22 ROD AND RIVER 



principle of 'might is right,' at a respectable dis- 

 tance, and so ever secure the lion's share of such 

 food as there may be, to say nothing of their 

 indulging in a little occasional cannibalism. 



In some rivers there are as many as two or 

 three distinct varieties of the common trout, and 

 in one river on which I used to fish many years 

 ago, and which, not very far from its mouth, is 

 joined by another smaller river, the trout are 

 strangely different ; those in the main stream 

 being in colour and markings unlike those in the 

 tributary. There is no apparent reason for this 

 dissimilarity, inasmuch as the conditions of both 

 rivers are precisely alike. A similar difference 

 also exists between the trout in the Test. There, 

 however, the Lochleven variety may be included. 

 There are this latter kind, the ordinary brown 

 trout, and what are called the Test trout. The last- 

 named are devoid of red spots, somewhat plain, 

 and flatsided, but very game and sporting fish, 

 rising well at the fly, fighting hard when hooked, 

 attaining to great size, and of the most delicate 

 flavour when cooked. It is quite possible that 

 these fish may have been the result of intermar- 

 riage between the brown and the sea trout, the 

 latter, together with the salmon, having a nearly 

 free run from the mouth of the river at Redbridge 

 up to Romsey, where there are mills, and beyond 

 which a salmon can but rarely ascend ; some few 



