66 AN ANGLER'S SEASON 



lands, where summer is long and luscious ; 

 the Highland river, for many miles, is 

 bordered on both sides by mountains, 

 on some of which snow lies until June. 

 The Test is gentle, and in many stretches 

 muddy at the bottom ; the Tay is im- 

 petuous, and in most places its bed is 

 sand or gravel. No two rivers in the 

 Kingdom present a greater contrast. In 

 the general understanding the Test is an 

 ideal trout -stream while the Tay is an 

 overgrown burn. The Hampshire trout 

 are heavy, game, and of rich quality ; 

 while the Highlanders, it is supposed, are 

 little better than those of a mountain tarn. 

 This is all wrong. The average trout of 

 the Tay is in every respect as good as the 

 average trout of the Test. The Tay, like 

 the Test, is preserved, though not so rigor- 

 ously. That is the secret of its excellence. 

 Although among the mountains, it is not 

 what is known as a "mountain stream." 

 Its course lies through valleys. Although 

 in the Highlands, that is to say, it is not, 

 except in a volume, noticeably unlike any 



