192 



Fishing on the Neilghtrries. 



CHAPT. xvi. 



deposit of the ova in positions best suited, not only to its hatching, 

 but also to the prosperity of the fry. Whether intentionally, or of 

 what is called instinct, the prudent trout and Mahseer exercise 

 parental forethought how they put their young people out in the 

 world. Lake trout lay their ova in the stream, but then fall back 

 themselves into the lake. Thus the fry have much better chances 

 of escaping being eaten than if they were reared in the lake, in the 

 midst of their own and everybody else's hungry parents. Fancy 

 eating your own children, and not finding it out till all too late, by 

 the peculiar taste, not till 



" Tn those mutton pies, 

 You do recognise, 

 The flavour of your old dog Tray." 



That is what trout do, and that is why they spawn in the stream 

 in preference to the lake. But that they can breed in a lake there 

 is no room for doubt, witness the hundreds of small tarns and bog- 

 holes fed by no superficial drainage, only by percolation from 

 adjoining morasses. Those places are full of trout that have bred 

 there for ages. In such places more of the fry may be eaten 

 in immaturity, but the extraordinary fertility of fish allows of 

 numbers surviving the extra risks. The Ootacamund Lake lias 



Till: OOTACAM1 N l> I.AKK. 



