224 APPLICATION. 



it is approaching a termination. Nor will the 

 minnow, unless the streams are swollen, aid the 

 angler in his emergency ; there is nothing for it 

 but to have recourse to the more backward dis- 

 tricts and smaller waters. 



About the end of August trout begin to take 

 the fly freely, and continue doing so all through 

 September, and reliance can generally be placed 

 upon it, particularly in coloured water; should it 

 fail, recourse must be had to some hill-burn, where 

 the worm will always be found effective. 



By the beginning of October all the spawning 

 trout are out of condition ; the small ones, how- 

 ever, which do not spawn, afford very good diver- 

 sion until far on in the month, by which time 

 even they are quite unworthy the attention of the 

 sportsman ; affording no play when hooked, and 

 no satisfaction when caught. In other respects 

 also angling is divested of half its charms; there 

 is nothing cheering, nothing invigorating, in a 

 ramble by a river's side. The angler's path is not 

 now adorned with the daisy and the violet, or 

 scented with the perfume of innumerable wild 

 flowers ; and the singing of the birds, and the 

 hum of the mountain-bee, are replaced by the 

 sighing of the wind among leafless branches, or 

 along a bleak hill side. Nature is fast resuming 

 her wintry aspect, and 



" When chill November's surly blast 

 Makes fields and forests bare,'' 



