FISHING ANECDOTES. 195 



having one claw tightly grasped round the branch 

 of the willow tree, his leg was actually torn from 

 his body, and I picked him up dead, his other claw 

 still grasping the branch. Proceeding on my way 

 the same day I saw a man, who had caught this 

 salmon with a fly with the claw of the eagle sticking 

 firmly in his back. 



" (Signed) DRYALD McCAiG. 



. "April ith, 1851." 



Another curious anecdote is the hooking of an 

 otter by Archibald Grant, who was gamekeeper to 

 the then Lord Ward, afterwards Lord Dudley, and 

 I have no reason to doubt the statement he then 

 made to me, and which bears his signature. He 

 states that : 



" In the month of April, 1836, whilst fishing at 

 Ballogie, on the river Dee, in Aberdeenshire, in a pool 

 called ' Pit Slug/ I saw four or five different salmon 

 leaping out of the water as if disturbed by some- 

 thing. On looking down the pool I saw a rise like 

 a salmon, then another rise coming nearer to me, 

 another soon after, and the next time I saw quite 

 distinctly the head of an otter. He rose again, still 

 nearer. I then threw my fly above where I thought 



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