AND ANGLING SONGS. 1 27 



with it in a regular way that is to say, day after day, in spite of 

 wind and weather, regard being paid to the proper haunts of 

 these fish. 



With respect to salmon-fishing, I may mention this singular 

 circumstance, that there is no district in the north where the 

 inclinations of the fish to rise at the artificial fly are so acted on 

 by the conditions of the atmosphere, as that traversed by the 

 Lochy and Spean. So notorious is this fact in the locality, that 

 by the bearings of the mist alone, the suitableness of the day is 

 determined. Should haze or fogginess prevail on the surrounding 

 hills to any extent, the attempt to raise a fish, even in a pool 

 where it has been ascertained salmon abound, is looked upon as 

 so much waste of time. This peculiarity in the bearing of atmo- 

 spheric influences upon the appetite or sportive inclinations of 

 the migratory Salmones, does not everywhere hold good. On 

 Tweed, where the mist actually rests on the river, and appears 

 as it were to steam out of it, fish will often rise freely. I recol- 

 lect on its tributary, the Teviot, killing two fine grilses one 

 morning (27th August 1846), under pressure of as dense a fog 

 as I ever breathed in. 



A PICTURE. 



i. 



WE listen by the waters blue to voices that we love ; 

 Sweet flowers are twinkling at our side, and willow leaves above ; 

 Before us feeds the fearless trout, emerging from the calm, 

 And bleats behind the fleecy ewe, upon its wandering lamb. 



ii. 



Delicious musings fill the heart, and images of bliss ; 

 Ah ! that all pictures of the past were innocent as this ! 

 That life were like a summer-trance beneath the willow shade, 

 Or a ramble at the river side, when the song-spirit fills the glade. 



