RIVERS OF WEST AND MID-LOTHIAN. 347 



covering, when full, an extent of one hundred and 

 sixty acres, and designated Gartmorin-dam. It was 

 stocked originally with trout from Loch Leven, but 

 these are supposed to have died. Pike were afterwards 

 introduced into it, and I recollect one forenoon cap- 

 turing five or six with the rod, the largest weighing 

 about eight or nine pounds. One was taken out of it, 

 I understand, of the weight of twenty-four pounds. 

 Sturgeon are frequently killed, at the mouth of the 

 Forth, and as far up the river as Stirling. In August, 

 1842, I witnessed the capture in the salmon nets of 

 two of these fish. The largest known to have been 

 killed was in 1823, and weighed one hundred and 

 eighty pounds. 



After forming its firth or larger estuary, Forth, on 

 the south side, is supplied with numerous contributions. 

 The Carron, Avon, Almond, Water of Leith, and Esk, 

 successively discharge their waters along its shores, and 

 on the north side it receives the Leven and other small 

 streams. Of these, the Carron contains a few trout 

 and perch; and in Loch Coulter, which it passes, be- 

 sides the last-mentioned fish, are found pike. The 

 Avon produces trout, some of considerable size, while the 

 lochs near its sources, of which there are several, yield 

 perch and eels. In the Almond and Water of Leith, 

 I have caught numbers of trout, also in the Esk and 

 Compensation Pond. Leven, in Fifeshire, and the Orr, 

 its tributary, contained, several years ago, a good many 

 fish, among which were trout of large dimensions, pike, 

 and perch. I think it probable, however, that the first- 

 mentioned fish are now very rare in the Fifeshire rivers ; 

 the dulcia of the angler having vanished before the 

 utilia of the community. In the Eden, which passes 

 Cupar, there still, I am told, remain a sprinkling of 





