i\ INTRODUCTION. 



These facts point out the necessity for a short manual 

 upon the northern systems of angling, and it is to be hoped 

 this small treatise will be found completely to answer the 

 purpose. 



We have attempted in its pages to confine our remarks 

 as much as possible to the practice of the gentle art ; ac- 

 cordingly, what may be termed its poetry is somewhat cau- 

 tiously excluded, except in as far as, by the introduction 

 of a few angling songs, it may assist in relieving the more 

 dry and methodical portions of the treatise. 



As some information is in demand from various quarters 

 respecting the raising of fish in artificial ponds, we have 

 incorporated a chapter upon this subject, restricting our 

 observations entirely to Scotland. We have also subjoined 

 a list of the angling districts, throwing into it such direc- 

 tions as will most readily assist the intending sportsman. 

 An abstract of the existing statutes by which our salmon 

 fisheries are regulated, will likewise be found appended to 

 the volume. From the more special part of the treatise, we 

 have excluded as much as possible all technical analysis of 

 the specific nature of fishes, venturing only here and there 

 to scatter our handful of ideas, as we have reaped them 

 from the track of personal experience and investigation. 



