76 ANGLING & ART IN SCOTLAND 



I have been to Loch Wee many times since, 

 and have killed there a good number of fish between 

 two and three pounds in weight. The largest I have 

 seen taken was a fine specimen of three and a quarter 

 pounds, caught by one of my brothers ; but not 

 infrequently have we had to leave the loch dis- 

 appointed, with a clean basket. In fact, that first 

 day was a red-letter day. We naturally thought 

 that on some very propitious occasion we might have 

 the good fortune to obtain a considerably heavier 

 basket ; unfortunately that occasion has not yet 

 arrived. 



One day, a disastrous one, has left a vivid 

 impression on my mind. Everything looked 

 favourable as we drove up to the loch ; the sky 

 was of a pearly-grey colour, while a westerly wind 

 gently ruffled the surface of the water, and the 

 barometer was on the rise. All seemed to augur 

 well, had it not been for one untoward event. 



There is a superstition in Galloway that the 

 snipe is a bird of ill-omen. In some parts of 

 Scotland the curlew, "that lang-nebbit bird," is 

 looked upon with awe as a creature of disaster. 

 For my part, I love the bird ; and if it is to be 

 believed that he is the forerunner of ill-luck, then 



