12 THE WONDERFUL TROUT 



unless the fish are fit for human food after- 

 wards. In Stewart's estimates of sport he 

 quotes ' between May and October/ We are 

 inclined to quote between May and the end 

 of September (for Brown Trout) or, on a few 

 early streams, from, say, the 15th April to 

 the end of July, as the true fishing season 

 for Brown Trout in streams of Scotland. 

 September only in some streams (and lochs, 

 of course). 



As to the quantities mentioned in his 

 famous statements altered in the later 

 editions these were written long ago, when 

 'fisherfolk' and anglers were much scarcer, 

 and these need not be now used in evidence 

 nor argument except as items of antiquarian 

 interest and in a comparison of then and now. 

 Tempora mutantur et mutamur in illis. 

 But we incline to believe and agree with 

 Stewart when he writes, ' Angling is much 

 better sport now than it was fifty years ago ' 

 (pp. 31, 32), and we agree with his reasons. 

 But we do hold, it is hard indeed to see 

 true ' sport ' spoiled by cubic-length shadows 

 of men, and sixteen-foot poles, thrown all 

 over the water by the ' down-streamers/ when 



