160 CHAR 



the midges and gathered round what Cowper would 

 like to have called 'the hissing urn,' but what the 

 faithful chronicles must tamely record as a couple of 

 thermos flasks. One of the party who had spent the 

 afternoon fishing joined us as we sat there, and turned 

 out the contents of his basket for inspection — forty or 

 fifty trout of the usual sprat-like dimensions. I was 

 fingering them idly when presently to my great surprise 

 I spotted a char — and then another. Yes — there was 

 no mistake in the matter: here were a couple of 

 veritable char, where no char had ever been heard 

 of before. 



Now, although there is no more productive hunting- 

 ground for the field-naturalist than our own beloved 

 land, hunters abound out of all proportion to its area. 

 Every mountain and plain, every lake and river, every 

 line of coast, have been so overrun by specialists in all 

 the 'ologies, that the odds are a million to one against 

 anybody who is not a specialist discovering anything 

 fresh or adding one jot or tittle to the sum of knowledge. 

 Had this outside chance befallen the humble individual 

 who pens these lines ? Was his obscurity at last to be 

 illumined by the subdued but lasting lustre kindled 

 by the discovery of a new species or subspecies? If 

 Dr. Gtinther was justified in classifying one kind of 

 char S. Willughbii, and another S. Grayi, what hindered 

 that another should be inscribed S. Maxwelli ? which 

 would be all the more appropriate as it would involve 

 my host and myself in a common glory, or, let us say, 

 in a faint ray of distinction. Hon cuivL contingit — it 

 is not every man's destiny to discover a new char: 



