SURFACE-FEEDING SEA FISH 379 



In British waters we have trout acting in just the same way, 

 though not growing to the same size, and there is not much 

 doubt that the ordinary brown trout and sea trout sometimes 

 breed together, producing fish which are neither one nor the 

 other. In the chapter on Fly Fishing I have referred to the slob 

 trout of the Shannon and other Irish rivers. These estuary 

 trout have received the attention of naturalists for many years. 

 Knox, in his 'Lone Glens of Scotland,' published in 1854, 

 refers to some taken at the mouth of the Nith, and also re- 

 corded fish of the same variety in the Kyle of Bute, Loch Fyne, 

 the Forth, and the Yorkshire Esk. Dr. Giinther describes 

 specimens coming from Galway. Dr. Day, in ' British and Irish 

 Fishes,' mentions them as common at Waterford. At Portrush, 

 in Ireland, they are known as dolachan. These fish very 

 frequently retain their red spots, and their river markings can 

 be traced through the silver sheen. I have caught a good 

 many in a tributary of the Shannon. In Norway it is a 

 common thing to catch brown trout in the fjords a considerable 

 distance from the river's mouth. 



MACKEREL. The mere name recalls pleasant visions of 

 rippling waters flecked with white, of sunny skies, and the 

 healthy, salt, sea breeze whistling through the rigging ; of a pile 

 of little silver billets, two or three still quivering in the throes 

 of death, and of a weather-beaten man with genial face who 

 gently encourages us to continue hauling in those two-pound 

 leads, breaking backs none the less. There are three hundred 

 mackerel lying on the floor of the lugger, which means that we 

 have hauled in our lines three hundred or more times. No ! 

 friend, we have come for pleasure, not for toil. If you would 

 add to the catch, take the lines yourself while we recline in the 

 stern sheets and smoke, and hold that tiller smoothed by 

 hardened hands on many a voyage. 



Everyone is acquainted with the appearance and taste of 



