36 WILD LIFE OF SCOTLAND 



water, or when sunshine and shadow alternate with- 

 out either gaining the advantage, or should the 

 breeze blow fresh enough to put a ripple on the 

 pools. And, notwithstanding those favourable 

 appearances, and the expectations they excite, 

 should the miller prove awkward, although 

 friendly millers are more obliging than strangers, 

 I am still within easy reach of home. 



I can walk down the lane in the evening, when 

 the blackbird is at his vesper, and, fishing or no 

 fishing, spend a pleasant hour on the cool banks, 

 not only without exertion, but with considerable 

 benefit to my night's rest; returning in the 

 twilight when the blackbird is uttering his chirpy 

 scream. 



For years, all connection with the sea has been 

 cut off by several miles of impure water ; and that, 

 perhaps, makes the fishing so much the more rest- 

 ful. All its suggestions are of green fields, and 

 drinking cattle, and yellow iris, and the drowsy 

 hum of innocent flour mills. Not that the life is 

 without a certain variety. In addition to the 

 pale-fleshed brown trout, the red-fleshed seem to 

 find their way from the lake above. 



The tint of the flesh is, probably, only a matter 

 of feeding. A largely crustacean, or molluscaii diet 



