262 SALMON AND TROUT. 



of body or mind. A well-earned holiday may be employed in 

 fifty different ways, each having its own fitness. But in com- 

 paring various recreations we may fairly give the palm to that 

 which suits the greatest number of cases ; that in which the 

 largest proportion of intelligent men can find healthful bodily 

 exercise combined with light yet interesting occupation for the 

 mind. And I know none which satisfies these conditions more 

 completely than angling. In its most refined form indeed — 

 I need hardly add that I speak of fly fishing — it rises to the 

 dignity of an elegant and ingenious art, combining in a singular 

 degree the active and the contemplative, the practical and the 

 scientific element. 



I have had my fair share of other more violent, perhaps 

 more exciting field sports, and am not insensible to their attrac- 

 tions. Happily, Piscator in these days need not wage a wordy 

 conflict with Venator or Auceps, for the same men often excel in 

 several branches of sport, and the friend whose opinion on the 

 following pages of angling notes I shall value most highly is 

 not only well known in the hunting field but singularly success- 

 ful in the practice of falconry. 



Instead of apprehending any lack of sympathy with the 

 zeal for my favourite recreation which leads me to add yet 

 another to the many contributions recently made to its litera- 

 ture, I rather fear that I shall be held to have done but scant 

 justice to its varied attractions and resources. . . . 



But I will not open my case with an apology. An angler 

 from boyhood— a fly fisher for more than fifty years, I will 

 rather ' assume desert,' so far as to claim a favourable hearing 

 for my experiences of an art which I can still practise with 

 healthy enjoyment, and in despite of age, with a fair measure 

 of success. 



The very name of fly fishing carries back my fancy to many 

 a pleasant hour — many a lovely scene. Once more afloat on 

 the still bosom of a Highland loch, 1 watch with eagerness the 

 dark line widening from its western shore, welcome herald of 



