160 AN ANGLER'S RAMBLES 



tackle, and after threading my way through a monotonous forest 

 of firs, bounded forward to the water's edge, exulting in the idea 

 that I had at length gained a point of attack : all this I well 

 recollect ; but deeper graven on my memory is the disappoint- 

 ment met with on discovering in Loch Ousie one of those ex- 

 panses which nature has fortified at the margins against all 

 invasions by the wandering angler. Round and round lay a 

 broad band, dense and avenueless, of lacustrine vegetation. 

 There was a tremor also, approaching to bogginess, in the outer 

 rim of the lake, which warned me, like a trespass-board, not to 

 play the familiar. Cunning old Kenneth ! even had I the Sea- 

 forth passport in hand, and a skiff at service, I should not, bear- 

 ing my disappointment in mind, venture again in quest of thy 

 prophetic pike. Yet well I wot thou wert as Thomas the 

 Rhymer, and the Wizards of Oakwood and Merchiston the 

 philosopher of thy day, a Celt of soul and spirit, that spoke to 

 the unlearned gapers around thee in the language of allegory. 

 The more reason that I should leave thy pearl of price to the 

 custodiership of Loch Ousie and its surly tenants ! 



LOCH ACHILTY--ITS STICKLEBACK. 



IN fishing Loch Achilty in July 1835, I recollect being led 

 to notice the occupation of its margins by small shoals of stickle- 

 backs (Gasterosteus trachurus}. The lake (that portion of it 

 which fronts Craigdarroch excepted) is evidently of great depth, 

 and closely hemmed in with natural birchwood. To fish it with 

 the fly from the bank is scarcely practicable, so closely set is 

 this leafy drapery. Even where openings occur there is a 

 difficulty, owing to the elevation of its shores above the lake's 

 surface in managing the line properly, and at the same time 

 concealing one's person from the wary eye of the fish. The 

 angler, in short, who looks forward to sport, must be prepared 



