vi PREFACE 



concerned it will have served a useful end. I am 

 quite aware of the difficulties in the way no one 

 more so but none of these difficulties are insur- 

 mountable ; and I am confident that the future 

 will show a revolution in regard to the whole 

 subject. 



The area treated of in the present volume is, 

 comparatively, a large one, and but little has 

 been written of it in this connection of a sus- 

 tained nature. Salmonia and The Angler in the 

 Lake District are both charming works, but de- 

 lightfully vague as to the actualities of the subject. 

 The Salmonidce of Westmorland, by the late G. F. 

 Braithwaite, contains a good deal that is pleasant 

 and suggestive ; but the reminiscences of the author 

 form the more valuable portion of his little book. 

 There have been, of course, a great many contri- 

 butions to the subject in the columns of the Field 

 and other newspapers ; but altogether the literature 

 of the subject is scant. Reference may be made 

 to a paper on the " British Charrs " in the Trans- 

 actions of the Zoological Society, by Dr. Giinther, 

 in which occurs an extended reference to the Win- 

 dermere Char. 



If, therefore, there is but little material to build 

 upon, this volume may be looked upon less critic- 

 ally than otherwise it might be. At worst it may 

 form the foundation for the work of some future 

 angler historian. I hope, however, that what is set 

 down may be found at least suggestive, and of a 

 fairly practical nature. To ensure partly the latter 



