210 AN ANGLER'S SEASON 



great rivers flowing to the east coast, and 

 of the time when these have migratory 

 fish, it is true that sport with seatrout 

 and salmon has already been found on 

 streams flowing to the west. Why do 

 the fish run plentifully into the west- 

 coast streams at a time when there is 

 little or no run in the others ? There 

 are two causes. One of them is due to 

 Nature; the other is the work of man. 

 Look at the configuration of Scotland. 

 Nearly all the rivers flowing into the 

 North Sea, on the east, are very long, 

 and all those which fall into the Atlantic, 

 on the west, are very short. That is 

 because the range of hills separating the 

 great watersheds is not at any part much 

 more than twenty miles from the west 

 coast. Whilst both sets of watercourses 

 have approximately the same origin, they 

 have different temperatures. Strange as 

 it may seem, in the early half of the year 

 it is the western streams that have the 

 lower temperature. Far into the spring 

 these short waters, fed by melted snow, 



