98 SALMONID/E. 



five or six differing not only from the common Tweed Trout, 

 but from each other. The reason of this difference in my 

 opinion is easily explained. These Trout come down into 

 the Tweed during the winter and spring floods from its dif- 

 ferent feeders, viz. the Ettrick, Yarrow, Jed, Kale, Eden, 

 Leet, &c. ; all differing completely from each other. These 

 Trout retain enough of their original appearance to distin- 

 guish them from Tweed Trout, which, with the exception 

 of the Whitadder Trout, are the leanest and worst-flavoured 

 of any in this part of the country ; but, after a few months'" 

 stay, these Trout from the small burns gradually lose their 

 original marks and excellence of flavour, and become like the 

 common Tweed Trout in every respect. There can be no 

 doubt that the nature of the soil through which the different 

 streams flow is the cause of the difference of appearance, not 

 only as to colour and size, but also particularly in the supe- 

 rior excellence of their flesh to that of the Tweed and Whit- 

 adder Trout. For example, the Eden and Leet, flowing 

 through a rich loamy and often marly soil, afford Trout of 

 very superior size and quality ; their bodies beautifully 

 marked with bright red spots, their fins orange-coloured, as 

 well as their sides, and their flesh fully a deeper red than that 

 of the Salmon, and almost as high-flavoured, particularly the 

 Leet Trout, which I have killed weighing seven pounds. 

 The largest Tweed Trout I ever saw was one I caught with a 

 salmon-fly : it weighed just five pounds. 



" There are two considerable streams in this county which 

 take their rise at no great distance from each other, the 

 Whitadder and the Blackadder, the latter tributary to the 

 former. The Whitadder from head to foot flowing along a very 

 rocky and gravelly bed ; while the Blackadder (Blackwater) 

 rises in the deep mosses near Wedderlea and the Dorrington 

 laws (High hills), and flows for about half its course through 

 mosses ; the rest of its course through a rich and highly cul- 



