AND ANGLING SONGS. 349 



owing to their being lavishly supplied with bottom-food of a 

 minute description, and of a rich nutritive quality, similar to 

 what the vendace of Lochmaben subsist on. In Hawes Water, 

 however, near Bampton, they are said to take the fly freely, and 

 do not seem particular as to colour, the ordinary trout-flies of 

 the district answering the purpose. This is the case also in the 

 smaller Highland lakes, Loch Achilty in Ross-shire, and Loch 

 Lee in Forfarshire. In the former I have basketed as many as 

 a dozen and a half in a forenoon, along with some dozens of trout. 

 The flies which seemed to take their fancy most were the yellow 

 professor and a light-brown hackle. The charr approach the lure 

 slowly and cautiously, not like trout, still, an individual once 

 raised, having missed his aim, will usually make a second attempt 

 to seize the hook on its being repassed over the spot. 



On Loch Stack in Sutherlandshire, in 1850, I captured, while 

 fishing from the boat, not far from the centre of the loch, the 

 wind blowing strong, one of these fish. The fly was a small 

 grilse, one of bright Irish pattern. Its capture was looked upon 

 as an- unusual circumstance. The neighbouring district, however, 

 that of Assynt, abounds in small lakes, where the charr are dis- 

 posed to favour the angler. Loch Fewn is noted among these. 

 The heights of Kildonan, also, where the Helmsdale has its 

 sources, are interspersed with natural reservoirs, in which the 

 charr forms a subject of sport. In Perthshire, many of the 

 larger lakes are known to contain this fish ; Lochs Tay, Earn, 

 and Yoil among the rest ; but, as in Windermere, they are not 

 readily tempted to the surface, nor, where there is a great 

 expanse of water, can the net be brought to bear against them, 

 except during the spawning season, on their resort to the shallows. 



Depth of water, and a low temperature in combination with it, 

 appear to be essential to their existence, and from what I have 

 observed subaqueous springs are also in their favour. As a 

 delicacy the charr has not hitherto been held in such high esti- 



