TROUT-FISHING 269 
to learn these! It is one of the puzzles besetting the subject 
of intelligence in the lower animals that successive generations 
of trout evince progressive suspicion of man and understanding 
of his devices. There seems to be a complete bar to the trans- 
mission of intelligence from parent to offspring, for not only 
does the spawn lie neglected in the bed of the stream for many 
weeks, but the fry remain completely apart from the older fish 
for months and even years after hatching. Indeed, it is difficult 
to imagine young fish receiving instruction from their elders at 
any period of their growth, inasmuch as a fingerling trout in 
the vicinity of a hungry three-pounder runsa parlous chance of 
being snapped up as part of the larger fish’s breakfast ; and at 
all stages it may be seen how jealously greater trout resent the 
approach of smaller ones. ‘The trout is essentially solitary in 
habit ; for, although there may be many trout in a single pool 
of a river, each one has its chosen station, from which it drives 
off every smaller fish which may attempt to share it. 
In spite of this isolation, trout of very tender age are able 
to distinguish between man and quadrupeds from which they 
have nothing to fear. I was particularly impressed by this 
power of discrimination one day when fishing a stream in 
Hertfordshire. I discerned, from a safe distance, several trout, 
large and small, rising in a certain reach of the river. Two or 
three heavy young cart-horses were galloping about the meadow, 
thundering along the bank close to these trout, which mani- 
fested no alarm, but continued rising in the most alluring way. 
I took up my rod and prepared to approach these fish with all 
the craft I knew. The keeper, before whose door I was stand- 
ing, thinking to do me a service, sent his little girl, a tiny 
mortal of about seven years old, to drive the horses away. 
This she did effectually, running along the bank, but she also 
put down every trout. Now, by what power did these fish, 
which had shown themselves perfectly indifferent to the great 
cart-horses, discern danger in this light-footed atom—an 
immature female specimen of the arch enemy Homo sapiens? 
