LARGE BULL TROUT 69 



called the Willow Bush, not in the mouth, but in 

 the dorsal fin. Brethren of the craft, guess what 

 sore work I had with him ! He went here and 

 there with apparent comfort and ease to his own 

 person, but not to mine. I really did not know 

 what to make of him. There never was such a 

 hector. I cannot say exactly how long I had him 

 on the hook ; it seemed a week at least. At length 

 John Haliburton, who was then my fisherman, 

 waded into the river up to his middle, and cleiked 

 him whilst he was hanging in the stream, and before 

 he was half beat. 



Besides the three species I have mentioned, I 

 have sometimes, though very rarely, caught a fish 

 very similar in shape to the grey or bull trout, but 

 much cleaner, which the fishermen call a north- 

 country salmon. It is clearly not a bull trout, for 

 that fish is as well known in the Tweed as the 

 salmon itself. I have no doubt but that it is rightly 

 named, and a wanderer from the northern coasts. 



I have also occasionally caught in the Tweed a 

 small silver fish, between a quarter and half a pound, 

 which seems of the salmon tribe ; its flesh is of a 

 pale pink, and good eating. In the river Isla I 

 have taken many of them with a net. 



I have now given a brief account of all the fish 

 of the salmon tribe in the Tweed, except the Salmo 

 Fario, or common trout, which I do not profess to 

 treat of. Much more has been said by naturalists 

 as to distinctive character and organisation. Who- 

 ever wishes for minute information on these points, 

 cannot do better than consult the new edition of 

 Mr. YarreU's unrivalled work on British fishes a 



