286 THE BREAMISH. 



during their season ; as also the alder-fly, stone-fly, or 

 any conspicuous burly fly. An occasional perch is also to 

 be met with, and abundance of fine eels. And there is 

 one advantage attending this part of the Aln above the 

 dams, not possessed by most other streams, that it always 

 contains plenty of water, and is constantly in order for 

 fishing, even during the severest droughts ; in which 

 respect it very much resembles a lake. I would also 

 beg to remind the angler intending to practise on this 

 stretch of water, that a landing-net will be an indispen- 

 sable article, as the banks, mostly of clay, rise perpendi- 

 cularly out of the water. An occasional salmon, and a 

 few bull-trout, sometimes enter the Aln below Alnwick, 

 but their farther progress is arrested by the mill-caulds 

 at that place. 



THE BREAMISH, 



the designation of about fifteen miles of the head- 

 waters of the river Till, though rather small and rapid, 

 running, as it does, over a shallow, gravelly bed, never- 

 theless contains numbers of fine streams, well stocked 

 with moderate-sized trout ; with a few ranging from half 

 a pound to three quarters, and an occasional ram avis of 

 one pound in weight. In autumn, when the fish in the 

 lower parts of the river run up to spawn, and again in 

 early spring, when they return from the small becks in 

 the Cheviots, after completing that process, very heavy 

 trout are occasionally to be met with, doubtless the 

 denizens of the deeps of the Till or Tweed. A leviathan, 

 weighing 5 Ib. 8 oz., was captured with minnow one 



