122 AN ANGLER'S SEASON 



" sporting " in the ordinary sense, I should 

 like to correct the thought. The day 

 under review was not by any means my 

 first on the waters of the uplands, and I 

 know that the trout there are in their 

 moods almost as much as any other trout 

 subject to those subtle atmospheric in- 

 fluences which give a constant interest to 

 the pursuit. It is not every day that you 

 can fill your basket. Sometimes you will 

 have a nibble or a rise almost at every 

 cast ; on other days rises or nibbles will 

 be few. Never once have I found moun- 

 tain trout taking flies indiscriminately. 

 Always they show an unmistakable pre- 

 ference for one particular lure. 



Does not this indicate that the hill 

 streams are worth cultivating in the 

 interest of the scientific angler ? Surely 

 it does. The trout, it is true, are small ; 

 but they are capable of becoming large. 

 All trout, it would seem, are of the same 

 race. Their size is merely a matter of 

 feeding. That, in its turn, depends upon 

 the nature of the stream. If the nature 



