ON LAKES 93 



beds in the recesses of the watersheds. In August 

 and September a loch a few miles from the sea is to 

 the fish just as a pool in the river, a pleasant place 

 to rest in and explore ; but a loch in the heart of 

 the country is quite another thing. The fish pro- 

 gress towards it by easy stages, resting for days in 

 many a pool, moving on, indeed, only when a 

 flood tempts them forth ; and by the time they reach 

 the loch they have but little leisure in which to tarry 

 away from the breeding grounds. The fish that run 

 from the sea in winter or early in the spring have 

 other habits. Many of them go, without loitering, 

 to the lochs, and stay there for a long time. That 

 is why, if we would visit the inland lochs, we must 

 do so early in the year. 



Scotland stands high on the map, not very far, 

 indeed, from the Arctic Circle. Just think of fishing 

 there at a time when even the Home Counties are 

 still liable to the nip of frost and to showers of 

 sleet ! The thought is disquieting ; but it is need- 

 lessly so. Although the best of the salmon rivers 

 and lakes are far north, the mean temperature of 

 their neighbourhoods during the early months of the 

 year is not much lower than that of England, where, 

 in pursuit of jack and perch and roach, and other 

 "coarse" fish, thousands of men are out upon the 

 waters daily from the beginning of autumn until 

 the dawn of spring. Perhaps the belief that winter 

 must be very rigorous in Scotland comes from 

 knowledge that sometimes it is very rigorous in 

 London. If Middlesex is cold, what must Perthshire 



