AND ANGLING SONGS. l6l 



to wade, and this he can only do agreeably and with safety in 

 summer, along a rim or edging, which admits of his passing 

 k'nee-deep under the screen or fringe of wood by which Loch 

 Achilty is encircled! 



In most of our Scottish lakes this rim or water-level is broad 

 and well defined. It is not to be looked for, of course, where the 

 descent is -very abrupt, or where the rocky nature of the shore- 

 line prevents its being raised ; but even in the former case, 

 where the action of the wind on the water has been for centuries 

 unrestricted, and there has been free scope all along for the 

 breath of .ZEolus to play, such levels or terraces are frequently 

 met with. For an illustration, I do not need to go further than 

 St. Mary's Loch, which, notwithstanding that its ascertained 

 extreme depth corresponds with the height of the loftiest hills 

 round about, and notwithstanding that the form and relation of 

 these hills to each other, Bourhope Law and the Coppercleugh 

 in particular, give evidence of a rapid subaqueous incline, is 

 encircled, or nearly #>, with a beach or platform of considerable 

 width, partially submerged, which enables the angler to pursue 

 his sport without risk, as if from a level road or highway. The 

 formation of the parallel roads in Glenroy has been satisfactorily 

 accounted for on the same principles. On Loch Achilty, how- 

 ever, owing to its sheltered situation, this littoral margin is 

 barely developed; and as it seldom breaks the surface of the 

 water, one, in order to derive any advantage from it, must wade, 

 and employ, in doing so, no little caution, as a single false step 

 may involve in it a plunge overhead, not to imagine more un- 

 happy consequences. 



It was while standing on this sunk margin, employed in en- 

 ticing, under favour of a light ripple, the trout and charr to the 

 surface, that my attention became directed to the shoals of 

 sticklebacks steering to and fro, in a most familiar manner, close 

 to my legs. These little, well-armed fishes, so famous for their 



L 



