72 PISH AND PISHING IX SCOTLAND. 



river-fishings. The mesh of the net seemed to me about three- 

 quarters of an inch, and accordingly I expected it to do what 

 literally I really found it did namely, scour the river, taking 

 every thing, from a small sized minnow and herring-fry upwards, 

 to the silvery glorious salmon. 



The tenant who managed the net was a young man, practical, 

 and quite above-board. I asked him if he would allow me to 

 accompany the boat in its passage down the river, observe what 

 was taken, and purchase some of the specimens ; all was accorded 

 at once : I had my choice of all the fish caught, paying for them 

 an extremely moderate sum. Thus they fished the river for 

 -about two miles or more, shooting the net across each stream 

 and pool by means of the boat, and hauling it ashore on the 

 same side from which they start. Thus they fished until the 

 rising tide forced them to desist. The sandy, barren, desolate 

 shores of the Solway might now be seen in the distance. Sea 

 birds began to appear; flat-fish or small flounders were now 

 taken in the net, if my memory be correct. The appearance of 

 herring-fry in the stream, about an inch-and-a-half in length, told 

 us that we were in brackish water, never quite sweet, never quite 

 salt. A sort of estuary, in fact, and just the sort of debatable 

 ground in which a lawyer likes to found an argument ; for with 

 him it is all argument. 



Now, what were the kinds offish the species and the genera 

 as naturalists say, the sub-genera and the varieties, a kind of 

 sub-species which we caught with the silver hook ? The smallest 

 taken were, perhaps, the minnow and loch ; next the fry of the 

 herring; then the parr, the celebrated, mysterious parr; the 

 river trout, of which there seemed two kinds at least, it may be 

 three or four distinct species ; the beauteous fish in these waters 

 called the hirling ; the sea or salmon-trout ; the salmon itself. 

 Following the example of illustrious Izaak, I may as well begin 

 with the minnow, a freshwater fish he has not failed to describe. 



To the grown-up angler minnows are of no interest, saving 

 that occasionally he would give the world, as the phrase is, to have 

 a few fresh ones small, sparkling, firm, just taken, plump. 

 Finding yourself on the banks of the Whitadder or Blackadar, 

 or Tweed, or Teviot, on a warm summer evening; the water 



