TROUT 



A kingfisher, if he catches a fish which is a little 

 too big for him to swallow whole, will knock 

 the head of the fish, which he always catches by 

 the middle of the body, against a stone, in order 

 to kill it, or at least to stop it struggling ; it 

 might otherwise in its struggles escape, as the 

 kingfisher can only swallow a fish head first. 

 There are stories which tell how herons some- 

 times pluck small feathers from their breasts 

 and, floating these feathers upon the water, 

 catch the trout as they rise to it ; it is supposed 

 that the trout takes the feather for a fly. Per- 

 sonally, I do not think that much credence should 

 be attached to the latter story. 



Other birds, usually found on or near the 

 water, are also likely to do much harm to the 

 ova and young fish. Almost every creature 

 which is found near the water seems to have a 

 great liking for the ova of fishes. All the 

 wading and swimming birds are to be dreaded 

 by the fish culturist. They will, all of them, eat 

 ova in enormous quantities, and many of them 

 will also eat the little fish. 



Besides birds, small larvae of several insects 

 will eat, or at any rate kill, the ova in consider- 

 able numbers. Caddis-worms are among these 



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