154 THE WONDERFUL TROUT 



'Now, coming home to-day, August 18, 

 1880, 1 witnessed the same appearance, but 

 on a much smaller scale than above described, 

 and I have often before witnessed something 

 similar elsewhere, but I am not aware of 

 special notice of it having been taken. In 

 Sutherland, on a loch in Assynt, named Faer- 

 lochan, I have more than once seen a large 

 shoal of trout at a certain point where the 

 burn enters, and a big stone juts out from 

 the shore. It seems almost certain, I think, 

 that trout are gregarious to a very consider- 

 able extent. Will this in part account for 

 the rapid " tids " or " rises " the angler often 

 meets with in one bay or shore of a loch 

 when no " rise " is " on " in another ? Whether 

 they are always gregarious in lochs or not is 

 another question, but the shoals seen in Faer- 

 lochan and elsewhere seem to point to this. 



' In rivers, however, a " tid " is often just as 

 marked as in a loch, and here, I fancy, one 

 must look for other reasons. 



' On Lochleven trout are seen occasionally 

 to be " on the rise " all over the loch, and on 

 such an occasion the sight is most curious, 

 and, when dead calm, most tantalising to the 



