4 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS. LCHAP. 1. 
trout, is one made as follows :—Body yellow floss silk, with land- 
rail wing, and a turn or two of red heckle near the head. In 
most waters this fly succeeds. In some of the small black look- 
ing lakes, far up in the solitudes of the mountains, where no 
person is ever seen, unless a shepherd may chance now and then 
to stray in their direction, or the deer-stalker stops to examine 
the soft ground near the water edge for the tracks of deer—in 
these lonely pools the trout seem often as unconscious of danger as 
birds are said to be on a newly discovered island ; and they will rise 
greedily at the rudest imitation of a fly fastened to a common piece 
of twine, five or six trout rising at once, and striving who should 
be caught first. The fish in some of these lakes which are situ- 
ated at a great height, are excessively numerous, but generally 
black and small. I have seen little black pools of this kind 
actually crowded with small trout. 
The otter takes to the waters far up in the hills during the sum- 
mer time, where she may rear her young in the midst of abun- 
dance and in solitary security. Making her lair on some small 
island or point of land covered with coarse grass or rushes, she 
lives in plenty and peace, till her young having grown strong, 
and the frosts of winter having commenced, the family remove, 
like their betters, to the sea-side, passing over hill and valley in 
a straight line, to some remembered rocks and caves, where the 
dam has wintered before. 
Round the’small hill-lake, too, are seen the tracks of the fox 
and wild cat. Their nightly maraudings seem to lead them always 
in the direction of water. During the heats of August, when at a 
loss for grouse, I have always found it a good plan to hunt round 
any lake that may be at hand—as the old birds lead their young 
daily to the water’s edge to drink, and to pick up the small 
angular stones, numbers of which are invariably found in the 
stomach of the grouse, being probably necessary to grind down 
their dry and hard food. The hen-harrier and falcon too, seem 
to hunt in these places, knowing that if grouse fail them, they 
are sure to find either a duck or snipe, or perhaps a large flock 
of plovers huddled together on the pebbles which edge the water. 
In fact, the mountain lake seems to be always a kind of rendez- 
vous for all wild animals; and I doubt if any grouse-shooter or 
