8 TROUT FISHING 



nights. There is no accounting for the presence 

 of eels in some places unless this ability of land- 

 voyaging be conceded. But even if the creatures 

 do get back in time the trout will at any rate have 

 had a fair start, and a chance of making enough 

 growth to be secure from attack. I fancy that eels 

 in ponds do not gain weight so rapidly as trout, and 

 a three-pounder has probably been in his pond for 

 a considerable time. But it is risky to give opinions 

 about eels. Their life-history is even less intelligible 

 than that of the salmon, of which it is the diametrical 

 opposite in the matter of migrations and breeding. 

 Old big eels in fresh water are said to be barren, but 

 that is not, to me, a very satisfactory solution of 

 their long sojourn in fresh water. When you come 

 to think of it, it is hard to support a charge of 

 barrenness against any fish at all. Habit of inter- 

 mittent or deferred breeding, perhaps, but barren- 

 ness ? The word is too lightly employed. I almost 

 doubt if it is in Nature's dictionary, unless man's 

 civilisation and man's fool-tricks have added it in 

 the supplement of improvements. 



Of late the eel has received much attention as a 

 useful item in the national food-supply. I do not 

 question his merits, even in opposition to some other 

 fresh-water fish — roach, for instance. But if it 

 comes to weighing his importance against that of 

 trout it is obvious that he is the less valuable fish. 



