Angling in Burns. 187 



the former, the spawning-beds are frequently torn 

 up, and the ova washed away by the swollen 

 waters ; in the latter, they are often left high and 

 dry, and exposed to almost certain destruction ere 

 the waters cover them again. 



Though burn-fishing does not demand so much 

 scientific skill as river-fishing, it calls for a more 

 vigorous exercise of the physical powers. This 

 exercise is of the most beneficial and exhilarating 

 kind. Well-stocked burns are not to be found at 

 every railway station. Were this so, one might 

 safely predict that they would not long be well 

 stocked. While the angler has therefore generally 

 some miles to cover before he can reach the scene 

 of his sport, he must also traverse a greater dis- 

 tance, and expend more effort while engaged in 

 it, than if he plied his craft by casting his flies 

 over the parent stream. But even with this 

 prospect of unwonted exertion before him, the 

 angler is to be congratulated, if not envied, who 

 finds himself at the foot of the Megget or other 

 well-stored burn, at early dawn of a June morning, 

 just as the mists are passing off the mountain-tops, 

 and Nature wakes to greet the sun. He has come, 

 let us hope, to cool his fevered brow, to " dodge 

 dull care," and throw off, for one day at least, its 

 galling yoke, to reinvigorate his limbs, and revive 

 his jaded spirit. Not a soul is near him, but the 



