182 AUTUMNS IN AKGYLESHIRE 



enjoyed my after-luncheon pipe, but not a touch 

 rewarded the poaching expedient. Altogether the 

 pleasure of the day consisted rather in the deli- 

 cious air, the beautiful landscape, and the life 

 and music around me, than in the moderate sport 

 enjoyed. All day the birds have been busy and 

 noisy, and I have noted fourteen varieties her- 

 ring-gull, kittiwake, heron, curlew, lapwing, sand- 

 piper, duck, coot, moorhen, blackcock, grouse, 

 rook, jackdaw, and cuckoo, without counting the 

 smaller birds, such as swallows, martins, pipits, 

 and warbler, the latter of which I find it difficult 

 to identify with certainty at any distance. 



I do not, of course, record the above day's sport 

 as a typical or satisfactory sample of the plea- 

 sures of loch-fishing. I have had many days in 

 various spots where the basket has been heavy 

 at the end of the day, and fish up to two 

 pounds, with an occasional monster even larger, 

 have rewarded my exertions. But just as mar- 

 malade has been described as "an excellent 

 substitute for butter at breakfast," so to my mind 

 fishing in a loch from a boat is only a substi- 

 tute for the real thing, and except for a change 

 occasionally, I would rather have indifferent sport 

 in a river or burn than fish the finest loch in the 

 Highlands. I am far from saying that there is 

 no skill in loch-fishing, or that knowledge of 

 the locality, depth of water, and favourite haunts 

 of big fish is not highly advantageous ; but a few 



