134 TROUT FISHING 



been gradually dwindling. Elsewhere the 

 balance between the state of affairs in the 

 olden time and that of to-day has been 

 kept nearly as it was. It has been so on 

 aU the private lakes and streams in Scot- 

 land and in England. What, then, do we 

 find there ? 



The sport being private, statistics are 

 not accessible ; but the question does not 

 lie in impenetrable darkness. Memory 

 plays us false by certain illusions which 

 are corrigible on calm reflection. From 

 time immemorial we have been talking 

 about a change in the climate. Winters, 

 we feel, are much less severe than they 

 were wont to be, and the summers much 

 less fine. Official records show that since 

 the Meteorological Offices were estab- 

 lished there has been no change in the 

 climate to justify that generalisation. 

 The truth is that, especially if we rejoice, 

 as is proper, in pastimes on the ice, 

 "good old-fashioned winters" linger in 

 our memories, while the mild ones which 

 intervened fade away, and are forgotten ; 



