A GENERAL SURVEY. 15 



famous old book savours of honeysuckles, hawthorn 

 hedges, sycamore trees, and crystal streams. He was a 

 typical angler, and the type remains. 



We may now pass to a more practical branch of our 

 general survey, and having glanced at some of the 

 characteristics of the situation as concerning the angler, 

 may take a birdseye view of the inland waters of Great 

 Britain. I do not, however, pretend to attempt anything 

 like a guide to the rivers, nor even to furnish a com- 

 prehensive list. The Angler s Diary deals in brief with 

 all the fishing districts of the United Kingdom, and, indeed, 

 of the world, so far as they are known, and to that useful 

 little book shall the inquiring reader be referred. All that 

 I am able to do is to hint at the main features of our chief 

 angling resorts. 



A bulky handbook might, for example, be written upon 



the one section comprising the lochs and rivers of the 



" Land of brown heath and shaggy wood, 

 Land of the mountain and the Rood." 



Placing, as is but meet, the migratory Salmonidae at the 

 top of the list, Scotland naturally first claims our notice. 

 To the ordinary angler, however, all but a few of the 

 prime waters, which are a source of rich revenue to Scotland, 

 are close boroughs. The fishings, like the shootings, are 

 rented at enormous figures, although there are, here and 

 there, given to the sojourner at particular hotels, the privilege 

 of wetting his line in odd reaches of well-known salmon 

 rivers. There is never so much difficulty in obtaining per- 

 mission to fish for Saluio fario, or, as our Scotch friends 

 call it, the yellow trout, and if some travellers complain 

 of persistent refusals to applications for permission, I 

 must personally say that I have always had reason to be 

 grateful for ready kindness in various parts of the country. 



