THE CARP FAMILY. 149 



swimming about, snapping impotently at the gnats and 

 midges, perceived the apparently drowning insect, and 

 dashed at it, " taking the death " with a plunge like a 

 heavy Salmon, and being fairly hooked in the jaws. Away 

 went the astonished dog towards the opposite shore away 

 went the line and away went the equally astonished 

 angler himself, who, anxious to save his tackle, and being 

 withal of somewhat pursy and plethoric habit, was obliged 

 to make desperate efforts to keep up with his novel detenu. 

 Finding himself thus chased by what must have appeared 

 to him to be a man brandishing a huge whip, the dog made 

 for home as fast as his legs could carry him, followed by 

 the shouts of the spectators, and also by his unwilling 

 captor, who, despite his obesity, gallantly maintained the 

 race, springing over " bank, bush, and scaur," and steering 

 his prisoner safely through opposing furze-brakes, until he 

 landed him at his master's domicile. 



It once happened to me to hook a wild duck in a some- 

 what similar manner in Loch Lochy, except that in this 

 instance the cast, which was made with a spinning bait, 

 was intentional. The duck was " hooked-foul" under water 

 in the act of diving, and continued submerged until netted 

 at the side of the boat. The author of the ' Angler's Ram- 

 bles ' mentions an anecdote of a hare being thus taken with 

 a trout-fly as she was attempting to swim a river. The 

 fly, adroitly cast, stuck into the fur of her back, and, as 

 her captor remarked, landed her " comfortably." 



Curious instances are related of birds and other animals 



