240 PROPAGATION OF FISH. 
sides, and our aquarium was nearly depopulated, till at 
last he swallowed one of Ms brother tadpoles, and our 
sense of justice constrained us to banish him to the 
country. 
The reason that the frogs collected round the breed- 
ing-pond was now perfectly apparent, and doubtless 
hundreds of fish paid for their presence. Give the 
fry something safer than frog spawn ; they obtain 
so much from the water they need little extraneous 
food. The first thing, however, is to get the young trout 
to feed. 
It may be well to remark that salmon and trout are 
the most difficult of all fish to breed ; they require more 
care, and have to be watched closely in consequence of 
certain unfortunate habits. For instance, they will eat 
one another ; a trout of twelve inches will dispose of one 
of six and think nothing of it, and this no matter how 
well he is fed. Perhaps he has been ofi'ended, but 
it rather seems to me an experiment to see how 
capacious his swallow is. When large and small 
are together, the latter, being the most active, are 
invariably first to seize the bait or food ; no man ever 
caught at the first cast the largest trout out of a shoal. 
While the smaller ones are busy with the food, the larger 
seize them, sometimes even by mistake, I fancy, in 
making a rush at the same morsel, and if they are caught 
by the gills, good bye to theu^ After a struggle, they 
get ended round, and down tflP go head foremost, their 
tails often waving out of the destroyer's mouth for hours, 
a sad memento of their untimely fate. Fish of one year 
will devour those of the next, and a friend of mine lost 
