218 AN ANGLER'S SEASON 



in the year, it is incidental and fleeting 

 when the year wanes. What is the 

 explanation ? 



Anglers at large say that melted snow 

 has a colour other than that of ordinary 

 water, meaning that in the processes of 

 being frozen and of being dissolved 

 moisture acquires a dirty-grey tinge and 

 ceases to be limpid. The bare facts of 

 the case are as they state; but I think 

 that the true explanation has been missed. 

 We hear of this or that being " pure as 

 snow " ; but is snow always pure ? One 

 spring day, when looking for foxes on a 

 mountain in the watershed of the Tay, 

 I came upon cause for this sceptical 

 question. It was the remnant of a snow- 

 wreath so much tarnished that only when 

 we were almost upon it, and the dogs 

 were rolling about in it to be cooled after 

 their long climb, had we recognised it as 

 once having been snow. Soft for about 

 two inches on the surface, and rotten 

 ice below, it was extraordinarily dirty, 

 almost, in appearance at least, as much 



