The Moor and the Loch: Containing Minute Instructions in All Highland Sports : with Wanderings Over Crag and Correl, "Flood and Fell"W. Blackwood, 1851 - 406 pages |
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The Moor and the Loch: Containing Minute Instructions in All Highland Sports ... John Colquhoun No preview available - 2020 |
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alpine hare angler appear bait barn owl birds boat bush cast chance Cladich colour couple deer distance diving ducks dun-birds eagle eyrie feeding fire fish flew flies flock forest fowl frequent frost gamekeeper gillaroo golden-eye ground grouse hare haunts hawk head Highland hill hook hunt Inch island keeper killed legs Loch Awe Loch Lomond look mallard minnow moors morillon morning mountain nearly nest never osprey pack pair pass perched pike poachers pool pounds weight prey ptarmigan retriever ring-dove rise river rock rose Rossarden salmon scarcely sea-loch sea-trout season seen seldom shooting shore side sight sitting shot sometimes soon sport sportsman spring stalking stream summer sure tawny owl trap tree trolling trout watch weather widgeon wild wild-fowl wind wing winter woodcock yards young
Popular passages
Page 195 - ... as they enter or leave the pool. Should a trout seize the bait, a little time may be given to allow it to gorge, which it will most likely do without much ceremony. If large, care must be taken to prevent it from getting to the top of the lyn, which may probably harbor another expectant. The best plan is, if possible, to persuade it to descend into the pool below. Having deposited the half-pounder in your creel, you will now crawl upon hands and knees, just so near the top of the lyn as will...
Page 207 - When the fly is dropped in the centre of the ring, the instant after the trout has belled up, it is ten times more likely to rise again than if the fly touched the water at ever so short a distance. . . . Another hint to the young angler is to mind what he is about when he approaches the still deeps of the river. Many are apt to pass them by altogether. . , . Perhaps the best test of a finished performer is the manner in which he fishes these dead, deep places, especially if there is little wind...
Page 169 - Loch, pp. 56, 57Here are good observations on the introduction of pike to keep down the shoals of small, ill-fed trout, with a striking instance of the voracity of the ravenous luce : — ' Many people think a loch injured by pike : on the contrary, unless very numerous, as in Loch Menteith, I have seldom seen one much worth fishing without them ; always excepting those where the Loch Awe trout or gillaroo are to be found. If a man prefers killing eight or nine dozen, with scarcely a half-pounder...
Page 219 - ... themselves by raising a head or flapping a wing. "He must now take one or two large marks, that he will be sure to know again, as close to the birds as possible ; and also another, about two or three hundred yards immediately above, further inland. Having done this, let him take a very wide circle and come round upon his inland mark. He must now walk as if treading upon glass ; the least rustle of a bough, or crack of a piece of rotten wood under his feet, may spoil all, especially if the weather...
Page 44 - ... wilder ; the best sport with the old harts is, therefore, obtained at the beginning of the season. They generally keep together ; and when their stately mien and branching antlers are seen in the distance it is enough to inspirit the most apathetic ; but when told to cock his double-barrelled rifle I could well excuse a novice for being scarcely able to obey. When there are hinds in the herd they often present themselves between you and the unsuspecting harts ; but even should they be at a distance...
Page 280 - I had, unfortunately, so placed myself as only to command the nest-tree, never doubting that it would light on this before it settled upon the nest — but I was out in my reckoning ; as soon as it had tolerably re-assured itself, it rose perpendicularly in the air, and came down upon its nest like a stone. The manner in which I was concealed prevented my getting V a flying shot ; so nothing remained but to fire through the nest, which proved a sufficient defence, as the kite flew away, and never...
Page 166 - Like battue-shooting, the steeple-chase is a bastard sport, an attempt to graft foreign customs on good English pastimes; both are only fit for the emasculated creatures, who have not sense or stamina enough to endure a day's toil in the legitimate pursuit of beasts and birds whom Nature seems to have designed for the purpose of testing the skill and resolution of men in the pursuit and capture of them.
Page 218 - ... both, but one always struggled out of his mouth : he then laid down one, intending to bring the other, but whenever he attempted to cross to me, the bird left fluttered into the water : he immediately returned...
Page 217 - I have fired ; and in no one instance has he spoiled my shot. I may mention a proof of his sagacity : Having a couple of long shots across a pretty broad stream, I stopped a mallard with each barrel, but both were only wounded. I sent him across for the birds : he first...
Page 217 - ... the wind been blowing towards the shore, the swan was so disabled, he could not have made head against it, but as it blew sideways, the creature managed to paddle itself out into the waves, every now and then uttering its wild, piping cry. There was no boat nearer than a mile ; we, however, set off full speed, and with a shockheaded urchin at the helm, launched into the deep. The wind was blowing a perfect gale, the waves lashing over, wetting us to the skin ; and every time we changed our course,...