TACKLE. BAIT. ]03 



which was supplied daily with worms, another with live minnows, 

 and the third with those small dark-coloured water-flies, which 

 are to be found moving about on the surface, under banks and 

 sheltered places. The Trout fed with worms grew slowly, and 

 had a lean appearance. Those nourished on minnows, which, 

 it was observed, they darted at with great voracity, became 

 much larger; while such as were fattened upon flies only 

 attained in a small time prodigious dimensions, weighing twice 

 as much as both the others together, although the quantity of 

 food swallowed by them was in no wise so great/' 



I may here observe, that from the fact of the Salmon roe, 

 when preserved secundum artem, proving a most deadly and 

 infallible bait for Salmon, — so much so, indeed, that the use of 

 it in England is regarded as unsportsmanlike, and as an act of 

 poaching, — there can be little doubt that the ova of fishes of all 

 kinds contribute to their food, and add probably to the richness 

 of their flesh. 



I have now gone through, I believe, all that is most remark- 

 able and most interesting in relation to the natural history, the 

 form, habits, food, and seasons of this noble fish ; but those 

 who wish to study him for themselves, and read concerning him 

 more at large than the space which can be allotted to a single 

 specimen in this volume will admit, I refer to Yarrel's fine work 

 on British Fishes ; to that delightful work, " Salmonia," by Sir 

 Humphrey Davy ; and to Scrope's superb work, entitled " Days 

 and Nights of Salmon Fishing," which, though I have not 

 enjoyed an opportunity of examining it, I understand to be 

 both the finest and the most complete treatise on this topic. 



In a future portion of the work I shall enter at large upon all 



