APPLICATION 207 



favourable, they will not take the worm readily ; 

 and frequently only take it for an hour or so in 

 the heat of the day. There is also a visible falling 

 off in the size of the trout caught with it a sure 

 sign with any kind of fishing that it is approaching 

 a termination. Nor will the minnow, unless the 

 streams are swollen, aid the angler in his emer- 

 gency; there is nothing for it but to have re- 

 course to the more backward districts and smaller 

 waters. 



About the end of August trout begin to take 

 the fly freely, and continue doing so all through 

 September, and reliance can generally be placed 

 upon it, particularly in coloured water; should it 

 fail, recourse must be had to some hill-burn, where 

 the worm will always be found effective. 



By the beginning of October all the spawning 

 trout are out of condition ; the small ones, however, 

 which do not spawn, afford very good diversion 

 until far on in the month, by which time even 

 they are quite unworthy the attention of the 

 sportsman, affording no play when hooked and 

 no satisfaction when caught. In other respects 

 also angling is divested of half its charms; there 

 is nothing cheering, nothing invigorating, in a 

 ramble by a river's side. The angler's path is not 

 now adorned with the daisy and the violet, or 

 scented with the perfume of innumerable wild 

 flowers ; and the singing of the birds and the hum 

 of the mountain bee are replaced by the sighing 

 of the wind among leafless branches or along a 



