106 ABERDEENSHIRE. 



with four or five hairs to the fly ; and for salmon, 

 seven to the tippet. The yellow trout were often 

 as large in size as 7 Ibs. ; and I have often 

 heard the story repeated by my late lamented 

 and respected friend, J. C., who was a keen 

 fisher then, that one afternoon he took one of 

 this weight, and, on expressing it to be of the 

 salmon kind, on showing it to Jock Bannerman, 

 he swore a great oath, and said, it was only after 

 ct but a yellow trout. 



There can be but little doubt that another 

 cause of so much falling away of both kinds of 

 fish is the greater amount of fishing going on 

 now in nearly all our rivers than there used to 

 be in earlier days. Look at the amount of 

 trouts, by a calculation that Mr Stewart lately 

 made, as relating to the Gala, 30,000 trouts 

 being fished from it every year (an amount, by 

 the by, I very much question), in fact they are 

 hi every place ( ower muckle hunted ;' and all 

 salmon rivers, too, are much overfished with still 

 nets, wear short nets, and stake nets (see the 

 Duke of Richmond's evidence before the Com- 

 mittee of the House of Commons, on the last 

 Tweed Bill). 



But to return to our muttons, as the French 



