THE ANGLER'S SOUVENIR. 



69 



pregnated with the tar and grease which is washed 

 from the fleeces of the sheep ; another, that it is as 

 much owing to the dung from their hind- quarters, 

 as the greasy tar is not incorporated with the water, 

 but floats, like a rainbow-coloured film, on the 

 surface ; and a third says they are gorged with 

 the ticks and vermin which are dislodged from the 

 fleece in the washing. To this last opinion I am 

 inclined to give very little credit ; but I think the 

 trout may be disordered by the joint effects of the 

 greasy tar and dung, and alarmed by the disturb- 

 ance in different parts of the stream. I have 

 seen the scum of the tar by the side of the stream, 

 in considerable quantity, ten days after the sheep- 

 washing was over. A good spate, however, seldom 

 fails to cure the trout and restore their appetite. 

 I saw an instance of sick trout this year, but not 

 in consequence of sheep-washing. It was in a 

 atream which was much swollen from a heavy rain 

 the day before, and the water was very much dis- 

 coloured and thick, as if a newly-ploughed field 

 had been overflowed and the soil washed away, or 

 as if a bank of earth had fallen in. The water was 

 by no means so high as I have frequently seen it, 

 but in mid-channel it was almost black ; and shoals 

 of small trout crowded to the sides, so weak and 

 helpless, wabbling about as if they were fuddled, 

 that you might take them out with your hands. 



SIMPSON. I do not think that this has been a 

 very good season for fly-fishing anywhere. A friend 



