76 FORAYS AMONG SALMON AND DEER. 



CHAPTER VI. 



Excursion to the River Scaurdale. Scenery on the Way. The Merlin. 

 Anecdote of Porpoise. The River Chruim. The "Butcher" 

 Fly. Our Quarters. The Scaurdale. Good Sport. 



AFTER the events recorded in the last chapter, I deter- 

 mined, as the season for salmon-fishing was now draw- 

 ing fast to a close, to devote the few remaining days of 

 it to the rivers, leaving the deer and the forest for a 

 time at least unmolested. 



This determination was further confirmed by the very 

 opportune arrival of the Laird's eldest son Alister, an 

 enthusiastic lover of sports of all kinds, for a visit of a 

 few days. Having obtained permission from a neigh- 

 bouring proprietor for himself and a friend to fish for a 

 couple of days in an excellent river, the Scaurdale, dis- 

 tant about forty miles, he kindly invited me to accom- 

 pany him; and, as the accounts he brought of the pros- 

 pect of sport were sufficiently promising, you may well 

 imagine I was by no means loth to accept the invite. 

 Though our own neighbourhood had for some time en- 

 joyed a full share of rain, the river we were about to 

 visit, he informed me, had not been so favoured, having 

 for several weeks been very low. The rains, however, 

 of the last few days having produced a considerable 

 " speyet," the salmon, which for want of water had long 

 been collecting and lingering about the mouth, were 

 at length able to make their way up the stream, and 

 were now doing so in great numbers. 



Alister being an experienced hand, the needful 

 preparations were left to his discretion ; and the first 

 beam of the morning saw us seated in a trap behind a 



