BAIT FISHING. 57 



head, and you generally hook them on the upper hooks. 

 In rivers, where numbers of minnows are found, you 

 must angle with the very smallest, not above an inch 

 in length, and use a proportionate tackle. The trout 

 in such waters love delicate tit-bits, and are absurdly 

 nice in their feeding. Artificial minnows are some- 

 times employed by anglers, but generally fail, except 

 in muddy waters and lochs. Mother-of-pearl makes 

 the best imitation there is a virtue in it which few 

 fish can resist. The natives of the South Sea Islands 

 fabricate their hooks of this substance, and use it as a 

 bait at the same time. 



We have heard it observed by practised minnow- 

 fishers, how a trout will sometimes dash at their maimed 

 and unnatural bait, while in the very act of dragging 

 it through a swarm of its own species. This singular 

 circumstance can be accounted for through the instinct 

 belonging to all predatory animals ; which instinct in- 

 duces them to hold in pursuit that which is wounded 

 and incapable of escaping, in preference to what is vi- 

 gorous and in good health ; wherefore we doubt not 

 but that the spinning minnow is taken for an injured 

 and stray fish, which a clever dart, although thrown 

 away upon its banded and more active brethren, will 

 readily secure. 



Trolling with par for large trout is a glorious pastime, 

 especially on a Highland loch, circled with mountain 

 scenery the craft of nature by incantation wrought, 

 when the morning stars sang together. It needs in- 

 tellect to enjoy it well, and a poet's heart to know its 

 luxury. Take with you some choice and idle spirit, 

 a rower he must be, that can manage your airy shallop 

 as the winds do a weathercock can chant a ballad of 

 yore, of ladye and chieftain, and pranksome elf and 

 kelpie wild can speak to the echoes and to yourself, 



