A NEEDFUL CAUTION. 21 



wood, produce trout of a large size and high culi- 

 nary character. The difference arises from the 

 better shelter and greater abundance of food 

 obtainable in streams of the latter description. 

 It is not the close and bushy river, however, 

 which forms the perfect trout stream as the 

 veriest tyro in fly-fishing can testify. 



It is our most earnest wish to press upon the 

 attention of our readers the short-sighted policy 

 and unsportsmanlike practice of basketing unsize- 

 able fish. It is surprising to what an extent this 

 shameful practice prevails, even among men sup- 

 posed to be accomplished in the art, and interested 

 in pursuing it fairly. One very general excuse 

 for the killing of small fish in many rivers is, that 

 as they bear the distinguishing^^er marks, they 

 are therefore parr a distinct species, say their 

 captors, of dwarfish dimensions ; forgetting that 

 the young of all, even the largest of the salmonidce 

 (including, of course, the common trout), are 

 always similarly marked. 



But recent discoveries show that the parr itself 

 occupies by no means so insignificant a place as 

 has hitherto been assigned to it. So far from 

 being of trifling value, from the supposed narrow 

 limits of its utmost size, it has been ascertained, 

 by careful observation and conclusive experiments 

 c 3 



