SALMON 237 



either of them ? Nevertheless, we salmon are very fond of 

 feeding on certain natural flies, and thousands and thousands 

 of ' March Browns ' have I swallowed with gusto, while, alas ! 

 numerous are the friends I have lost by the Foe's all too natural 

 imitation of the same. 



" Greatly upset and distressed at the barbarity I had 

 witnessed, I was so terrified that I did not return to my 

 friends, but rushed up-stream, till at last I came to a halt in 

 a very big, long pool, which later on a friendly hind, who came 

 to drink, told me was called 'Waterside,' in the Forest of 

 Glen Tana, and here I found companions of all sizes. Daily, 

 however, the Foes appeared on the banks to throw to us insects 

 of every variety of size and colour. One Foe in particular, 

 tall, thin, copper-coloured, and clad in grass-green plumage, 

 seemed specially able to send his insects further than all the 

 others, and when we saw him coming and fled to the opposite 

 bank, he would yet send his fiendish lures right on to our 

 noses. My friend the old hind told me later this Foe was 

 called ' Boatie ' Stevens, who was very proud of being able to 

 send the insect at the end of his line further over the water 

 than any other Foe in all Scotland, and we laughed with 

 astonishment that such trifles could be considered as important 

 by such clever beings as the Foes undoubtedly were. How- 

 ever, for the next forty sunsets we were safe from even him, for 

 of rain there fell none, while the water grew small, and the sun 

 shone so brightly all day, that as we could easily detect the thin 

 line with the insect at the end of it, not a single one of us 

 was victimised. 



"After that, when the flood-gates of heaven were opened, 

 I continued my upward journey leisurely, but only travelling 

 a short distance between sunrise and sunset. Numerous, 

 however, were the insects offered me during this period, 

 but recollecting the cruel scenes I had witnessed, I passed 

 them all unnoticed. It was not so, however, with every one, 

 for, alas ! never a day went by but what I saw other fish try 



