Brown Trout 



221 



Loch Gorm trout (Fig. 201), for instance, nearly all have round 

 black spots on their sides, and look almost like a different species. 

 But these spots, as before, are the result of the special feeding in 

 this loch. The feeding has also a great deal to do with the shape. 

 The richer the feeding the smaller are the heads and the plumper 

 the bodies. Then the nature of the soil and the colour of the water 

 have much to do with the colour of a trout. Clear water and a 

 light-coloured bottom produce silvery-coloured trout, while peat- 



Photo l<y Harry Anderson. 



FIG. 224. 8-lb. Loch Veyatie Trout. June 1906. 



coloured water produce dark-coloured trout. Young trout before they 

 spawn are brighter in colour than older trout. Trout, however, which 

 live in tidal water which is brackish are nevertheless silvery like sea- 

 trout, and present a strong contrast to Loch Leven trout. A photo- 

 graph of a trout from the tidal waters of the Tay is shown in Fig. 202. 

 The trout in Loch Harry in the Orkney Islands also frequent brackish 

 water, and it is difficult to tell from their appearance whether they are 

 sea-trout or brown trout. 



Many trout become migratory because the streams frequented by 

 them are not large enough to afford sufficient protection, hence on 

 attaining a certain size they fall back into the sea. They must either 



