Sea- Trout Fishing. 143 



contemplative recreation. There is also another 

 characteristic of sea-trout fishing which seems 

 to show that this species of the genus Salmo 

 ) swim in pairs or shoals, and differ in this re- 

 4 spect from all the rest of the salmon family. 

 For in many cases you are sure when you have 

 one rise to have another shortly afterwards ; so 

 that, it may be, before you have recovered from 

 the ruffled feeling of missing one fish, another 

 may give you a chance when you are least 

 capable of accepting it. And if a rod at 

 the stern of the boat hooks a fish, it is very 

 likely that the angler at the bow will pres- 

 ently be fast in another. Moreover, the sea- 

 trout are in themselves singularly beautiful : 

 their small head, slender but vigorous body, 

 powerful tail, the silver of their sides, and the 

 delicate green or pink tints which merge imper- 

 ceptibly in the light glitter, are all points for 

 special admiration. To contemplate a fish as 

 it lies dead at the bottom of a boat, may appear 

 to some to resemble too much the study by a 

 butcher of his carcasses as they hang at Christ- 

 mas-tirne before his shop. But there are few 

 more beautiful natural objects, whether you 

 take the actual lines of the form or the colouring, 



