118 THE BORDER ANGLER. 



fined to St. Mary's ; they afterwards removed almost 

 entirely to the Loch o' the Lowes ; and they are now 

 again returning to their former haunts, being pretty 

 numerous in the bays where there are reeds or rushes 

 in the neighbourhood of Tibbie's cottage. The num- 

 ber of pike in the upper loch has always kept down 

 the number of trout, although they are said to be get- 

 ting more plentiful. 



Perch-fishing is ordinarily managed by means of a 

 worm and float, and great quantities of the smaller 

 members of that fraternity may be thus killed when 

 the angler gets amongst a shoal. Large perch may 

 be taken by the minnow, and when one of a pound 

 weight is hooked, he has a power of digging down 

 into the depths that is rather gratifying to the angler 

 who likes to see his tackle tested. The round shoulders 

 of a large perch give him considerable strength, and 

 he makes very different play from that most contemp- 

 tible of all fish, the chub or skelly, which, we believe, 

 is, amongst Scotch rivers, confined to the Esk and the 

 Liddell. 



Upon the very verge of Moffatdale, from the one 

 side of the little hill that on the other sends a scanty 

 rivulet down the wild chasm called Dobb'sLinn, Little 

 Yarrow takes its rise, and, after a course of four or 

 five miles, enters the Loch o' the Lowes as its principal 

 feeder. It is a shallow stream, and the trout in it, 

 though numerous, are small in size, with the exception 

 of occasional emigrants which run up from the loch in 

 floods. If the trout were more numerous in the upper 

 loch, there would doubtless be good fishing in Little 

 Yarrow after spates. Near the loch it is joined by the 



