62 CHATS ON ANGLING. 



it is therefore necessary to confine them by a grid at the head and 

 foot of your water. 



The spawning time for these fish in their natural habitat is rather 

 late in the spring ; but, as might be expected from analogy, rainbows 

 bred and reared in this country appear to be adapting themselves 

 to their environment, and to be gradually assimilating their time for 

 spawning to that of our local trout. The bulk of rainbows spawn 

 in British waters about February and March, many retain their old 

 times of May and June, whilst a proportion have adapted themselves 

 to their surroundings and spawn as early as brook trout. I think 

 that the date is more or less influenced by the amount of fish food 

 obtainable. Thus, for instance, with hand-fed fish the old later dates 

 are maintained ; but it is still doubtful, as far as my experience goes, as to 

 whether the ova of the fish that are dependent entirely upon natural 

 food is ever vivified. My fish undoubtedly have spawned on the prepared 

 beds, but, so far, I have not been able to establish any evidence of 

 matured fry. The edges of the water this summer were filled with 

 multitudinous small fry no doubt, but on careful inspection they proved to 

 be entirely the fry of sticklebacks, perch, &c. I have found hen fish gravid 

 with ova as early as November and as late as April. In time, no doubt, 

 their spawning season will coincide with that of our brown trout. And 

 herein lies a field for investigation and careful watching. It is held in 

 many quarters that rainbows do not breed in Great Britain. My 

 experience hardly tallies with this belief. On our waters in Lancashire, 

 where we had no gravel beds suitable for the deposit of ova, I found 

 late last year several hen fish, of from if lb. to 2 lb. in weight, dead 

 in the water ; they were full of ripe ova, and had undoubtedly died 

 through being egg-bound. I then made some spawning redds suitable 

 for the deposit and fertilisation of the ova, and it has been highly 

 interesting to see the fish elbowing each other to secure a spot for 

 themselves. Since then I have caiight many spent fish, both cock and 

 hen, showing that the ova, at any rate, have been duly deposited ; 

 but so far I have not been able to identify the fry. A large quantity 

 of fry of sorts I have secured this season, but they proved to be the 

 fry of stickleback. The " Trinity " two-year-old fish I restocked with 

 seem to be growing admirably. This form of rainbow trout have the 



