78 AN ANGLER'S RAMBLES 



A well-known resort of the sea-trout which enter the Earn is 

 Grlen Artney, a secluded mountain-pass, forming part of the deer- 

 forest on the Perth estate belonging to Lord Willoughby d'Eresby. 

 It is traversed by the Ruchil, a stream on its approach towards 

 Comrie of rugged speed ; indeed, in the lower portion, owing to 

 this circumstance, and the precipitous nature of the banks, which 

 are covered with wood to the water's edge, it is quite imprac- 

 ticable to bring the rod into play. The best fishing-range com- 

 mences five or six miles from the mouth, and extends upwards 

 into the heart of the glen ; there the casts are readily commanded, 

 and free from brushwood. To this point, in the event of a sum- 

 mer flood, the sea-trout leaving the Firth of Tay below Newburgh 

 have been known to climb in the course of ten or twelve hours. 

 The distance, including the windings of the rivers, cannot be 

 short of eighty miles. I fished the Ruchil for the first time, on 

 the occasion of a freshet, in July 1833, but the knowing harry- 

 waters of the district had got the start of me, and were actually 

 on their way homewards, with their panniers cramful of newly- 

 run sea-trout, before I came in sight, after a tedious pull, of the 

 favourite ground. The water had relapsed into its ordinary 

 dimensions, and I met in consequence with poor sport among 

 the whitling tribe, making up, however, for my disappointment 

 by filling my creel with burn-trout; but I took care, on after 

 opportunities, to be beforehand with the natives, and succeeded, 

 everything considered, in securing a fair proportion of the sport 

 then met with on the Ruchil. 



In August 1842, while residing at Comrie House, I renewed 

 my acquaintance with this romantic stream, with results which 

 induce me to look favourably upon it as a haunt for the whitling, 

 or Tay sea-trout. It may seem curious, as a fact connected 

 with the natural history of this fish, that the sea- trout entering 

 the river Earn, after pursuing its course as far as the mouth of 

 the Ruchil, almost invariably turn aside from the more natural 



