COLQUHOUN ' S SALMON-CASTS AND STRAY SHOTS. * IT is the opinion of

Mr. Colquhoun that an angler, like a poet, must be born; "neither rules nor practice" will do. Perhaps

the same may be said of sportsmen in general. To make or throw a fly, to handle a gun, to take a leap, are arts that can be acquired ; just as any person with an average ear and a dogged determination can acquire the mechanical execution of a musi- cian, But the keen relish of the sport, and what is more, the keen observation that secures success, whether it be of atmos- pheric changes, natural appearances, or the habits and characters of living creatures, must originate in the sportsman's mind, how- ever it may be improved by cultivation. It is this last quality, when joined with fair literary power, which gives their attraction to the numerous modern books on sporting both at home and abroad.. Natural history, presented fresh from nature, becomes essentially their subject, though mixed up with sporting adven- tures, and landscape descriptions—both which are also very good things, when not overdone or presented with too much of sporting phraseology, approaching slang. From this defect Mr. Colquhoun is entirely free. He also pos- sesses a solidity of matter and closeness of style which if it does not attain the light sparkle of some writers is devoid of their

affected levity : at the same time he exhibits a quiet humour of his own. In strictness Salmon-Casts and Stray Shots approaches

the Miscellany, now giving the author's opinion on salmon fishing and cognate topics, and then passing to an excursion through the Duke of Sutherland's country. The author seems to have rented the sporting in Mull for some years, and he gives some account of

his achievements in that way, though mainly dealing with natural phenomena and fere nature—the last extending beyond game to

what are called vermin, seals, and the eagle itself. "My Mu- seum," formed entirely, as the author tells us, by himself and his sons, serves to furnish a list of rare creatures, as well as to intro- duce anecdotes connected with them and their capture. A lecture on British Natural History completes the work, the theme being the wonderful adaptation of animals to the circumstances of their habitat and mode of living, though more general traits are also brought forward. Among the latter is the falcon swoop, among the former a remarkable story of transmutation of colour.

The Flight and Swoop of the Gerfalcon —" Next in importance to the golden-eagle, as a bird of prey, is the ger-falcon. Inferior only in size

and muscular strength, fully his equal in courage, far his superior in dash, this splendid bird is the very model of grace, symmetry, and power. There is no grander sight of its kind than the stoop of the ger-falcon on its prey. On the coasts of our northern islands, where a few still linger, there are numbers of the swift-winged blue-rock. The shadow of the falcon comes over these doves. They take wing with a crash. The falcon keeps the sky

of them. His flight appears so light and easy compared to the rapid rush of

the pigeons, that they seem to be distancing him. But in truth he is passing them fast. Soon he gains headway enough, when, shivering his wings and doubling up into the smallest compass, he comes down prone like a cannon-ball. You hear the thunder of his wings through the air ; you see him emerge with his burden from the scared group, which now pursue their scattered and random flight."

Strange Instance of Assimilation.—" One more and a very remarkable instance, of this assimilation of colour. About twelve years ago there was

a trout taken in the small stream Urv, very nearly two pounds in weight, one side of which was black and the other yellow. The cause was evident. There had been a long drought, and the fish was forced into one small pool,

close to the opposite bank of black soil, where the only deep current ran. The consequence was, that the exposed side was light, like the channel of the stream, the other blaek the colour of the bank."

A grievance with Mr. Colquhoun as with many other anglers, is the destruction of salmon by nets and other improper if not un- lawful arts. In the hopes some entertain that the curious process of artificial breeding may replace this loss, and even introduce salmon into streams where they were never known, our author cannot share, having the failure of an ancestor in a nightingale experiment before his eyes.

Salmon-anglers are regarding with much interest the artificial propa- gation of salmon in the Tay and other rivers where the experiment is being tried ; bat whether the increase will ever reward the trouble of raising them, has yet to be proved. Should the plan fully succeed, it will no doubt be adopted in all our first-class salmon-rivers. To stock a stream originally destitute of this fish, would be a signal triumph ; and some people are even sanguine enough to attempt it. I rather think they are expecting tap mach, and that—like the effort of my late patriotic grandfather, Sir • Balmon-Casts and stray Shots; being fly-leaves from the Note-Book of John Colquiumn, Author of the "Moor and the Loch," &c. Published by Blackwood. John Sinclair, to enliven the Caithness muirs with nightingale music— after the first migration the fish will come back no more to a stream which their previous neglect showed to be unsuitable to their habits. Sir John's plan was excellent, had it only succeeded. He employed London bird-fan- ciers to procure nightingale eggs, and Caithness shepherds to find the nests of the equally soft-billed robin-redbreast. The London eggs soon displaced the Caithness ones, and robin carefully hatched and reared the embryo mclodists. In summer, numbers of young nightingales were seen about the bushes, but at the autumn migration they disappeared, never to return."

Although observations, hints, and anecdotes, relative to sporting, and information connected with natural history, form the staple of the book, there is curious and often laughable matter of a more general kind—sketches of character, travelling occurrences, and good stories. Here is one of the latter—a sequel to some poison- ing tales, as these tales were the sequel of experiments on the " vermin" of Mull.

" Flushed with success, my keeper ventured to poison the carcass of a sheep found dead on a remote corner of the hill. An old Scotch terrier, his constant companion, appeared to take no heed at the time, but, like other

tannic Scots,' determined to turn his secret to further advantage. That evening a first-rate setter was missing. He had been noticed only a short time before, but then where was old Bah ? On the instant the man was off to the carcass, but he had scarcely left the door, when Bah trotted soberly up, reeled dizzily round, and fell dead. His neighbour was stretched life- less beside the bait. It seemed pretty clear that the setter, being the larger and stronger dog, after being hospitably guided to the repast by the terrier, had refused him a share until he was satisfied himself. Little Bah had thus only snatched a stray scrap, and on seeing his greedy comrade drop dead, was frightened off having only eaten enough to prove fatal to him in the end.

" For a short time at low water, one of the most appropriate islets for poisoning was accessible from the shore. After the above lesson, my watcher was deliberating whether or not to risk the bait. The shepherd settled the point by ' the dog that crosses this wad be cheap o't.' His own much-prized collie was cheap o't' that very night. He felt he had bespoken the death of his faithful servant, and no doubt traced his misfor- tune to the ill-luck of some evil omen. * * * Hasty words, as the poor island-shepherd bitterly proved, like random arrows, often hit a mark they never were shot at ; but even solemn slow ones, when shot at a venture, sometimes find the joints of the harness.' Last summer a messenger having requested a London clergyman to announce if Dr — was among his audience he was urgently wanted,' the clergyman added from sympathy, And may God have mercy on the poor patient !' The doctor, in a rage, demanded and received a humble apology.'

There are not so many examples in this volume as in some other books of that animal power, so akin to reason, which puzzles the metaphysicians and divines, but here is one. It is told in con- nexion with remarks on the difficulty of getting good retrievers. " When the days were, like the old Aberdeen sermons, short and cauld and clear,' my son went down to Mull for some winter shooting. He had only a knowing quiet-tempered old pointer, who had never either retrieved or taken the water in his tife. One of the first-killed shots, a fine Mergan- ser drake, was being rapidly floated away by the tides : disdaining to imi- tate the discreet retriever, he [my son ?] instantly plunged into the sea—no uncommon winter exploit—and brought the bird to land. The pointer, whose aid he thought it useless to invoke, watched the whole proceeding from the rocks, and thoroughly comprehended it. Soon afterwards, on his master firing into a flock of turn-stones as they flitted past, and dropping three in the water, he volunteered his unsought services, and brought them one by one to the shore. Since then, although he never attempts to mouth game on land, he duly recovers what falls into the water, and in approach- ing wild-fowl is quite as careful not to spoil the shot as most thorough- broke' retrievers."