wing, three inches of the fine end of the feather; if from a large tail-feather, it will be a part selected from the side, of the same length. This feather is supposed to imitate a small young fish.

The person who manages the rods will sit on a plank across the bows of the boat, as near the stern as he conveniently can, with the ends of the rods inserted into a small faggot tightly fastened underneath the plank on which he is sitting, so that he will have all the rods within his immediate control; the gentle and regular progress of the boat keeping the lines at full stretch, so that the fish on taking the flies hook themselves. When the fish take very freely, two persons will do more execution with the rods than one.

The amateurs of this exciting sport in fine weather generally assemble on the island an hour before sunset, draw their boats up on the rock, prepare their flies, chat, and smoke their pipes till the wished-for moment arrives, when there is a simultaneous movement towards the boats, and in a few minutes they are all afloat. This moment, most exciting to those who are fond of the sport, must be witnessed and participated in to be appreciated. At the time of the sun's disappearance below the top of one of Jura's mountains to the west, the smooth and glassy intervals between the currents present an

unbroken, speckless, mirror-like surface, when, after an interval of about ten minutes, the golden track of the sun's descent being no longer visible, in an instant, as if by magic, a thousand bubbles and small circles are perceptible, indicating the arrival of a host of fish at the surface; and to these spots all the boats speed their way, rowing backwards and forwards through them at a gentle pace and if the fish be in good humour for taking the fly, which is generally the case if the evening, or rather night, be fine, each person. who has the management of the rods will have continuous occupation, excitement, and sport till half-past ten, eleven, or even sometimes as late as twelve o'clock; following the fish from one favourite spot to another, as every now and then they disappear from one place and exhibit themselves in another; so that the rowers have as much excitement in the pursuit as the man at the rods in the taking of the fish. At eleven or twelve, when the first act is over, the boats retire to the island, and await the morning's fishing; which is as good as the evening's, only not so durable, as it commences at two and finishes about four; i. e., half an hour before sunrise. When the fish takes freely, I do not know any kind of fishing more exciting than this nocturnal rod-fishing; as it will constantly happen that you will have a fish on each rod at the same time,,

pulling with all his might, and bending the point of your rod below the surface of the water, and sometimes it happens that one escapes with a rod and line, and then you are obliged immediately to pursue your rod if you do not wish to lose it. If it gets into the current it is no easy matter to overtake and recapture it: but this rarely occurs, as the fish when hooked generally take a perpendicular direction, and not a horizontal one. However, whenever the "contre-temps does arrive, it creates confusion and spoils sport.

One boat will sometimes take as many as 200 fish in one night; generally from about half that quantity to 150. The farmers and poor people who pursue this mode of fishing, salt their fish and keep them for their winter's use. The seith are by no means a first-rate fish. The small ones are, however, very good; the larger ones only fit to be salted; and the leith, both great and small, are a first-rate fish, quite equal to the whiting. I have taken them frequently of a pound-anda-half weight; but very much larger ones are sometimes caught.

To pursue this rod fishing comfortably, a pair of waterproof overalls and a light macintosh are essentially requisite, as in swinging the fish into the boat five out of six will strike against your body; and if you fish with one rod under the

water, which is a mode frequently and successfully resorted to when the fish do not take freely on the surface, keeping the point of your rod down in a perpendicular direction as low as you can, in raising your rod to bring in your fish you will receive a large supply of water down the handle of the rod; against which inconvenience you can only be protected by your waterproof sleeves and overalls: and towards the morning, in the very finest weather, you will be readily accessible to cold, and to the extreme discomfort of having your clothes saturated with sea water, which would inevitably be the case without this waterproof protection. Independently of the wet, you will not find a little extra clothing through the night an incumbrance. Woollen gloves I have also found to be a great comfort in this sort of fishing.

In addition to this island at the northern end of the sound, to which I have just alluded, there are numerous others equally worthy of the sportsman's notice, which I have visited at different seasons of the year, either for fishing, shooting, or in quest of sea-swallows' eggs. Some in groups of three or four together, some singly; some near the shore, others at a distance from it; some large, some small; some with excellent pasture for sheep and black cattle, others with heather and coarse grass; and some few smaller ones

almost exclusively of rock.

In the immediate

vicinity of all these there is good rod fishing at particular seasons of the year; the largest fish being generally taken near those which are most distant from the shore. Where the islands are parallel to one another the fishing is generally very good, the currents being strong in the channel between them and at the extreme ends. About those which are isolated the currents are not so strong and the fishing not so good, with the exception of such as are at a distance from the shore, where the tide is always powerful and the fishing excellent.

Some of these distant islands are large, and good for wild-fowl shooting, affording the sportsman, from their peculiar construction, great facilities of access to the fowl, which assemble during the winter months in very great abundance; invited and attracted by the numerous nooks and corners which are sheltered from the wind and undisturbed by the current. On two or three, where the pasture is good, I have constantly found and shot wild geese, and frequently snipes, and occasionally golden plover. These islands are at a short distance beyond the southern end of the sound, and about one mile and a half from the shore, and are, perhaps, the very best of all the islands for fishing; herring, as well as large seith and leith, being constantly taken in