190 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXXII. 



char, a fish of mysterious habits, never or seldom 

 taking the fly or any other bait, but at a certain season 

 (about the middle of October, as far as my experience 

 goes) migrating in great shoals from the deepest 

 recesses of the lake, where they spend the rest of 

 the year, to the shallows near the shore. During 

 this short migration they are caught in nets, and 

 frequently in great numbers. 



On the east of Sutherlandshire there are several 

 excellent salmon rivers : amongst the best, if not 

 quite the best, of these is the " Shin/' which flows 

 out of an extensive lake of the same nsime, which is 

 full of most excellent trout. In some parts of this 

 county the propensity of salmon to ascend streams 

 is most strikingly exemplified ; nothing can exceed 

 the determination with which they work their way 

 from river to lake, from lake to burn, and so gra- 

 dually ascendmg every running stream until at last 

 they reach rivulets so small and shallow that you 

 wonder how two salmons can pass each other in 

 them. Taking advantage of every flood which 

 swells the burns, they work themselves up shallows 

 and narrow places where apparently there is scarcely 

 sufficient water for the smallest trout to swim. 

 When they have fulfilled their spawning duties they 

 drop back during the winter floods to the larger 

 streams and thence to the sea, where they become 



