FROM WEIR TO MILL. 81 



a deadly lure for a large carp. If you wish to catch 

 fish, you must know how they feed. The carp family 

 feed heads down and tails up as a rule : they pick 

 the bait off the bottom and rise with it. As they 

 are to a great extent vegetable feeders, and have 

 throat teeth, all our fishing readers will understand 

 my meaning here. 



Now for the reason why it is of no use fishing, at 

 the present time, in the stretch of water above men- 

 tioned. Otters, those highly sagacious beasts, are 

 there in numbers. 



The bleak have left off rising for the midges 

 that fall in small clouds on the water ; the shadows 

 of the trees are dark and dim, a dull tawny hue is 

 all that the setting sun has left behind it, and the 

 river mist is curling over it. 



Hark! what is that mysterious sound? — some- 

 thing like a deep whistle, mixed with hissing. It is 

 answered more faintly higher up. It is the otters' 

 dinner call ; they are answering each other as they 

 come down the river — not a couple, but three or four 

 of them. Small heaps of large scales and bits of fish 

 bones have been found for a long time now by those 

 who know where to look. Until they must shift, 



F 



