24 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER 



cycles of years, for the English seasons 

 have conspicuously changed even during 

 the past quarter of a century. Our 

 winters are nowadays far milder than 

 they were in early - Victorian times, to 

 judge at any rate from the rigours of 

 Christmastide as depicted by Dickens and 

 contemporary artists ; and a succession 

 of open weather on New Year's Eve has 

 lent an old-fashioned and unnatural air 

 to the orthodox pictures of snowbound 

 coaches and frozen rivers. 

 Mr. Harvie- To men and women of normal tastes 



Brown on , , 



the deteriora- these are changes for the better, but 

 turn of the there are other revolutions in the seasons, 



British 



climate. particularly in the springtide of the year, 

 which fishermen cannot view with the 

 same enthusiasm. Mr. J. A. Harvie- 

 Brown, who has most kindly placed at 

 my disposal two profusely annotated 

 copies of The Wonderful Trout, at- 

 tributes much of the falling -off in 

 spring trout-fishing at the present day 

 less to over-fishing than to the woeful 

 deterioration of that once lovely season. 



