ANIMALS INTRODUCED FOR SAKE OF SPORT 279 



have developed on their sides a peculiarity of their own- 

 great red splashes of colour. Many troutless lochs in the 

 wilds of Sutherland, such as Loch Bealach na Uidhe, 

 Loch na Ganvich and Loch Unapool, now contain a boun- 

 teous stock of trout, thanks to the energy of anglers such 

 as Dr Harvie- Brown. 



The habit of the sluggish, mud-loving Tench (Tinea 

 tinea) has led to its introduction into many slow-flowing 

 rivers, and natural and artificial ponds and reservoirs, such as 

 Pressmennan Lake formed in 1819 in Haddingtonshire, or 

 Hirsel Lough, in 1876, in Berwickshire, the Pitfour Ponds 

 in Aberdeenshire and the Tay. In such areas the "Fisher's 

 Physician," as he was long ago dubbed, lives and breeds in 

 security. 



Perch (Perca fluviatilis] have also been spread abroad 

 in our rivers by the agency of man, for though naturally 

 they are rare north of the Forth, individuals have been suc- 

 cessfully introduced during the past hundred years to the 

 Loch of Spynie near Elgin and the river Deveron, to the 

 river Don and Strathbeg Loch in Aberdeenshire, and to 

 many lochs and streams in the Tay basin and other valleys 

 beyond their natural range. 



Even the voracious Pike (Esox .lucius] has been granted 

 new areas in which to work its will on its lesser cousins, 

 examples of the success of its transportation being shown in 

 Gartmorin Dam on the Forth and Migdale Loch near Kyle of 

 Sutherland ; while the Char (Salvelinus alpinus}, interesting 

 relic of the cold torrents which rushed in our valleys as the 

 ice-sheets of the late Glacial Period melted, has been trans- 

 ferred from its cool, deep glacial lakes to many it would 

 not have chosen of his own accord. 



The gentle sport of angling is also responsible for the 

 increasing range of distribution of the Minnow (Phoxinus 

 phoxinus), for this tiny but active denizen of the river shal- 

 lows does not extend under natural conditions further north 

 in Britain than the waters of the Deveron, or at furthest the 

 Lossie. On account of its use as a bait for larger fish, the 

 Minnow has been set free in the Spey (although it may have 

 existed there before its artificial introduction), as well as 

 in the streams of Argyll and Arran, and of several other 

 localities whence it w,as originally absent. 



