THE WHITE TROUT. 1 5 



much as six pounds, but they are not often met with 

 so heavy as that. As far as I observed, all those 

 which I took in Connemara appeared to be of exactly 

 the same kind; but in England, I have observed a 

 difference, both in the shape and in the spots of some 

 of them. The colour of the back of one sort which I 

 have taken in the English rivers is very light brown, 

 and this fish has very few spots on it, and those spots 

 are very far apart : this fish is of a very handsome 

 shape, and is a delicious kind for the table. The back 

 of the other is of a darker shade, the form of the body 

 is not so elegant, nor is the flavour so good as in the 

 first ; but it is more like those I took in Connemara. 

 They usually begin to come into the rivers about the 

 middle of June. I have seen them taken in Hamp- 

 shire as large as nine pounds. They are frequently 

 very numerous in small rivers, where there are no 

 salmon ; and the fry may be taken on the shallows 

 and scours with a small fly, in the month of March. 

 They are beautiful silvery little fish, but it would be a 

 great pity to kill them so small ; nor can I suppose 

 that any fly-fisherman would have a wish to do so, 

 but, on the contrary, would rather do all he could for 

 their preservation. 



