34 FISHING GOSSIP. 



deadly foe to the ova and young fry than a lusty 

 yellow trout. Happy they who can afford to keep a 

 snug box by a Highland river, and warn off intruders ! 

 But may they be happier still and with the memory of 

 former courtesies before us, we freely admit that there 

 are many such who, having this power, have also 

 the heart to use it liberally ; who make glad the soul 

 of wandering fishermen in the north men willing to 

 pay either in coin or gratitude for a day's sport, 

 though they cannot rent a river. 



In the grilse season in July and August when 

 most folk love to go a-pleasuring, at least some parts 

 of these northern rivers might be made accessible to 

 the tourist without prejudice to the sport of the legi- 

 timate proprietor. The fish are all on the move ; you 

 may see them in shoals rushing over the fords, and 

 sunning themselves in joyous leaps, as they plunge 

 into the deep water above. Do you think they are 

 to stop there ? Not they. On they go, further and 

 further eveiy day, up the rapids, through the long 

 silvery pools, over the cataracts, into the narrow 

 glens among the birches, where the water is all white 

 with foam and the sound of its broken fall is inces- 

 sant. There the exuberance of their joy sated at 

 last they "skulk" among the rocks in nooks and 

 crannies known only to themselves, impervious to the 

 wiles of the fisher, until the time arrives when they 

 proceed to the great business of their life, and the 



