108 THE SALMON RIVERS OF SCOTLAND 



nineties fish were freely taken in the Balmoral waters at the open- 

 ing of the season in February. Mr. Michie, the King's factor, 

 informs me, however, that the spring fish are apparently not coming 

 as far up at an early date as formerly, and the opinion has been 

 expressed by more than one that the actual stock of fish has recently 

 become rather less in spite of the removal of nets, to which I shall 

 refer presently. 



It is unsafe to make any deduction without first acquiring 

 statistics, which will show if the reported decline really exists. 

 After that, the question of whether the existing fish are changing 

 their habits, owing, it may be, to changing thermal conditions, would 

 have to be considered. Unfortunately the production of reliable 

 records of catch for a series of years has always been a matter of 

 great difficulty in waters which are largely let. It would appear, 

 however, that the early fish are still got in good numbers as far as 

 Ballater. I will only say here, in passing, that the spring fish of 

 the Dee are almost exclusively of the small class, and that to 

 understand the upkeep of stock of those small spring fish, we must 

 carefully watch the upkeep of grilse, for the small springers belong 

 to the same hatch of fish as the grilse of the previous year. 



The Linn stops the further ascent of early fish, as comparatively 

 small falls do in all other districts, until such time as the wintry 

 conditions of temperature are no longer present in the water. By 

 the second or third week of May, as a rule, the fish are willing to 

 ascend the Linn and to push on through the rough streams above. 

 In the pool above the linn, I understand, the Princess Louise had 

 12 fish one day. 



As the river proceeds towards Braemar, past Mar Lodge, the 

 glen gradually widens, and the open, sinuous, and gravelly character 

 so familiar in the main section of the river, appears. Pools and 

 streams succeed one another in pleasant, open, shingly bends, beauti- 

 ful to the eye of the angler and the lover of nature. At the Linn 

 the river is 1214 feet above the sea; at Braemar it is about 1066 

 feet up. Passing Invercauld, the current slows up for one or two 

 quiet pools skirting Invercauld Park, then passes below the road to 

 the right in the direction of Balmoral Forest, and is in about a 

 couple of hundred yards crossed by the picturesque old Bridge of 

 Dee one of General Wade's structures seen in the illustration. 1 

 The view here is over a considerable part of Ballochbui Forest, up 



1 Another bridge, also called the Bridge of Dee, or the old Bridge of Dee, exists on 

 the outskirts of Aberdeen. 



