90 AN ANGLER'S RAMBLES 



practised eye, these present the appearance of constituting ex- 

 cellent salmon accommodation, such in reality is not the case. 

 It is quite an error to suppose that rocky bottoms are furnished 

 with all the conveniences sought for by the salmon which frequent 

 our rivers, or that these fish will select their point of out-look 

 in our fresh waters solely upon the conditions implied in a rugged 

 or indurated channel. There is no doubt that, in their choice of 

 quarters, they incline to ledges of rock or large stones, but inva- 

 riably these will be found, when the salmon are settled down, to 

 lie in conjunction with, or in the vicinity of, a firm, gravelly alveus. 

 I could enumerate many places where the instinct guiding them 

 to this selection finds illustration, but shall content myself with 

 particularizing one, taken from the district entered upon. At 

 the distance from Pitlochrie of a couple of miles, the Tummel is 

 joined by the G-arry, the course of which river, from Faskally 

 upwards through the Pass of Killicrankie, is wildly rapid, and 

 its bed strewn over with rocks and boulders of every shape and 

 dimension ; nevertheless, even in the most impetuous positions, 

 the eye of one not fully versed in all the outs and ins of salmon- 

 fishing, proficient as he may be in the use of the rod, becomes so 

 deceived as to construe the interspersed breaks and shallows, the 

 flush of water passing from the tired eddies, the jutting shelves 

 which gleam underneath the whole build, in fact, of the channel, 

 into a series of admirable resting-places for the fish. I have no 

 doubt that, under this impression, the stretch of river I allude to 

 has been traversed with the artificial fly over and over again, and 

 that wonder has been expressed, largely and loudly, at the ob- 

 stinacy of the salmon in resisting every temptation which feather, 

 wool, and tinsel could be combined into by the manipulating 

 powers of such practised artists as Roderick Anderson or James 

 Wright. But the truth simply is, that in resting humour no fish 

 are ever there. Such are not the spots which the instincts of 

 he salmon induce them to halt at and show appetite. Proceed 



