272 TOUR IN SUTHERL AN DS H IRE. 



whereas, in fact, he is actually compelled, in self-defence, to 

 take every fish he can catch, in every possible manner, as the 

 only chance he has of meeting all these heavy expenses. At 

 the same time it must be remembered that no one single 

 proprietor can do anything towards putting down this 

 ruinous system, unless the neighbouring owners on the same 

 line of coast co-operate with him. A pause for a few years 

 in this wholesale destruction would bring the salmon back to 

 something like their former numbers, and enable proprietors 

 of rivers to ask and obtain the same rents as they now do, 

 from English and other sportsmen who come northwards for 

 angling. At present, fly-fishing, in many rivers which were 

 formerly abundantly supplied, is not worth the trouble a 

 mere umbra nominis excepting during the run of grilse; and 

 this can only be remedied by a system of unanimous and 

 general preservation of the fish. 



There is no necessity for restricting the sport of the fly- 

 fisher. Salmon will never be injured to any great extent by 

 this mode of taking them ; and were the net-fishing better 

 regulated, and diminished, higher rents would not be grudged 

 by the sportsman. 



Excepting amongst anglers, the extent of the trade of 

 fly-making is little known. The number of hands employed, 

 men, women, and even children, whose small fingers are the 

 best adapted for imitating the delicate wings of the midge or 

 ant, and the variety of materials used, would astonish the 

 uninitiated. If any person will examine the wings and body 

 of a single Irish salmon-fly, he will perceive how many 

 substances are used, and how many birds from every quarter 

 of the globe are laid under contribution, to form this tiny but 

 powerfully attractive bait, which, were it less carefully and 

 skilfully constructed, would never entice the wary salmon 

 out of his resting-place, under some stone or rock, where, like 

 a gourmand in the snug corner of his club-room, he patiently 

 but anxiously awaits the arrival of some delicate morsel. 



