LITTELL'S LIVING AGE-No. 203.-1 APRIL, 1848. From the North British Review. war. Persians, (surely a numerous people, if not a 1. The Angler's Companion to the Rivers and Lochs strong,) any more than a walk, however lengthof Scotland. By THOMAS TOD STODDART. ened, along the Rubicon, even from its lowly AdriEdinburgh and London, 1847. 2. A Handbook of Angling: Teaching Fly-fishing, will tell us who crossed it one fine day, when peratic mouth to gurgling fount on rocky Apennine Trolling, Bottom-fishing, and Salmon-fishing. By EPHEMERA. London, 1847 haps he ought not to have done so at least if he THE Art of Angling has for a length of time respected the senate, or feared Pompey and a civil been among the most highly favored, and mos The student of these passages in history assiduously pursued, of all our British sports, and any may practise what he pleases by the sides of famous contributions which tend either to explain its the-streams, but they will tell him nothing unless he ory, or improve its practice, cannot be otherwise also deeply ponders over many a dark and dismalthan welcome to a piscatorial public. It is pleasant looking volume, the very names of which we to read about angling during wintry weather, when scarcely know, and if we did, would almost fear to close-time and the fear of water-bailiffs debar the write; but we are sure that his notes would not be uses of the rod; and when the remembrance of of Limerick hooks, (O'Shaughnessy's,) or Kirby bright and balmy summer days, all past and bends, of lance-wood, hickory, whalebone or bamgone, and it may be, the anticipation of still more twist; nor of any form of feathers or their hue, boo; nor yet of mohair, dubbing, silk, or silvergenial seasons yet to come, throw a radiance even over the surrounding actualities of frost and snow Instead of these would stand such mystical memo"white, black, and grey, with all their trumpery.' -the imagination of the "contemplative angler" being, at the same time, no doubt, considerably Alex.-Justin.—Curt. iii., c. 1.—Lucan. i. v. randa as the following:- "Diod. 17.-Plut. in enlivened by the sparkling presence of a steady and 213.-Strab. 5.-Suet. in Cas. 32:" and, for though consuming fire. anything we can aver to the contrary, the supposed That one man may 185 That the study of works on angling during the other seasons of the year-the genial spring, the student might not be much wiser than he was besultry summer, or the melancholy, though manyfore, in spite of all this dread array. But the true colored "fall," is productive of equal advantage, piscator must be practical in all his ways; for no is another question. The fire-side pleasure, and perceptive teaching can give the steady arm and allthe water-side profit, of such works, are two dis-observing eye, or that peculiar combination of their tinct matters, though each is well worthy of atten- powers by which an adept's artificial fly is made— tive consideration in its way. after a semi-circular sweep in upper air-to vault read about angling by the household hearth till his boldly across a raging river, and alight upon its shoes are consumed from off his feet, and his win-surface within a couple of inches of some chosen ter store of coals reduced to ashes, and know spot-chosen either from past experience of its nothing of the subject after all, is just as certain as value, or it may be merely from that instinctive feelthat another man may be a first-rate angler without ing by which a practised angler ascertains, even in having ever had in hand a single book upon his much-loved art. This only proves the truth of the old adage that "practice is better than precept" -a saying which we don't here quote as anything very original, but rather as being peculiarly applicable to the art of angling, with a brief consideration of which we are now about to beguile ourselves, if not our readers. unaccustomed waters, "Where low submerged the princely salmon lies." practice give that other combination of relentless Neither can anything but ample and assiduous firmness and gentle pliability, with which both rod and reel are managed, after the glittering lounge, or great up-heaving swell of sullen waters, followed Let the student, then, bear thoughtfully in mind, proved the hooking of some goodly fish, which, unby a whir of line like an electric telegraph, has that angling differs in many respects from most der the guidance of a master's hand, may rush, and other subjects—for example, history—and in noth-spring, and flounder, all in vain ; but alas! in timid ing more than this, that books, by themselves books, are of no earthly use. The achievements of Alexander the Great, of Julius Cæsar, and other men of renown, we fear, can now be only learned "from the record," seeing that they lived and died, came, saw, and conquered, in ages long gone by, "A moment white, then gone forever." into which we cannot cast ourselves; and certain it But, although a man who "spareth the rod," is, that no exploration now-a-days of the banks of can never efficiently instruct himself or others in the Granicus will tell us who headed the Macedo-its practice, we do not mean to say that there is nian phalanx, and overthrew Darius and his 600,000 the slightest harm either in reading or in writing CCIII. LIVING AGE VOL. XVII. 1 and unsteady tyro's keeping, rises like a silvery way and its tail another, snaps the line with one meteor, and instantaneously turning its head one indignant plunge a books on angling. On the contrary, as many re-off in great numbers, discovering beneath a perfect spectable followers of the aquatic art are frequently parr, not to be mistaken in any one respect. This and unfortunately laid up by rheumatism, the cus- incidental discovery we further confirmed by retom of reading a good deal, and writing a very doubt of the fact, that parr are the young of salmon peated experiments, and are now convinced beyond little, may even be deemed advisable in certain in a certain state. cases—that is, where there is a remnant of reason, a remembrance of the first rules of grammar, some slight power of observation, discrimination, and expression, and a resolute resolve, while indulging in such works, never to lose temper as well as time, through the folly there abounding. Nor have we availed ourselves in the minutest degree of the observations of our friend the Ettrick Shepherd, in the Agricultural Journal; for we esteem his method of proof as somewhat fallacious, and at war with the established doctrine of chances; yet we have conversed with those who have asserted the accuracy of Mr. Hogg's statement, and we know it to be the constant practice of the bard of Altrive to mark the tail-fin of his parr with a peculiar incision, not difficult to recognize. We confess, how be able to catch the ten thousandth portion of the parr frequenting Yarrow; second, that out of a few hundreds that he might catch and mutilate, such a number should reach the sea, undergo the many chances of disaster on their way thither, the more hideous perils of that element: that they should as The germ or nucleus of Mr. Stoddart's present publication, is no doubt his small precursor entitled "The Art of Angling, as practised in Scotland," published so far back as 1835. We desire to re-ever, that it is wonderful, first, that Mr. Hogg should fer for a moment to that former work, in order to give the author credit for his sound doctrine on the great parr question, even at that early period, when we confess our own mind was greatly darkened. He was of course quite ignorant, in common with all his brethren of the angle, of Mr. Shaw's orig-cend to the exact stream of their birth, in preference inal discovery of the slow progress of that fish's growth in fresh water, and of the consequent length of time during which it sojourned there; and, indeed, as respects this latter point, his views are somewhat vague and misty, if not altogether inaccurate even now. But that he, with a wise and discriminating instinct, felt, although he could not scientifically prove, that parr were young salmon, is, we think, apparent from the following paragraphs: Three theories, barring the one of its being a distinct species, are abroad concerning the parr. The first and most general opinion is, that the parr belongs both to the trout and salmon species, and is a sort of mule betwixt them: the second theory maintained by some, reckons it to be the male of the sea-trout, whitling, or finnock; and the third, which is by far the soundest, is held, certainly, we confess, upon suspicious principles, by the Ettrick Shepherd, and assumes that the parr is nothing else than the fry of salmon. We shall consider these three opinions individually, and give our reasons for supporting the last.-Scottish Angler, p. 80. Our author then sets himself to demolish the first two theories—a work of supererogation by no to many others; and that when of good size and liable to be taken on ever so many occasions by huand leister, arrive uninjured at Mr. Hogg's feet, and man means, they should, escaping net and hook, otter allow him to transfix them through and through, in order to discover their personal identity.—p. 86. The most painful part of the discovery of the true character and status of the parr, is the fearful consequences which may now ensue to the youthful progeny of the human race. Although there under that particular and appropriate name, yet the has been no legislative enactment concerning parr, ascertainment of their being young salmon, brings them into the same category with that noble fish, and places them beneath the shelter of its shield and buckler. From this it follows, that if the act be strictly enforced and followed out, all youthful anglers (and anglers indeed of every age, but we most compassionate the young) must, in all rivers haunted by salmon, be totally debarred the pleasure of the rod, or use it at their peril, under the risk of conviction and heavy fine; because, as in most rivers the majority of small trout, common is impossible to angle, in however good faith, for ly so called, are actually parr or young salmon, it genuine trout, without killing also genuine salmon; and so the son of a respectable attorney, (we suppose there are such people,) who encreels, inter alia and inadvertently, a few innocent parr, as yet Nor is our hypothesis altogether imaginary, for unconscious even of incipient greatness," shall forwe come to the relation of a circumstance, the hap-feit and pay any sum not less than one pound pening of which grounded our belief in this theory; sterling, and not exceeding ten pounds," besides and no assailable one it is, if our eyes, which are good, did not deceive us. Last spring, after the forfeiting his rod or "other engine," whatever that time when smoults generally descend, we chanced may be. There is something most considerate and to capture a few of them in St. Mary's Loch, the very soothing in the "not exceeding" termination streams about which are a favorite breeding-place of the clause, as exhibiting, under the very aggrafor salmon. These were of a large kind, and had vated and heinous nature of the crime supposed, an been prevented from joining the spring shoals, by almost heroic limitation of punishment. Only ten their inability to discover the outlet to the lake; pounds for a parr! why, a person would have to they were soft and loose in the scale, but seemingly an enticing bait for pike, which frequent a smaller pay as much to a jeweller for a mock one, made sheet of water immediately above St. Mary's. In of silver and precious stones, which yet doubtless the afternoon, happening to use one of these smoults would not be half so beautifully lustrous, nor so on our pike tackle, we remarked how its scales came emblazoned with "orient pearls and gold," as the means difficult to do-and next endeavors to estab lish that which stands third in order, by a general reasoning not very accurate or conclusive in its way. But he then proceeds as follows: have been ascertained to be the young of salmon at all. But as the discovery has been clearly made, and widely promulgated, it cannot now be concealed, and must therefore just be submitted to by all concerned. But how, in these times of anticipated restriction and prosecution, the country can expect in after days a body of fair and fearless anglers, such as have hitherto characterized and ennobled our beautiful river shores, we cannot take upon ourselves to say; yet we know that as colonies, commerce, and the navigation laws, have been as nurseries to our naval force, so has the angling of trout and parr ever formed the initiatory practice of all the mighty and renowned Nim-rods of our water-courses. Is it to be so now no more forever? "The fishers also shall mourn, and all they that cast angles into the brook shall lament,” although they that "spread nets upon the waters" need not languish. Mr. Stoddart's present volume is so much more comprehensive and complete than his former one, that it may fairly be regarded altogether as a new and different work, and certainly one of the best and most important of its kind which has hitherto issued from the press. The author has been long and favorably known to both the angling and the literary world as an experienced sportsman and agreeable writer. Devoted to his art from early real samlet when it glanced and sparkled in the large towns, but the rural economy of small villiquid light of the translucent stream. It is one lages, and the juvenile privileges of the rising genof the cheapest things we have ever heard of, al-eration, both in town and country, that parr should though it is by no means unlikely that the poor lad may be sorely pushed before he can pay for it after all. But supposing this part of the case to be a hard one, far worse than any legal prosecution is the personal persecution which may and will take place throughout the live-long summer days, whereever a surly guardian of the river, on the look-out for prey, espies two or three as yet joyous urchins gathered together, near though not upon the village green. The village green, indeed! They are actually wading in the water, with long and rather scraggy legs, extremely bare, and their scant trousers tucked up, and rolled above their wallworn knees. What business have they there at such a time? Is the river theirs, or aught that it contains? Most surely not; and what if the villains are contravening Act 9th Geo. IV., sec. 4.* Who knows? Let us see, says the grim old water-bailiff, who was a noted nocturnal leisterer in his day, but having lost his right hand by the springing of a fox-trap, which he had set for hares, has now betaken himself to a less illegal, if not more legitimate vocation. The urchins are seized and examined, their pockets and pocket-handkerchiefs are emptied and unrolled, the "speckled parr" pounced upon and appropriated, and the youthful aspirants to the honors of a jointed rod, (as yet a willow-wand is all their boast,) reviled as poachers of the darkest hue, as having been ac-youth, a more recent residence of ten continuous tually caught killing salmon within view of the very school-house—(salary, the maximum, and fees several pounds per annum, with accommodation for a parlor boarder)—where they might surely have been taught far better things, and with a consider-the subject, and most ample opportunities both of able number of these valuable and most important fishes furtively concealed, though still alive, in a pint bottle. Their willow-wands are confiscated, and they themselves flee from the well-trodden turfy banks, and little gravelly bays of the ancestral stream, and betake themselves in terror, some (and these are chiefly orphans) to the lonely sides of pastoral mountains, others to their homes maternal, all losing half a Saturday, (its better half,) and dreaming for several nights successively of the inane, though to them dreadful, because rubicund, face of Justice Shallow, the "Triton of the Minnows,"taining local details regarding all our mighty rivers though no great judge of parr. This is indeed a new evil under the sun, and we see no help for it. Salmon, and fish of the salmon kind, whether old or young, have been almost immemorially, in some way or other, protected by an act of parliament; and boys, whether bare-legged or buskined, have likewise for time out of mind been in the custom of catching parr, thinking of no other act whatever but their own. In this peculiar posture of affairs, it may be considered as very questionable whether it was right, not as regards the civic economy of "That such as sell or have in possession smoults, or the young of salmon, or disturb the parent fish while spawning, shall be fined in sums not exceeding ten nor under one pound sterling." years on Tweedside, in the neighborhood of Kelso, with the further experience of two seasons by the banks of salmon streams in the north of Scotland, has given him a large measure of acquaintance with special practice and general observation of things and their lesser streams-extremely valuable as The *We believe that Mr. Stoddart also wrote an intermediate work, with which we are not ourselves acquainted, called "Angling Reminiscences," published in 1837. and Conan;" the "rivers of the Dornoch Firth ;"| the groundwork of its too often fatal affection, the "Oikel, Cassley, Carron, and Shin, Loch Shin, Loch Craggie," and many more; the "Naver and Strathy, the Hope, Dinart, and Borgie, Loch Stack, the Laxford, the Inchard, the Lochs of Assynt, the river Ewe, Loch Maree, the Lewis;" then "the Awe, and rivers and lochs of Argyleshire;" "the Clyde and streams of the south-west," and "the rivers of the Solway Firth." "Fate drop the curtain, we can stand no more." Mr. Stoddart's first chapter is occupied by his views regarding the river-trout, its character and habits; and contains many sound and sensible observations, along with certain statements of things which are hard to be understood. But of these anon. even for those fantastic artificial lures which anglers fondly call flies, because they sometimes in a certain small measure resemble these insects, and are made by impulsion of rod and line to wing their adventurous way, first through the air and then through the water, where assuredly they soon lose all resemblance to the things whose name they bear. The size to which trout attain, and the rate of their increase of growth, depend greatly upon circumstances, and vary with the nature of particular localities. An extensive range of ground, with an abundant supply of good food, makes speedy amends for want of years; while, on the other hand, if a trout is planted in a spring well, although it be fed, even by the fairest hands, by night and day, its increase of dimensions will be slow and slight. This is probably owing to the want of diversity of aliment, and which debars the fish from choosing its food in accordance with what some might call caprice, but which we shall simply name the natural inclination of the moment. is said that if you feed a human being upon pigeon pies for six weeks, he either dies or becomes a maniac. We never chanced to try the experiment either on ourselves or others, and would certainly, in the present state of the money market, rather decline the hazard of a contract to pay the expense of pie and paste to more than an extremely limited number of Irish navies who might survive the trial It The trout is unquestionably a voracious feeder. It consumes, in proportion to its size, a greater quantity of sustenance than any other fresh-water fish; nor, in respect to the quality of its food, is it quite so scrupulous as is generally imagined. Look, for instance, at the variety it indulges in, according as the seasons, hours of the day, and state of the water or atmosphere, prompt and direct it. In this variety are embraced the whole of the insect tribes, winged or otherwise; frogs, leeches, worms, slugs, snails, maggots, cad-bait, every sort and size of fly, beetle, and moth, the water-spider, &c. Then there are fish-the smaller ones of its own species, parr or fingerlings, minnows, loaches, and sticklebacks, along with the roe or ova of salmon; and I doubt not even young birds and water-rats are occasionally made prey of by hungry river-trout. Examine the certainly more humane in itself than the adminstomach, and you will generally find a large mass composed of insect-remains in a partly digested state, and superadded sometimes to these the remnants of a parr, loach, or minnow. The carp, the tench, the pike, are not more varied in their feeding than the common fresh-water trout. Even the pike itself, although a fearless, vindictive, and rapacious fish, is less gluttonous in its habits, and in its tastes infinitely more simple and congruous. istering of even infinitesimal quantities of arsenic, corrosive sublimate, prussic acid, or other poisonous and therefore rather unpleasant preparations, (as is the practice of physiologists,) to magnificent Newfoundland dogs, with lofty foreheads and thoughtful deep-set eyes-such as Landseer would love to paint and tails that would turn round a man-of-war even during ebb-tide, with a single swinge. But that a variety of food is conducive to the exuberant growth both of man and the lower creatures is certain. In all lochs, says Mr. Stoddart, characterized by good feeding-ground, and abundance of shelter, trout have a tendency to acquire large dimensions. This tendency, however, is frequently counteracted by the breeding accommodation, in the shape of streams or feeders, which afford great facility for spawning. Under such circumstances, the stock, instead of attaining to great size, become numerous, as is the case in many of our lochs, where the feeding grounds are both extensive and of good quality. The introduction of pike into such lochs aids, no doubt, in improving the dimensions and quality of the trout, but has not always this What is it, then, it may be asked, that renders the trout difficult of capture? Its greedy propensities, one might imagine, would naturally allow little room to the angler for the exercise of skill and judgment. But experience has taught otherwise; and the simple reason of this is, that with these propensities the trout unites epicure habits, caprice in its hours and seasons of feeding, cunning, shyness, and watchful distrust. As an epicure, it battens ou day upon surface or winged food, and the next upon ground sustenance. Sometimes the minnow will attract it, sometimes the worm; sometimes, turning from both with dislike or satiety, it will amuse its palate with delicacies of the minutest description-the larvae of water insects, or pellets of ova, picked up with address and assiduity from among the interstices of rocks and stones, from the foliage or roots of waterplants, or while floating past it in the descending current. And this caprice as For instance, St. Mary's loch, in Selkirkshire, to its food, while it tests the skill and experience tains pike and perch in considerable abundance, and of the angler, is assisted in doing so by the cunning yet the trout continue comparatively numerous, and and natural mistrust of the fish; its quick, vigilant are not distinguished on account of their size, seleye; its keen, distinguishing sense of smell, and dom exceeding a pound in weight, and averaging similar instinctive endowments and perceptions.- little more than half a pound. The breeding waters, consisting of Meggat, Yarrow, and five or six hillburns which help to people the lake in question, These omniverous propensities no doubt form are, in this instance, quite sufficient to keep up the p. 13. effect. con |