Sea- Trout nei 
o 
the illustration (Fig. 127) was taken was a perfect specimen when 
I caught it. The yellow-fins, then, which return about the end of 
June, have only been three months in the sea. At first they are very 
small, weighing only about a quarter of a pound, but they continue to 
increase in size up to the end of November, when the largest weigh 
about 1 Ib. While they remain in fresh water they feed on larve, 
flies, worms, etc., the greater number of them, however, prefer 
the tidal water, and in the Tay very few are caught more than 
ten miles above this. They remain in the river until the end of 
December, when they begin to go down in considerable numbers. 

Fic, 126.—3-lb. Whitling. First return from the sea. July 1900. 
Of course, some may go down somewhat earlier, but from December 
until the beginning of May they are constantly going down, and, 
if the weather is warm, they will almost all have disappeared from 
the river by the 1st of May. Their condition greatly depends on 
whether the winter has been cold or warm, and, of course, the 
warmer it is the better condition they are in, as they have more 
to feed on and are more inclined to feed then. During some 
seasons they are so thin that they have the appearance of kelts: 
but by October and November, if the weather is warm, they are 
in good condition again, as also in March and April. When the 
March browns and blue duns appear on the river, the whitling feed 
ravenously and seldom allow a fly to pass. 
