302 THE HOME OF A NATURALIST. 



bait ever used. " Leepit " means scalded with boiling 

 water till the flesh leaves the shell quite readily. 

 This fishing of piltacks, either with fly or bait, prose- 

 cuted in the evening or early morning, is termed 

 "TheEela." 



You may think it poor sport and little to be com- 

 pared with trout fishing. I shan't argue the point. 

 I always regarded it as capital sport It is true it 

 does not require the same tender delicacy of hand and 

 eye as trout fishing. But on the other hand you 

 seldom fail to get a good basket, and that is more than 

 can be said to be your general experience if you are 

 a trout fisher. There is considerable satisfaction in 

 coming home from an evening at the Eela with 

 several hundred delicious fish. You feel that you 

 have fairly earned your supper, and done something 

 in the way of contributing to the food supplies of the 

 household. But I could never feel any satisfaction on 

 wending my way back from a day's angling for trout, 

 when, as often occurred, my basket was empty. And 

 I have never been able to regard it as great sport, 

 when the only result and reward of lashing away most 

 diligently in every likely pool, and trying all sorts of 

 flies, for hours, was " one glorious nibble ! " Moreover, 

 few streams or lochs anywhere can produce trout for 

 one moment to be compared with piltacks in richness 

 and piquancy of flavour. Returning from the Eela on 

 a fine summer night with a good haul, a score or so of 

 your newly caught piltacks are gutted, beheaded, and 

 plunged into boiling sea-water with a handful of salt 



