawning operations had been carried on, the poisons resulting from manufactories and the sewage of towns, made now-a-days fatally active on the occasion 366 AN angler's rambles of a summer flood, the attacks of insects, the grub of the stone- fly for instance, which is known to penetrate into the redd, and make free with its contents, — these are only a few of the casu- alties to which this remaining portion of the deposit is exposed {Vide Mr. B,ussel on the Salmon, p. 224). Their efi'ect, how- ever, is greatly to impair the crop which might be expected to spring from ova which have been covered up in the natural way, by the fish themselves. Instead of one-sixth, in fact, of the en- tire deposit shed over the spawning-beds, I feel justified in assert- ing that not above one-seventh actually comes to life. Of this seventh (which, on an average, may be regarded as the annual produce of a salmon . river placed in the circumstances of Tweed), and the disasters it also is exposed to, I shall speak presently ; but it is to the primary wastage incurred during the exudation of the ova that I would first of all draw attention. Can this wastage to any extent be remedied, and how ? These are questions I would certainly press upon the attention of the Commissioners, special as well as general, of our salmon rivers. The experiments of Sir. Shaw and Mr. Young, which paved the way for those carried on on a larger scale at Stormontfield, go to prove that artificial breeding, as it is called, properly conducted, will carry the day over natural breeding to an extent which is really astonishing. A saving, it has been shown, is effected by it, even under drawbacks, of five or six hundred per cent. Judg- ing from the limited scale, however, on which it has hitherto been carried on at Stormontfield or elsewhere, there can be no possible ground for congratulation on the score that the wealth of this or that river, has^ through means of it, been materially added to. But the fact of the saving has been established ; and the question has occurred to me over and over again, may a plan not be devised, say through a further combination of the natural with the semi- artificial breeding, to work out the principle of this desired economy ? That the Tweed, of all rivers, invites to AND ANGLING SONGS. 367 such an experimentj and presents facilities for carrying it on, I have been long under the impression ; and in a provincial paper, several years ago, gave ventilation to my views. After having drawn a comparison betwixt the parr-stock of Tay and our Bor- der stream, in which I gave credit to the first-mentioned river for its better provision in that respect, a provision springing up from the natural bed itself, which quite throws into insignificance the results of the Stormontfield breeding-boxes, I go on to notice the unusual deficiency which in that year (1854) occurred in the parr-stock of Tweed. From this deficiency I took occasion to predict a failure in the grilse crop of 1855. These are my words : ' The parr being at length recognised as the young of the salmon, and connecting with this fact the almost unprecedented scarcity of this little fish in Tweed and its tributaries, what are we to expect next July and August but a corresponding defici- ency in the grilse crop ? ' In this prediction I was correct. The take of grilses in 1855 was up to that date the lowest on record. It amounted to 13,952, or little more than a third of the average of the grilse crop in Tweed during the preceding half century. After venturing upon this prediction, I proceed as follows : ' To obviate this is impossible, but I think any further injury likely to result from a failure in the parr- stock of Tweed maybe provided against by an expedient in salmon breeding, which, as far as I know, has not yet been proposed, certainly not resorted to. It is to this plan of propagation that I call attention, as one deriving some portion of its feasibleness from the views regarding breed- ing, natural and artificial, which I have already expressed. In- deed, were I to adopt the notions of some writers in respect to the loss of ova sustained on the natural redd during spawning operations, my project would only appear the more feasible, and the chances of success attendant upon its adoption become greatly augmented.' This was written in 1854, three years before the passing of the Tweed Act now in force, along, I may add, with 368 AN angler's rambles the Amendment Act of 1859. What follows, in order to suit the circumstances under which the river now opens, and the bearings of the Acts in question upon the taking of foul fish, I have slightly altered. The opening of Tweed on the 1st of Feb- ruary, is usually accompanied at the various netting stations by considerable captures, not of kelts only, but also of ripe baggits and kippers, or salmon on the eve of spawning. I have known, under the old Act, when the river opened a fortnight later, to the amount of eighty she-fish, all large and primed with ova, having been taken in a single day from a limited portion of Tweed on one of these occasions ; and I have every reason to believe, judging from the backwardness of the fish, and the irregularities which occur in their spawning, that the termination of future fence-times will be followed up by similar captures. Now, what I propose is this, that the Tweed Commissioners, or parties having an interest in the salmon-fishings of the river, should instruct competent persons to attend the various netting stations at the opening of the season, for the purpose of express- ing, collecting, and inoculating, when opportunity ofi"ers, this great annual wastage of spawn, for the purpose also (not of stow- ing it away in wooden boxes, over which an artificial run of water shall be directed, but) of committing it to ' redds ' formed with the shovel, hoe, or plough, in the bed of the river itself, there to await, as a matter of common certainty, its being brought to life. In Tweed there are at hand fifty fords where such 'redds' might ba scooped out side by side, if thought expedient, at a trifling expense, and the roe deposited in them, say, put up in small paper bags, without the loss of even a single pellet. A little below Tillmouth, for instance, also opposite Lees, and at Edenmouth, there are fine gravelly stretches, secure from drought or the eflfects of large floods, where this experiment might be ventured on ; but preferable to these, in my estimation, are cer- tain portions of the river situated betwixt Mebose and Kelso, AND ANGLING SONGS. 369 such as the Monk's Ford above Dryhurgh, the stream betwixt the Caulds at Eutherford and the lower portion of Mertoun Water near Littledean Tpwer. My preference for an upper range of the river is founded upon an acquaintance with the instincts of the salmon, through which, in their choice of spawning ground, they are generally directed to a considerable distance from the sea ; and seeing that the motives which sway them cannot be traced to any regard for their own personal security, I am led to conclude that such instincts are connected entirely with the security of their spawn or offspring. However, I don't insist upon this as a" matter of much conse- quence ; and it is possible enough that the experiment I suggest may, after all, prove as successful in the neighbourhood of Cold- stream as in that of Bt. Boswell's or Innerleithen. In comparing the advantages which the proposed mode of cultivating the salmon stock of Tweed (and I might add also, that of Annan, Nith, and other rivers)' possesses over any system of artificial breeding hitherto attempted, very little need be said. These advantages declare themselves. The experiment, properly conducted, must succeed. . It is at once the simplest, the cheapest, and most certain mode of propagating salmon that can possibly be adopted. Immediately on the expiry of close-time the nets and cobles are set in motion. A few shotts determine, in most cases, the contents of the river near the station where these are made. For every clean salmon taken during the first fortnight in Tweed, there are at least a dozen kelts, and four or five un- spawned fish, generally in a very forward or mature state. These are secured, as a matter of course, during the ordinary endeavours made by the fishermen to bring the net into contact with something better. There is no cost or extra labour therefore required in order to obtain the spawn. The attendance of one or two of the ordi- nary river police at each likely station, during the first three weeks of the season, is all that is needed in order to collect the 2 A 370 AN angler's rambles ova, and conduct the inoculating process. This, after a little practice, any one accustomed to the handling of salmon can accomplish. Say the redds, by permission, are formed with shovel or plough at the Monk's Ford, betwixt Old Melrose and Dryburgh, nothing more is necessary than to forward the spawn to St. Boswell's station, and thence conveying it to the ford in question, mix it up with gravel or coarse river sand, and commit it to the redd; all of which may be done within two or three hours of its being taken from the fish. Can anything be simpler or less expensive ? Well, mark the results. Here is a quantity of ova, which never could have a chance of being brought to life (for even, taking it for granted the baggits themselves are re- turned alive to the river, the disturbance occasioned by the con- stant plying of the nets across or near the spawning grounds, and the liability such fish incur of being retaken over and over again, make miscarriage almost inevitable), these ova, down to a single pellet, are rescued from certain destruction, and buried with extreme care in a choice portion of the river, where no ordinary calamity can possibly overtake them. The result will be that almost all the ova so inhumed will come to life ; and say that they form the supply from only one hundred baggits, each baggit yielding a trifle beyond 10,000 ova, we have at once added to the natural resources of Tweed a hatch or brood consisting of 1,000,000, all brought to life at the expense of a few pounds sterling. Of these fry, nearly one-half, without any additional cost whatsoever, is likely to attain the smolt stage, and, allowing that only a single individual out of the two hundred finds its way back to Tweed in the .shape of a grilse, the annual produce of the river undergoes an increase of nearly 5000 available fish. Let Mr. Ramsbottom's system of breeding and rearing at one farthing per smolt match this, if it can. AND ANGLING SONGS. 37 1 SONNET— THE EDEN. Thomson ! this quiet stream, the song of thought Oft in thy bosom rear'd ; and as I steal Along its banks, they to my gaze reveal The pictures by thy truthful pencil wrought. No rash intruder on the rural spot I feel, but in that glowing fervour share, Which on their page thy far-famed Seasons bear ; Nor honoured less is nature, nor less sought Her still retreats, while with my wand I fling O'er Eden's pools the well-dissembling'fly. Creating in the mind's fantastic eye Castles of Indolence. The sudden spring Of a huge trout assails their air-built walls, And to the untrench'd earth each hollow fabric falls. THE PARK-STOCK OF TWEED AND ITS TREATMENT. That the puny occupant of our salmon rivers represents in a juvenile form the royal fish which is so highly prized at table, and affords such exciting sport to the angler, is a well-ascertained fact. Bearing in mind, however, that less than thirty years ago, the opinion even of experienced fishermen was in direct contra- diction to this view, and was backed by that of more than one naturalist, we are not surprised that there are still amongst us, and frequenting our river-sides, those who refuse to accept it. Were we to judge, indeed, from the treatment which in its pan- state the salmon receives at the hands of the anglers on Tweed- 372 AN angler's rambles side, either the body of sceptics must still be very numerous, or there is an error somewhere, which leads to the continuaace of a practice (juite indefensible, and telling severely, year after year, on the produce of the river. I allude, of course, to the enormous slaughter of infant salmon, under the designation of parr or ' gairats,' which is carried on with the rod during the months of July, August, September, and October, on Tweed and its tribu- taries. That the actors in this protracted carnage, are, in many instances, certainly not in all, thoughtless urchins, does not ex- cuse the evil ; neither does it hold good as a reason for non-inter- ference. In the altered condition of Tweed and its feeders, in the greater facilities given from all quarters to visit them, in the vastly increased and increasing numbers of anglers who frequent their banks, arguments of far greater weight are to be found for instituting, without delay, a rigid protection of the parr-stock. The introduction of a fence season for smolts, extending simply, by the Amendment Act of 1859, to two months (and these, be it noted, forming the ilite of the trouting season), is to all intents and purposes an ignoring of the parr as the young of the salmon. The salmon fry are virtually recognised by it as in occupancy of the river only during the limited period above stated ; and no regard has been paid to the fact, now proved beyond a doubt, that in the shape of a parr-stock, they are there the whole year through, and as such, during the autumnal months especially, are liable to be thinned down by rod-fishers, to an extent which can scarcely be credited. In a calculation made on allowed premisses, upwards of a million of young fry, irrespective of those slain during the smolt season, are sacrificed annually in this way, and in the name of sport. A similar conclusion has been arrived at by two of the Tweed Commissioners, whom I met last year, on the occasion of one of the experimental markings sanctioned by the Act, after the expiry of the netting season, and they quite concurred with me as AND ANGLING SONGS. 373 to the necessity of having an early check placed upon this abuse, already too long indulged in. The taking of salmon fry, whether in the parr or smolt state, has been made the subject of a high penalty, both by the General and by the Solway Salmon Fisheries Acts ; and why a similar provision has not been introduced for the security of the infant fish in Tweed and its tributaries, can only be explained by the circumstance that, at the time of the passing of the Tweed bill in 1857, the theory that the parr is the young of the salmon, and as such is entitled to be equally cared for with the smolts, was not generally accepted. For the omission in question we cannot account otherwise. Some excuse, it is true, may be claimed for it in the unwillingness of the pro- moters of the biU to interfere with or hamper the sport of the trout-fisher ; but the strength of this claim for generosity gives way when we consider that April and May, the two best fly- fishing months in the year, have been selected (and under the extinguished creed, very properly so) as the season of operation for the smolt clause. And now that the recognition of the parr as a young salmon has become general away from Tweedside, and is gradually establishing itself among the sceptical even here; seeing moreover, that it is expedient some means should, without delay, be adopted for the protection of the young fry at that stage, I pass directly to the question. From what quarter are objections to be looked for, in event of a measure so very desir- able being mooted ? I am well assured of this, that they will not come from the genuine angler; indeed, I have such firm reliance on the sagacity and spirit of fairness which characterize the fishing community on Tweedside in general, as to expect from that quarter a strong helping hand towards the promotion of this object, made so imperative under the present circumstances of the river. In the taking of parr with the trouting-rod there can be little or no excitement, and those who go about it systematic- ally, do so, not for sport, but as pot-hunters, in ignorance, in some 374 AN angler's rambles instances, of the mischief they are doing ; in others, I fear, fully sensible of it. The good spirit, however, I am happy to observe, prevails in all the fishing clubs and associations — and these are now pretty numerous — established of late years on. the banksol, and lie in contact with the arches of Kelso bridge, are chosen by the large trout as their summer hunting-grounds. During the win- ter and early spring months, they are made use of by the spawn- ing salmon, and form what may be called a favourite portion of the nursery-grounds of the river. As siich, they are without doubt remarkably fertile, and teem at all times with salmon fry. The havoc committed by the common yellow-trout, even within this limited range, upon these defenceless little fish, is, as I have said, very great, and extends over a considerable portion of the year. It is in the summer nights chiefly that the large prowlers, termed swallow-smolts, press the attack ; but their raids are not restricted to the dusky hours. At noon-tide, on the hot sunny days, they straggle up singly, sometimes in pairs, from the depths of the Wheel, which they had retired to after their nocturnal forays, in order to digest their plunder, reappetized, and ready to renew the onslaught. Below the bridge, on these occasions, every large stone is claimed by its accustomed occupant. There was one in particular, before which, in 1864, for the space of three months and upwards, a yellow trout of fully four pounds' weight daily took up its quarters. A smaller fish succeeded it as the tenant in 1865, but the character of the spot had been changed by a winter spate, and the former holder, if stUl a sur- vivor, had deserted, for one more convenient, its place of outlook. In watching from Kelso bridge, on a favourable day, the pro- ceedings of these trout, I take, and so do many others, a great interest. Shortly after having taken up their position, they give the observer an inkling of their object. The parrs which have AND ANGLING SONGS. 377 been thrown off the feed on the gravel stretches higher up by the intrusion of a roving yellow-fin, which has no set hold, and pur- sues in consequence different tactics from his confreres, are driven down, many of them, in the direction of the occupied for- talices ; and when the body of fry is in a full state of bewilder- ment, advantage is taken by the watchful enemy to leave his anchoring ground, and bear down upon them. Such attacks or sallies frequently assume the more protracted form of a chase, and discover all the characteristics which dis- tinguish greyhound sport. I have often witnessed a course of this description, in which a couple of large trout took part, apparently by common consent. The way in which they con- ducted matters showed method and a considerable degree of judg- ment. They cast about the shallow ford in parallel lines, not far from each other, as if beating cover, or rather walking up game, and having started their quarry, gave chase with rival keenness. The object of pursuit, in all the instances which have come under my notice, seemed at once to comprehend the extent of its dan- ger, and betrayed this intuitive perception of an alliance formed against it, by the dexterous efforts it made to escape. Like poor puss, it appeared to be quite aware that its chances, on being hard pressed, of baffling its pursuers, lay in doubling and short- turning, which manoeuvres its inferior length enabled it to execute with astonishing rapidity. When over-shooting the mark, how- ever, the hunting fish seldom lost sight of their original game, but, on recovery, stuck to it with increased eagerness, although constantly crossed on the line of chase by small fry, to all ap- pearance as seductive. A common resource of the fugitive, by means of which I have frequently seen it manage to escape, was to scuttle away to the extreme shallows, of which, lying close to the abutments of the arches of Kelso bridge, there are several. Under these circumstances, its relentless persecutors usually slacken pace, but when close upon the rear of their prey, would 378 AN angler's rambles sometimes, in the excitement of the moment, press on, and actually become stranded. As well as the large freshwater trout, the kelted eriox, some- times the kelted salar, takes part in these persecutions of the parr-stock. The pertinacity, I may remark, with which the assailing fish will stick to its object of attack, can be no secret to the practised minnow-fisher, who, in drawing the lure to bank, through a crowd or shoal of minnows, must have observed how the whole attention of the pursuing trout is fixed upon the object of its chase, to the utter disregard of the others, some of which in their fright appear to graze its very jaws. -The ravages committed by the river-trout on the salmon fry, ■ ■ ■ ■ are, in his little publication, The Natural History of the Sal- mon, made the subject of comment by the late Andrew Young of Invershin. 'The river-trout,' he says, 'may, among all others, be considered the salmon's greatest enemy.' After call- ing attention to the damage inflicted by them on the spawning- beds, he proceeds, ' It is not only during the spawning season that trout are destructive to the salmon, but as soon as the fry are hatched and abroad in the rivers, they actually feed upon them, and continue to do so during the first twelve months of their existence. We once put a dozen of smolts into a pool along with a trout of half a pound weight, and by next day, the gorgon had devoured the whole twelve ; and we have not the least doubt but that the trout at large in the river have an equal share daily with the one with which we tried the experiment. It is therefore,' he concludes, ' essentially necessary that these vora- cious enemies should be destroyed in salmon rivers, or at all events reduced to the fewest possible number ; and among the many practical methods of doing so, we would strongly recom- mend catching them with the net at certain seasons, and care- fully nursing and preserving the otter, as an efiectual means of destroying the large river-trouts.' AND ANGLING SONGS. 379 Agreeing with Mr. Young as to the expediency of holding in check the growth and increase of the common trotit in salmon rivers, the question occurs, How, in regard to Tweed, is this to be done ? As for the otter, and its friendliness towards the salmon, displayed in thinning out the enemies of the parr-stock, that is all moonshine ; and in respect to netting river-trout at the end of the spawning season, as Mr. Young proposes, such a device, if carried into execution on the streams of our Borderland, would call forth an indignant protest from the whole of the angling frater- nity. It will be said by some, who know nothing of Tweed and its altered condition as a river, ' Surely the trout-fishers them- selves, and they are numerous enough in all conscience, keep a sufficient check upon these depredators ? ' Allowed. They do their best, and as regards the tributaries and upper parts of Tweed, prove highly serviceable, notwithstanding the notions of many of them about the parr, in thinning the large trout. But from Mel- rose downwards, if not from a much higher point, all the way to Norham, the trout-fisher, during the fly-fishing season, has but rare opportunities now-a-days of doing execution, the river is so sel- dom in trim, and when so, not in its wider portions to be com- passed; the trout, too, numerous beyond all calculation, have become so fastidious and ' so uncertain, compared with what they were wont to be, in their feeding hours. This is one, among the many evil efiects of over-drainage, etc., which are discovering themselves in our Border valley, and threaten, in teeth of the most wholesome salmon legislation that can possibly be adopted, the conversion of our noble river, stage by stage, into a Styx or an Acheron. In assisting the river-trout and erioces eventually to obtain the mastery over the salares or true salmon, I cannot help thinking that the application to Tweed of that section of the General Act, which prohibits the use and possession, for fishing purposes, of salmon-roe, will have an effect. In my judgment it was a mistake, 380 AN ANGLER S RAMBLES and in calling it so, I am quite prepared for the surprise which this opinion will create among trout-fishers, ignorant of the pecu- liar position of Tweed in its lower stretches during the autumnal months. That the salmon-roe is, in a certain sense, a poacher's bait, I freely admit. That great injury may be done by the use of it on trouting rivers, at a season when the fish are quite out of condition, there can be no denial. A considerable amount of injury also may be inflicted, and is inflicted, by worm-fishing imder similar circumstances. To obviate this, I would recommend the institution of a separate fence-time for river-trout, on streams where their preservation is desirable, — on all streams, indeed, not made use of as spawning ground by the true salmon. That section in the General Salmon Fisheries Act for Scot- land, which interdicts the employment of salmon-roe as a bait, and makes unlawful the possession of it for fishing purposes, owes its origin, I believe, to the report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the condition of our British Salmon Fisheries six or seven years ago. Sir William Jai-dine, the emi- nent naturalist, and Mr. FfenneU, in his position as one of the General Commissioners, if I mistake not, took a leading part in this inquiry. The extensive use of salmon-roe as an angling bait wa.s made, I recollect, a subject of investigation before these gentlemen, and although in the course of the inquiry nothing was elicited which could lead to the conviction that, when used seasonably, and under proper restrictions, this lure was one whit more inviting or deadly than a nicely cleansed worm, a large amount of testimony was brought forward to aid in its condem- nation as an angling bait in the breeding season. It was not, however, ostensibly at least, for the mere advantage of the trout- ing community, that this inquiry was set on foot. To recommend to the Legislature the introduction into a Salmon Fisheries Act, of a clause prohibiting the use of salmon-roe, simply because it was offensive as a lure in the eye of a certain school of trout- AND ANGLING SONGS. 38 1 fishers, was inconsistent with the duties, if not ultra vires of the Commission. Their interference with this bait, the lengthened investigation that took place with respect to it, arose solely from its connexion with the interests of the Salmon Fisheries, and proceeded on the assumption that the ova, of which the prepara- tion used by anglers was made up, were derived solely from foul or black fish, — salmon, in fact, on the eve of spawning. It was an article in consequence that could be brought into the market only through the intervention of the salmon poacher. To this assumption, ignorantly formed, we owe, I am inclined to think, Section xii. of the General Act. There can be no doubt that the chief supply of this article in the English market, was, at the date of the inquiry, received from poaching districts in the south of Scotland. Hawick, Peebles, and Galashiels contributed each its quota ; but it by no means follows that the salnion-roe for- warded from these quarters was of the best description, or that an inviting preparation can only be procured from the ripe and unwholesome baggits of the close-time. On the contrary, the sahnon-roe most serviceable as an angling bait, in the shape of paste, was wont to be prepared from the ova of seasonable fish, — such salmon as are usually taken in the months of September and October, the pellets of which are red, and of a rich uniform consistency, devoid of shell, and having no sanguinary matter intermixed with them, whereas the ova of the ripe baggits are watery in their appearance, have lost their fine carnelian hue, and are incrusted with a shell or husk which refuses to amalga- mate properly with the common salt used in the preparation. In fact, the salmon-roe of the poaching districts taken from fish in the spawning stage, is just as inferior an article of its kind, contrasted with the salmon-roe taken from good marketable fish, captured by net or rod some weeks at least before the expiry of the open season, as is the soft tasteless flesh of the salmon plundered from the breeding grounds in December or January, compared with 382 ■ AN angler's rambles the firm well-flavoured diet which the monarch of the tide fur- nishes us with at the turn of summer. The prevailing error, away from Tweedside, in regard to salmon-roe, requires at least this much of correction ; but I shall not linger upon it further than to express my belief that it is one entertained by the pro- moters of the General Act themselves, including the Commis- sioners, — an error they seem to have taken no special pains to be- come disabused of. The section in question was made part and parcel of the General Act, under the impression, evidently, that the acquisition of salmon-roe, as a marketable commodity in great demand, and which could always be disposed of at a remunera- tive price, formed the chief inducement for the salmon poacher to carry on his illegal practices. This was the secret, in fact, of the whole evil. Great things, accordingly, were expected from the prohibitory clause in question, in the way of overcoming the indulgence in salmon-poaching, by rendering it unremunerative, — so, at least, we were led tp infer from what fell from the mouth- piece of those to whom we owe this measure. In its application to Tweed it was to work wonders, and act as the surest safeguard that could be hit upon to the breeding wealth of that river. Has it done so ? Was the motive imputed the leading inducement to salmon-poaching during the spawning season ? I don't affect to extenuate the offence of black-fishing in any degree ; far from it ; but I must give to a considerable number of those who in- dulge in it, the credit of carrying it on as a ploy or sport, sanc- tioned both by great antiquity, and by the example, not many years ago, of their betters, ay, of the very men who are at length prudently and praiseworthily lending a hand in fortifying our rivers for the protection of their finny inmates. But let the motives of the salmon-poaching, portion of the community be what they may, I know I am quite correct when I affirm that the expectations grounded on Section xii. of the General Act, in its application to Tweed, have, at the threshold, been disappointed. AND ANGLING SONGS. 383 . The anticipated miracle has not been wrought. The demon- spirit has not been allayed. Salmon-poaching, its motives having been misconstrued, and the remedy, in shape of protection, in- sufficiently administered, threatens to maintain, if not to rein- force its position among us. ; SONNET— A REMINISCENCE OF LEISTERING. A METEOR-bearing barque, before me made For Tweed's broad cfirrent from a wooded bay, And under midnight's cover, on its way Cautiously glided. In its moving shade, On either side, the oars' infrequent blade Dipp'd flagging, like the heron's wing — pursued At every stroke by fiery snakes, that played Around the vessel's track. A figure stood Upon the prow with tall and threatening spear, Which suddenly into the stream he smote. Methought of Charon and his leaky boat ; Of the torch'd Furies, and of Pluto drear, Burning the Stygian tide for lamprey vile, That from his bride's dimm'd face, Orcus might gain a smile. And now that I have arrived at this stage of the argument, I . shall, as briefly as possible, enumerate a few of the evils which, in my estimation, have already begun to res|ult from the applica- tion to Tweed, of a section in the General Act, so uncalled for, and so erroneously based. Firstly, Through its application encouragement has been given to the growth and increase of the river-trout in the lower stretches of Tweed, where, in their relation to the salmon 384 AN angler's rambles proper, they may be regarded to some extent as vermin, more especially as the altered condition of the river, during the months when they are in season, prevents them being, as formerly, sub- jects of sport with the rod and line. Previous to this interdic- tion, on the occasion of a flood in October or November, the ogre-jawed and predatory orders of the fario were forced in close to the banks, and gave opportunity to the angler using salmon-roe as a bait to capture them in considerable quantities, and by doing so, greatly diminish the number of enemies, which, on the falling in of the river, would make their way to the spawning-beds of the salmon, there to feast on the newly expelled ova, and disturb the operations of the paired fish, not to talk of their aggressions at the hatching time, and throughout the season on the parr-stock. Secondly, This application of Section xii. to Tweed, takes away the salutary check which the use of salmon-roe as a bait always had on the aggressive dispositions of the eriox. Every angler resident on Tweedside is acquainted with the habits and propensities of this fish, and of its comparative worth- lessness in an edible point of view. He is also aware of the mischief done by it on the salmon-spawning beds, and in its kelted state, among the young fry. When permitted, the cap- ture of the bull-trout with the salmon-roe (and during its ascent on the occasion of an autumnal flood, it will take, with freedom, no other bait), aiforded most exciting sport, inferior only to salmon- fishing with the fly or minnow. It secured to one at all ac- quainted with the habits of the eriox, the frequent run of a powerfully formed fish fresh from the sea, the securing of which, so long as it braved the current, was made doubtful by the com- parative fineness of the tackle employed. Thirdly, Now that this manner of sport is prohibited, the en- couragement to poaching with the net and spear has been greatly increased by the additional supply which the upper waters receive AND ANGLING SONGS. 385 of bull-trout in a foul state, quite unfit for food, but not on that account less sought after by the ' black-fisher.' Fourthly, The application of this section to Tweed only acts as a deterrent to the conscientious angler, who has a proper respect for the law. Upon such it presses unfairly, narrowing to a certain extent his field of sport ; whereas the rod-fisher, who has no such scruples, finds ample opportunities, away from all possibility of detection, to carry on this illegal practice. Fifthly, This application, by multiplying the duties of the river force, has the effect of weakening its efficiency as a protec- tive body over those portions of Tweed and its tributaries where salmon-poaching is actively carried on. A levy is hereby placed, and that merely for the' purpose of watching the movements of the trout-fisher, on the time, tact, and energies of the river police, whose proper functions point to another direction, and are ex- pressly set forth in the Acts of 1857 and 1859. By several decisions founded on this application of the section to Tweed, these employes have been virtually recognised in the full and becoming discharge of their duties, and as meritorious guardians of the river, in acting the part of liers-in-wait for persons in the open season pursuing the sport of trout-fishing, who have been tempted to make use of sahnon-roe, in the hope of securing with it a happening bull-trout or black-tail. The letter of the law, as it at present stands, favours the recognition ; but the effect of it is to place this or that water-bailiff in a position to plead exemp- tion from the more onerous, pressing, and hazardous duties of his vocation. It now forms a leaf in his instructions to dodge and detect the salmon-roe fisher, or the captor with rod and line of the buccaneer of our rivers ; and to do this effectually it becomes necessary that the strain on his vigilance should be kept in ope- ration during those very hours in which the serious business of the salmon poacher is at a stand-stiU. With this diurnal claim upon his exertions, what reserve of inclination, not to say pluck 2 B 386 AN angler's rambles and energy, can be expected from him as a means of securing adequate protection for the salmon during the night VFatches? The farce of browbeating the angling community in this way is surely no preparation or stimulant for the performance of those more urgent duties which devolve upon the river police. It pre- sents, on the contrary, an easy substitute for the hazards con- joined with the proper administration of salmon protection (an encounter, for instance, with a body of nocturnal poachers), and a pretext at the same time for declining or negligently fulfilling duties involving such risks. These are some of the evils which the application to Tweed of Section xn. of the General Salmon Fisheries Act is working out, and I name them, not certainly with any expectation that my doing so wiU have the slightest effect in causing to be restored to anglers on Tweedside the privilege they have recently been deprived of, but simply because they start up and pass before me as shadows of greater disasters threatening the breeding- grounds and parr-stock of a once noble salmon-river. THE FEATHERED EXEMIES OF THE PARR-STOCK. I HAVE not yet named as enemies to the salmon, the heron {Ardea cinerea), and two species of sea-guU, Lotus canus or common guE, and Larus marinus or black-backed gull. In the neighbourhood of Kelso, the herons which frequent Tweed and Teviot are known, I may say, by head-mark. One or more of them may be observed every day close to the town, usually not far from the slap in the cauld-dyke, above the junction of the two rivers, where a kind of island is formed, called the Ana. Teviot, among its constant visitors, reckons several fine old spe- cimens of this stately bird. The heron here is never molested, and nobody wishes it harm. Its presence is an auspicious sign, welcomed by every angler. The injury done by it in the way of AND ANGLING SONGS. 387 picking up a few salmon fry is insignificant. Whether the birds belonging to this locality are attached to any heronry is a ques- tion. There are three communities of this kind that I know of in Roxburghshire. That the visitors I speak of, if belonging to any of these, do not regularly wend their way home at dusk, but take up night quarters in the neighbourhood of their daily haunts, I have every reason to think, having observed them, more than once, settle down, three or four together, as if for this purpose, after sunset, on the trees in Floors Park. EPIGRAM. Teviot a river is that lives by Rule, And scorns all guidance from your sage Ulysses ; But takes its ruddy Ale before its Kale, And with a merry mouth fair Anna kisses. The mischief done by the black-backed and common gulls to the parr-stock, at a certain period of the year, is no doubt con- siderable. Both are greedy birds, but the lesser is the more voracious of the two ; and in consequence of its greater abun- dance and fearlessness when at feed on our rivers, the more destructive. The ravages, however, committed by the gulls are to some extent compensated, as in the case of the heron, by the delight which every one receives from watching their motions. As well as to the salmon fry, the large black-backed gull is a formidable enemy to the common fresh- water trout. I recollect, two or three years ago, having my attention directed to an indi- vidual of this species, which had just made seizure of a trout, to all appearance fully half a pound in weight. Instead of swallow- ing it, as he would probably have done had his prize been a parr or smolt, without quitting the water, he took wing, holding the fish in his bill, and alighted near the opposite bank in a shallow 388 AN angler's rambles part of the river, where there was no perceptible current. There, to my surprise, instead of despatching, he forthwith set free his victim, but it was only for a moment ; the trout, on making a quick attempt to gain the deep water, was again pounced upon and transferred to the shallows within a yard of the river's margin, where it was released for a second time. This game of allowing the fish its apparent chance of escape and recovering it, was carried on by the gull for fully ten minutes. At length, however, the trout, probably showing symptoms of exhaustion, and being unable to afford its tormentor further sport, was despatched and swallowed. Besides the gulls above mentioned, a number of aquatic birds, including the Larus rissa, or kitty-wake, the Sterna hirundo, or sea-swallow, the Mergus serrata, or goosander, the mallard, teal, and widgeon, visit Tweed periodically, but I am not aware that they do any great injury to the parr-stock. A curious instance of the fearlessness of the tern or sea-swallow happened to a friend of mine two years ago. He was fishing with a large salmon-fly from the boat at Sprouston Dub, along with one of the Kersses, and was in the act of recovering his hook after a cast, when one of these graceful little air-cleavers pounced upon and lifted it up into the air. The lure, which, happily for the bird, was too large to be swallowed, having dropt from its bill, the tern made a second stoop, and succeeded in seizing hold of and relifting it before it had reached the surface of the water. On the hook becoming again detached, my friend took the oppor- tunity of recasting his line. The bird, however, returned to the charge, and actually, before retiring, made several other attempts to carry off the fly. Throughout the Border-land, I may mention the feathered tribe seldom meets with molestation except from licensed per- sons, and even by them game and vermin are made almost the only objects of pursuit. A better feeling certainly prevails among the juveniles of the present day towards birds of all sorts AND ANGLING SONGS. 389 than that which had its sway over boys forty years ago. Possi- bly this may be accounted for by the organization since that period of a more vigilant county police ; but I recollect when it was the ambition of almost every school-lad to possess either an old musket or horse-pistol, wherewith, on Saturday afternoons and other holidays, along the highways as well as the byways, he might wage war against the winged races, from the hedge- sparrow upwards. In the neighbourhood of Edinburgh this practice, coupled with those of bird-nesting and cat-worrying, were general in my younger days, and received no check in any one shape from the authorities. Around our country towns, too, it prevailed to a great extent, and the small birds in consequence were far from being abundant. A pop even at a thrush or blackbird was considered a rare opportunity, and the falling in with a wood-pigeon the event of a twelvemonth. It is quite changed, now, at least in the district where I reside. Bird- nesting is nearly abandoned, bird-shooting, of the kind I have just spoken of, quite. All round Kelso, for miles, is one vast aviary. Thrushes, blackbirds, larks, linnets, ousels, and finches, pour forth their strains of melody three-fourths of the year round. The plaint of the wood-dove, the cawing of the rook, the chattering of the jack-daw, the cry and flaff of the pee-wit, the cheep of the partridge, the whirring of the pheasant, and, by night, the grating crake of the landrail, or the hooting of the owl, are sounds which dwell continually in our ears. Before us, during the summer days, sport unharmed the swift, the house- swallow, and the sand-martin ; and in the summer dusks the bat flits forth, selecting the passer-by as a companion in its beat, and performing its eccentric evolutions often within arm's- length of his person. On the banks of our rivers, almost every step we take brings under our notice one or other of these feathered frequenters. The heron, the gull, the wild-duck, the water-hen, the rail, the bell-coot, the tern, the sand-piper, the 390 AN angler's rambles ousel, and the wag-tail, are everyday objects of attraction. Occasionally a kingfisher darts before us, scarcely giving time for recognition before it has passed, like a meteor, out of sight. In the covers and coppices, besides the warblers, abound the several varieties of wrens and tom-tits native to Scotland ; also the creeper or smaller woodpecker, yellow-bunting, etc. The bird, however, which of late years has been most on the increase, is undoubtedly the starling, — a nest of which, containing eggs or fledglings, was held, not very long ago, as a great acquisition, whereas now-a-days nearly every veteran tree in the vicinity of Kelso is appropriated, during the breeding season, by one or more of these new settlers. Among the rarer birds which have been shot within memory in this quarter, may be mentioned the great northern diver, a specimen of which was killed in 1819 on the Teviot close to Eoxburgh Castle ; the osprey, or fishing-hawk, shot on the banks of the Tweed, near Makerston, about four years ago ; the honey-buzzard, killed at Newton Don in 1864 ; the tippet-grebe, killed at Maxwheel about eighteen years ago ; the stormy petrel, found dead in the manse-garden at Hownam in 1825 ; the red- throated diver, shot on a pond not far from Coldstream ; the cross-bill, male and female, shot near Jedburgh about ten years ago ; the great bittern, shot on a pond near the Hirsel, in Berwickshire, in 1837 ; the Egyptian goose, male and female, shot by his Grace the Duke of Roxburghe in Floors Park in 1857; the hoopoe, killed at Maxwheelheugh in 1859; the Bohemian chatterer, or wax-wing, male and female, shot at Stoneridge, Berwickshire, about ten years ago ; the rose-coloured ousel, killed at Lady-Kirk, Berwickshire, about fifteen years ago ; the greater spotted woodpecker, killed at Minto ; the lesser spotted ditto ; the goat-sucker, shot at Springwood Park ; the Barnacle goose at a loch near Ruberslaw ; a brace of quails at Caverton-Edge. In accounting for the increase of birds of all sorts, the snipe AND ANGLING SONGS. 39 1 excepted, which has taken place within the last quarter of a century, besides the greater efficiency of the county police, may be taken into consideration the immense addition which has been made to the coverts and plantations thrbughout the district, and the fortifying against acts of trespass the parks and policy- grounds of the large landed proprietors with high walls in lieu of low dykes and hedges, which, besides offering temptations and facilities for intrusion, gave harbour to weasels and other vermin. At the same time, as one of the undoubted causes of this increase, a large amount of credit, I consider, is due to the better feeling towards animals, birds especially, which prevails among the juveniles of the present day. Mr. Alexander Russel's admirable book of The Salmon has made it quite superfluous for me, in these rambling sketches, to do more than enter into some minor points connected with the natural history of this fish which he has not taken up. That there is still left a large field of interesting inquiry in connexion with the solar and its congeners there can be no doubt. The parr life, so to call it, of the orange-fin smolt ; the singular pro- vision in the shape of ripe milt, with which the male parrs of the salmon proper are furnished in the months of November and December, or at the commencement of the spawning season, no corresponding forwardness of the roe-leaf being exhibited in the female parrs ; the numerical superiority of the males of the young salmon when in the parr stage ; the mysteries which attend the pairing of salmon, and their ' redding' operations ; the object which the spring fish have in view in ascending our rivers ; the possible production of mules or crosses among the dificrent species belonging to the genus Salmo ; the prevalence of the eriox in connexion with Tweed and Coquet, and its com- parative paucity as a visitor in our northern rivers, — all these, and many others, are subjects open to investigation, and upon which it is desirable additional light should be thrown. 392 AN angler's rambles The following lines are intended as a companion sonnet to that on page 213 : — SONNET. Irregular. Another gathering from the days gone by ! Another re-assembling by the stream Of dear old forms — a grand fraternity ! What noble presences invest my dream ! Parents of deeds renowning and renown' d — The wrestlers that in art and song o'ercame, And help'd to raise our country to its feme ! The muse of memory stands on hallow'd ground, And in performance of a solemn rite, When to the trysting-place of old regard, Which cons the river in its varied flight, (A wooded knoll with undergrowth of sward,) She summons round her all the shades of worth — Companions in the sport which lightens toil — The hundred-gifted champions of the North, Who with their increment of boisterous health Drawn from unstinted use of heaven's pure air, Heighten'd the lustre of the midnight oil, And gave to life new thoughts and fancies rare — Standard accessions to our famed book wealth ! REQUIREMENTS OF TWEED. Ikrbspectivb of some alteration in the Tweed Salmon Fisheries Acts, which shall better provide for the safety of the parr -stock belonging to our Border rivers, throughout the year, there are other desiderata in regard to them which cannot be too vigorously pressed upon the attention both of the Tweed Commissioners and AND ANGLING SONGS. 393 the angling community at large. I shall treat of these desiderata seriatim. First of all, as coming under this denomination, T would urge an extension of the annual close-time, which exten- sion shall be made applicable to the whole of Tweed and its tri- butaries, with the exception, if insisted on, of that portion of the main river over which the tidal influences prevail, namely, from the neighbourhood of Norham downwards. The new Tweed Acts have now been in operation for six or seven years, and a pretty fair opportunity has accordingly been given for judging of their efficiency as remedial measures. On all hands, I think, it must be admitted, that they have worked, on the whole, very satisfac- torily, and that under drawbacks not contemplated, and which it was impossible to provide against. Among their beneficial provisions, those which have interdicted the employment of fixed engines in the capture of salmon, and insist upon the restoration to the river of foul and unseasonable fish, hold a leading part. The salutary effects of the last-mentioned provision, in particular, have discovered themselves, both in the preponderance as to numbers, which is being established in favour of the salmon or adult fish over the grilses, and in the increased average size attained by the former. These good results, however, it appears to me, are capable of being greatly enhanced by the rectification of what the promoters of the bill of 1859 must at length have become convinced was an error of some consequence. I allude to the opening of the Tweed for angling purposes so early as the 1st of February. That even the lower proprietors, who, in order to have the pre- sumed produce of their fisheries placed on an equality with that of our northern rivers, were the most clamant in behalf of an early opening, have gained any advantage from it, is very ques- tionable. Judging from the reports circulated by the press, of captures effected at the various netting stations during the month of February, for some years back, I am led to think that great 394 AN angler's rambles difficulty has been experienced in the clearing even of the work- ing expenses. If such has really been the case, and there is taken also into account the damage which must have resulted from operating with the long-net over a large portion of the river at so early a season, only the want of common sense could induce to the continuance of an employment which is at once injurious and unremunerative. But while the opening of Tweed in February is questionable as regards the interests of the lower proprietors, there can be no doubt of its being a mistake, as far as angling is concerned. Of this mistake, every year promises to lead nearer and nearer to the apprehension. The conviction gains with us that February, and even March, form a valuable portion of the spawning season for salmon on Tweed. In fact, there can be no question about it. Not only do we find the gravelly stretches of the river still occupied by the breeders, but our wars with the kelts are diver- sified, every now and then, by the capture of an unspawned fish. As to the chances of falling in with a clean salmon during the months above named, I do not exaggerate when I assert that for every one fish of that description taken by the rod-fisher, two hundred of the sort interpreted to come under the designation ' foul and unseasonable,' are hooked, played, and brought to land. Restricting my calculation to that stretch of Tweed, embracing two-thirds of its course, which heads the Makerston casts, and includes the Ettrick and Lyne waters, I would be nearer the mark in affirming that not one fish in a thousand, so treated in February and March, is of the kind in question, viz., a clean, marketable salmon. This being the case, and holding in view the injury which, to some extent, there can be no question, is inflicted on the kelts and baggits by means of the large hooks made use of by the angler early in spring, I think it highly desirable that the opening of Tweed and its tributaries for salmon- fishing with the rod, should be deferred at least six weeks ; in AND ANGLING SONGS. 395 other words, that the annual close-time, as far as rod-fishing is concerned, should be made to extend to the 15th of March, instead of concluding, as at present, on the 31st of January. In venturing this opinion, I have the satisfaction of knowing that it is shared by nearly every one who takes an interest in the salmon-fishings of Tweed. Kelt-fishing, when linked with the chance of falling in, now and then, with a clean salmon, affords no doubt some amuse- ment ; but that chance, as the experience of anglers since the passing of the Act of 1859 has shown, is, during February and March, so remote, and the disappointments of those trusting to it are usually so numerous, as to justify us in afiirming that the edge of the sport has at length been fairly worn out. The next desideratum in regard to Tweed, is one which, although it does not properly come within the province