TROUT WATERS AND CARP WATERS 



modest stream, with nothing to distinguish it from its 

 neighbours. But farther on, when it comes down 

 and rolls thereafter through the plain, it extends its 

 bed and becomes the mighty river which traverses one 

 province after another and gathers to itself the waters 

 of about a quarter of France. First, it continues 

 northwards as though to join the Seine; near Orleans, 

 it makes a bend westwards, so preserving its in- 

 dependence, and flows to the Atlantic in the mag- 

 nificent valley of which it is the central feature. The 

 Val de Loire, hollowed out by it and its tributaries, 

 goes gently down to the ocean like a gigantic incline. 

 And as the river gradually nears the coast, it broadens, 

 becomes a great estuary, and finally loses its identity 

 in the ocean. 



Until it reaches the sea, the water preserves its 

 continuity from one end to the other. From estuary 

 to source, apart from local obstacles that have been 

 set up in one place and another, it flows in an un- 

 interrupted stream. Among its fishes, the salmon 

 frequent almost the whole of it, entering the river at 

 its mouth, and going up to spawn in the mountain 

 regions near its source. But this is a particular case, 

 which we find only in migrants. The sedentary and 

 more specialized species are far from having such a 

 capacity for expansion. They settle down and live 

 close together. Instead of populating the whole of 

 the waters, they arrange themselves in different groups, 

 each one occupying its own particular place. The 

 estuary, visited by the tide, has, in its mingled waters, 

 species which live in brackish waters, flounders and 

 mullet. In the fresh waters of the Val de Loire and 

 its tributaries, a number of species are to be found, 

 the carp family giving the characteristic note. Then, 

 higher up stream, where the Loire runs through the 

 mountains, the carp grow fewer; the trout appear 

 and, finally, when the highest regions are reached, 

 remain practically in full possession of the waters. 

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