308 DRY-FLY FISHING 



is from the south-west, strong and downstream, 

 which means that we have failed to follow our own 

 advice, and deliberately selected a stretch which is 

 not suited to a breeze from that direction ; but 

 that is only an apparent lapse, for ahead lies a pool, 

 our main objective, which is favourably placed, and 

 which in itself used to be sufficient to make such a 

 choice thoroughly sound. Presently the mist is 

 wafted away, and the sun pours forth from a sky 

 of unclouded blue. Thus the prospect of sport is 

 of the poorest, but still it is a pleasure to be alone 

 in these broad solitudes. The glorious freedom 

 delights ; the smooth, swelling heights are distant. 



As far as we can see, and from a grassy mound 

 we can examine nearly three miles of water, not 

 another angler plies his craft ; but that is the one 

 favourable feature of the day The wind and the 

 sky, the water and the scarcity of trout will render 

 the day a comparatively poor one as far as sport 

 is concerned. We shall have to work hard for any 

 reward. A less inauspicious day might have been 

 granted for our final offensive against the wary 

 trout of Clyde. 



And where are the birds of the holm and the 

 water side ? Even the little meadow pipit fails 

 to welcome us ; the curlew's eerie whistle, the 

 music that takes us to the moorland stream and 

 gives forgetfulness of the city, is not heard ; the 

 peewits do not swing and wheel, nor fill the air with 

 clamorous plaint. From the rushes, it is true, 

 we flush first one blackcock, then another, and also 

 a solitary old grouse, but even the skylark's song 

 is silent. Faithful as of old, however, the white- 

 breasted dipper nods from his water-worn stone, but 



