190 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXXII. 



There is also in many of these lakes plenty of 

 char, a fish of mysterious habits, never or seldom 

 taking the fly or any other bait, but at a certain 

 season (about the middle of October, as far as my 

 experience goes) migrating in great shoals from 

 the deepest recesses of the lake, where they spend 

 the rest of the year, to the shallows near the shore. 

 During this short migration they are caught in 

 nets, and frequently in great numbers. 



On the east of Sutherlandshire there are several 

 excellent salmon rivers : amongst the best, if not 

 quite the best, of these is the " Shin," which flows 

 out of an extensive lake of the same name, which is 

 full of most excellent trout. In some parts of this 

 county the propensity of salmon to ascend streams 

 is most strikingly exemplified; nothing can exceed 

 the determination with which they work their way 

 from river to lake, from lake to burn, and so gradu- 

 ally ascending every running stream until at last 

 they reach rivulets so small and shallow that you 

 wonder how two salmon can pass each other in 

 them. Taking advantage of every flood which 

 swells the burns, they work themselves up shallows 

 and narrow places where apparently there is scarcely 

 sufficient water for the smallest trout to swim. 

 When they have fulfilled their spawning duties they 

 drop back during the winter floods to the larger 



