62 SY HOOK AND BY CROOIl. 



fish than the river itself, but they were in much worse 

 condition and very dark in colour, abstracted from the 

 peaty water they inhabited. 



Nevertheless, a few days' fishing in these burns and 

 streams, running several hundred feet above the sea- 

 level through wild moorland scenery, are most enjoy- 

 able, aiFording a thorough change to him who has been 

 angling on a lowland river, the surrounding vegetation 

 and bird-life being so entirely different. 



The robins, chaffinches, wrens, and bullfinches have 

 all disappeared, and in place of them the angler has as 

 his companions the blackcock, curlew, and grouse, 

 whose '^ker-back-ker-back-back-bacque-back," as he 

 folds his wings whilst alighting on the heather-clad fell, 

 falls refreshingly upon the ear. 



The solitary angler can best enjoy the moorland, as 

 then no human voice detracts from the awful impression 

 conveyed to the mind by the solemn silence of nature's 

 handiwork, which seems proper to be broken only by 

 the utterances of the creatures she ordains to exist 

 thereon. 



The efi'usive screech with which the peewit endeavours 

 to lure the intruder from the vicinity of his nest, the 

 warning note of the cock grouse to the hen, the 

 peculiar spring whistle of the golden plover while high 

 aloft in air, and the weird pipe of the curlew, all seem 

 in perfect harmony with the light and shade of the 

 moorland hills ; but with the voice of man the spell is 

 broken. 



