As the eggs of the ring and stock dove are found both early and late in the season, I have heard many affirm, that they breed more than once in the year. This I do not think the case, except where the nest has been robbed early, when, like other birds, they will probably lay again. We all know, that in the domestic state, the pigeon breeds nearly the whole year round; but this is merely an effect produced by domestication, a fact proved in the common fowl, for the pheasant, and all the other gallinaceous birds, in a wild state, lay but one clutch of eggs in the season unless the first nest has been destroyed.

Whether we view this interesting group of birds as a source of sport, pleasure, or profit, they have equal claim on our attention. I have been a pigeon fancier for some years, but fond as I am of my flight, I can hardly say whether I have derived the most pleasure in studying the habits of this bird, in the wildness of its native freedom, or subjected to the confinement of the dove-cote, or " pigeon-loft."

Тоно.

WANDERINGS BY MANY WATERS.

SPRING FISHING AT CASTLE-CONNEL.

THE Shannon is open for angling on the first of February, but during that, and the greater part of the following month, there is not, as I stated before, sufficient sport to repay the trouble attendant'on it. It is not until the first of April, that the slats or spent fish have well cleared off to the sea, and those which made earlier departures are on full return to the river-they come up in large shoals about this time, in great force and vigour-the first run consists chiefly of small salmon, rarely exceeding 14 or 16lbs.; the larger ascend, gradually and later and mix with the crowd, like the fashionable arrivals of the great elsewhere, always late in the season, just about or after Easter. The waters, at this period of the year, are swollen and violently rapid, so much so, that many of the best holes are unapproachable in cots, and much of the river which before was fished by "throwing," is now only to be manœuvred by "dragging"-this latter system is, however, the most killing, and I shall describe it after a word or two on the tools and tackle required for our early fishing. As to the rod, it should not be more than twenty or twenty-one feet long, beyond that length it becomes unwieldy, and the advantage of additional power gained, is lost to you by the cumbrous weight which prevents your handling your fish with delicacy; the lines used here are strong hemp, somewhat thicker than whipcord, of a slate grey colour, and at least ninety or

one hundred yards long; these may be soaked in linseed-oil, or what I prefer, in a solution of sulphate of copper, or in Kyan's preservative, for these two latter preparations will effectually secure them from rotting, and they may be safely depended on throughout the whole season. The next, and most important article is "Gut," and this, like every thing good, is hard to be got-by far the best that I have ever been able to procure, was from Edmonston, in Liverpool-his supply is se abundantly large, that you may pick and choose your links from his stock, as round, equable, and transparent as you could desire, and your choicely selected hanks will even then cost a much lower price than you would have to pay in London—indeed, I never saw really good salmon gut in London. Your casting line is to be formed of four or five links of this gut twisted, and this must be done in the ordinary way by the hand, not by the pretty, ingenious machine which is recommended and sold for spinning the flies together; for though it may save time, and be very amusing to twirl about, and may turn out a smooth, neatly ribbed line-yet it is not a safe line. The fault of the instrument consists in its twisting too tightly, its revolutions are so frequent and close, turning thread over thread so much at right angles, instead of at long oblique folds, that it makes a twist so close and tight, as frequently to cut through or chip the links of which it is composed. Gut is somewhat brittle in its texture, its glutinous nature renders it especially so; when either dry or old, it will not bear this compact interweaving; the texture of your casting-line, therefore, should be of that more loose and open twist which is obtained by the old-fashioned method of working it by the hand. I have been taught this by smart experience-my tasty whirl-a-bout, with some forty or fifty yards of once prime gut, which it has tortured into strangled casting-lines, is very much at the service of any one who will take it off my hands, at a discount low as Mexican bonds. The hooks required are of the largest size, I do not know that they have any letter to designate them, as the smaller sizes have, but they are of the largest and strongest description made either for Scotch or Irish rivers.

Having thus settled over our apparatus, suppose we get a day's fishing on "The Hermitage Waters," the most sporting locality of all the Shannon, and, with Mr. Spaight's permission, begin fishing at "the back of the Leap," a broad sheet of water, extending across the whole breadth of the river, with a stiff, smooth stream, varying from four to six feet in depth-this, from its extent, is to be "dragged," you could never "throw" sufficiently wide, nor fish it close enough, by any other method. The plan is simply this-From each side of the cot, you put out a rod, and one from the stern, the two side rods, with about twenty-five or thirty yards of line stretched, the one at the

stern with somewhat more, say thirty-five yards. The boatmen, one of whom sits behind with a paddle, to stir and propel, the other a-head, with a single oar, then begin at the upper part of the water, rowing from side to side of the river, keeping the boat as straight as the stream will permit, and dropping down at each turn about a foot or two, so that the baits shall traverse in the sweep across and across almost every square yard of water. The regulation of this dropping down is managed by the man a-stern, who takes a sight abroad, fixing on some object on the shore to guide him, and changing it to one a trifle lower each time he steers across. The motion is steady, and time being allowed at the turning of the cot, the lines are all equably stretched by the current, and being kept equi-distant, never entangle. The thing requires some little management and practice, but when well performed, it is a most killing system, for every particle of the water is fished over, and the bait offered for acceptance to every individual on the premises, with an undisturbed conveyance of it too to each fish, for by dropping from above, downwards, there is no scareing by boat or paddles; the boat does not come over them until they have twenty or thirty yards before refused the bait. It is usual to begin with two flies and one bait, but double whichever takes best. The proper fly is a monstrous device to cheat a fish with; it is unlike anything above, below, or in the waters - there is nothing in creation like it; the more gaudy and unnatural you can mix its colours, the more captivating does it prove. Large wings formed of the yellow and green feather of the orange macaw, a sky blue ditto from the under-tail of the same, and a blood-red main feather, with a few top-knots of the golden pheasant; add to these, as a coverlet to the top, some long spires of the speckled brown tail of the golden pheasant, and as many more from the blue and yellow macaw, and you have a tolerable pair of wingsbody silk, black, yellow, green, red or purple, as you think best, with hackles varied ad libitum; heading of coloured mohair, and cravat of large jay's hackle; tinsel and twist, either silver or gold, as may best correspond with the other colours, to be added in the usual way. This is the true killing fly in March, April, and the early part of May, after which time it is to be made less gorgeous, and gradually reduced in size and plumage. There are, of course, other kinds used, but they are mere variations of this, which gives the standard character of all. The goldfinch is a capital fly, it is composed almost entirely of golden pheasant top-knots, with a few mixed fibres of the pheasant, and blue and orange macaw tail feathers to overlap the top of the wings, but it is very expensive; a good sporting fly of the description will cost you from twenty to thirty shillings. At this early season of the year it is difficult to procure fresh baits. The best, when they are to be had, are the keiloch-rou (red hag) and the small gudgeon. The graveling or

par, from its silvery brightness, is also very attractive, but these are only to be bad of the previous year, having been kept in dry salt, which taking away from their plumpness, shrivels them into hard, badshaped baits; they answer, however, at times far better than they promise. In lieu of these fresh baits, the ordinary substitute employed is the tail of an eel, the older it is the better, for pickle and keeping make it daily more glistening and tough. I have used throughout this season one which has been doing duty for the last three years; it has this advantage, too, that it does not require renewing, as the fresh bait does, after every fish you catch. A pair of blue beads for eyes, and a few silver spangles stitched on to give the sparkling of scales, is no bad deception. I fancy it takes well. Baits of course are to be mounted on swivel lines.

After a few drags on "the back of the leap," I hooked a fish, which, at a rush, spun out my reel to its last few yards, straight as a shot down the stream, to the very edge of the fall on the verge of Poul-a-hassa. It was no go beyond, the water was too steep and tumbling; so making up his mind to do as he was constrained, salmo sulkily followed the bent of my rod instead of his own inclination, and came craning up to the windlass as it wound him to the cot, with a struggle or two by way of showing fight, but it was not in him-he could only ruu away; fins versus pluck, for he was after all but a poor spiritless slat, that had lagged behind his comrades, and instead of salting himself in the sea, was doomed to be pickled into bacon up aloft in the chimney's smoke. There is a semi-circular bay on the very brink of the leap, called "Derris-beg," abounding in fish, the salmon halting there in its smooth waters to recruit themselves after the labour of stemming the torrents below, a sort of "rest and be thankful," as you have in that precious" twa miles and a bittuck" of a mountain at Glencroe. I have known three spring salmon taken at one fishing out of this sweep. I was less fortunate, but succeeded in capturing one of 16lbs. The pet hole of the river was just in Poul-a-hassa; it had been inaccessible before, in consequence of the floods and heavy water, but Johnnie promising me this day a safe conduct, and a sporting fish, if I would venture, we dropped into it from the leap; in a few minutes I discovered (as a raw angler once exclaimed to me) "a lively hook at the end of my line," too lively by half for such drowning waters, but repentance came too late, and there we were, very much as I thought, like Johnson's definition, “ a fish at one end and a fool at the other;" the spirit of resistance, however, soon conquers nervousness, the only thing to be done was to hold my opponent to his ground (query, water?) and this I could not do in spite of all my efforts, for when a weighty salmon turns his head down stream for a rush, he just puts the line across his shoulder, which takes the strain from his mouth, and off he

goes; stop him if you can, I could not; poles in a moment were shipped, and with his paddle Johnnie swept us down in the smooth mid-water, between the two rapids into Poul-beg, where after a hauling bout of a quarter an hour, we gaffed our friend of six and twenty pounds weight.

There is this one comfort in spring-fishing, your tackle is so strong, that once getting a good hold, you may generally calculate on securing your prize; with hemp line, and casting line of five-fold gut, you need not solicit but may insist on your fish coming up to the gaff. All the protracted anxiety of summer fishing, when you hook a fine fish, and have only single gut to humour him with, is spared you; and although the delicacy of such playing may enhance the sport, yet the chances of losing your salmon are so great, that I confess I never yet had hold of an eighteen or twenty pounder on single gut, without wishing it double.

Well, your next hole on Hermitage water is Poul- beg; this may be fished from the shore, always bearing in mind that your game is before you, not in the bushes behind, where the uninitiated generally send their fly on a non-returning voyage of discovery. Here I caught a slat, and lost a spring fish. Passed on to Thiourn-a-leicke, a small hole, but a sure find. I upheld its reputation by killing a fish there of 14lbs. The last piece of water belonging to the demesne (at least that can be fished at this season of high floods), is Murreagh, a wide reach or expanse of the river beneath the castle rock of Doonass; near the shore the stream runs deep and still, along a reedy rushy bank, but in the middle it flows rapidly, and turbulently over its rocky bed. The first spring fish is almost always caught on this water; and during the whole of the earliest part of the season, it affords the best sport on the river.-Your cot is to be slowly paddled up close to the reeds, and throwing a long line directly out from you, the current gradually brings it round with sweep, into a line with the boat, this must be gently done, not pitched with the emphasis of a quoit, but lodged as light as a gossamer. It is smooth clear water, and needs smooth and gentle treatment. It is altogether a mistake to suppose (as some clumsy hands pretend to do) that salmon fishing does not require this nicety of throwing, because the fish are generally taken in rough water where lightness of line is not necessary, a careless habit of rude casting is acquired which spoils all chances of success in the timid pool and tranquil bay; this will not do for a master of the " gentle craft." Murreagh affords a fine extent of fishery during the summer season, when the whole waters can be navigated. At this period of the year only a portion can be got at, but it is the best and safest, being deep, and not bothered with rocks. A spring salmon, however, does not in his play and efforts to escape, make for rocks, as he learns to do after a short sojourn in the river.

NO, XIII.-VOL. III.NEW SERIES.

F