66 FISHING EXCURSION. 



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 

 determined, as the season for salmon-fishing was now 

 drawing 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 neighbouring proprietor for himself and a 

 friend to fish for a couple of days in an excellent 

 river, the Scaurdale, distant about forty miles, he 

 kindly invited me to accompany him ; and, as the 

 accounts he brought of the prospect 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 enjoyed 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 col- 



