THE BULL TROUT. 205 



reaches twenty. When a fish of fair condition, of even lOlb., takes the 

 bait, it makes a furious fight, and, darting in the most erratic fashion 

 about in the water, it often renders itself a victor and the angler fishless. 

 Of course from what Lord Home has written, it may be gathered that the 

 bull trout, like the salmon, ascends the streams to spawn, possibly much 

 earlier, however. It returns correspondingly early. It has not by any 

 means so much strength in surmounting difficulties, and is in consequence 

 apt to spawn in lower positions in the river it selects. 



According to our most eminent naturalists, the fish is found in Devon- 

 shire and Cornwall. I have seen it from the Severn. It is caught in the 

 rivers of S. Wales, and, according to Dr. Heysham, in some of the Cum- 

 berland rivers emptying into the Sol way Firth. In Ireland it is remark- 

 ably plentiful. Annan, in Dumfriesshire, is mentioned by Sir W. Jardine 

 as possessing it, and Sir Walter Scott, in the " Lay of the Last Minstrel," 

 speaks of it in the Liddel : 



Bilihope braes for bucks and raes, 



And Earit haugh for swine ; 

 And Tarras for the good bull trout 



If he be ta'en in time. 



The fish is often sold in London as salmon, and is esteemed in France 

 above salmon ; why, I cannet tell. Its flesh is not nearly so fat and rich 

 as that of Salmo salar, and its form is by no means so elegant. Its 

 general appearance when it reaches the market is, however, somewhat 

 similar, and, to the ignorant person, will readily pass for a salmon. 



