54 THE BORDER ANGLER. 



men to recover the tone of their stomachs by fasting 1 . 

 Stationed at Broughton, where there is a good inn, he 

 has command of Biggar-water and Holms-water (a 

 tributary of the former), and of a burn which comes 

 in from Drumelzier. Biggar-water is one of those to 

 which we have alluded as flowing through a rich allu- 

 vial soil, and productive of trout of superior size and 

 quality. It is the only stream in Peebles-shire the 

 trout of which are red-fleshed. Salmon follow it up for 

 only a few miles, for when " the monarch of the tide' 

 enters the fresh water, he is on the outlook for gravel- 

 beds, and does not care for rich feeding. We believe, 

 however, that the best part of Biggar-water has been 

 spoilt by a practice that has become wofully pre- 

 valent that of straightening the water-course, in order 

 to gain meadow-land, and to guard against overflows. 

 Probably, however, a delicate fly-fisher or a dexterous 

 spinner of the minnow will yet be rewarded for a little 

 patience and effort in a water that once had so high a 

 character. Holms- water takes its rise behind Culter- 

 fell, on the borders of Lanarkshire, and flows through 

 a delightfully pastoral vale. It will well repay half a 

 summer's- day with the worm. Broughton-burn and 

 Kilbucho-burn are also tributaries of Biggar-water. 



Here let us, before rejoining the Tweed, state a rule 

 which we believe will very generally be found to hold 

 good in respect to fishing in burns. For the first half- 

 mile or so from their confluence with the main stream 

 they seldom contain many trout. We can only ac- 

 count for this by supposing that the trout which run 

 up them from the larger streams during floods, and 

 which chiefly stock these burns, do not stop until they 



