ii2 ANGLING REMINISCENCES. 



common varieties of that little fish. It is thick and 

 girthy, prefers swimming in places of considerable depth, 

 although close to the margin, and moves at a sort of 

 jerking but by no means rapid pace. It loves also to 

 congregate in an unsuspicious and familiar manner 

 round the legs of the wader, exhibiting a sort of stupid 

 tameness that not a little surprised me. There seems 

 to be no regular season for the spawn of this diminutive 

 animal. I observed it paired off both during summer 

 and winter along the shallows, in order to deposit its 

 ova. When in this ripe state, it presents a dull and 

 unhealthy appearance, and its movements were evidently 

 painful and constrained. 



The spawning of the Loch Achilty char seemed 

 to me, in several instances, if not in all, a subter- 

 raneous operation, carried on among the roots of 

 springs, and in the oozy and caverned outlet of its 

 waters. The fish, I am credibly informed, have been 

 caught repeatedly by means of a creel, during 

 winter, in places where the effluent current, after 

 finding its way some hundred yards under ground, 

 emerged again into daylight, before discharging 

 itself by other subterraneous channels into the 

 Easay or Black-water, a considerable stream in 

 the neighbourhood. That the char of Loch Achilty 

 do not, at least in any quantity, ascend its feeders 

 to spawn, I am convinced, for I have examined 

 these carefully the whole of the autumn, winter, 

 and spring months, and for some time during sum- 



