THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 63 



And so much for these Fordidge trouts, wliich never afford an 

 angler sport, but either live their time of being in the fresh water, 

 by their meat formerly gotten in the sea, not unlike the swallow 

 or frog, or by the virtue of the fresh water only ; or as the bird 

 of paradise and the chamelion are said to live by the sun and the 

 air. 



There is also in Northumberland a trout called a bull-trout,* 

 of a much greater length and bigness than any in these southern 

 parts : and there are in many rivers that relate to the sea, salmon- 

 trouts, as much different from others, both in shape and in their 

 spots, as we see sheep in some countries difTer one from another 

 in their shape and bigness, and in the fineness of their wool : and 

 certainly, as some pastures breed larger sheep, so do some 

 rivers, by reason of the ground over which they run, breed larger 

 trouts. 



Now the riext thing that I will commend to your consideration 

 is, that the trout is of a more sudden growth than other fish : 

 concerning which you are also to take notice, that he lives not so 

 long as the perch and divers other fishes do, as Sir Francis Bacon 

 hath observed in his History of Life and Death. 



And next you are to take notice, that he is not like the croco- 

 dile, which, if he lives never so long, yet always thrives till his 

 death : but 'tis not so with the trout ; for after he is come to his 

 full growth, he declines in his body, and keeps his bigness or 

 thrives only in his head till his death. f And you are to know, 

 that he will about, especially before, the time of his spawning, 

 get almost miraculously through wears and flood-gates against 

 the streams ; even through such high and swift places as is 

 almost incredible. Next, that the trout usually spawns about 

 October or November, but in some rivers a little sooner or later : 

 »vhich is the more observable, because most other fish spawn in 



• The bull-trout (Salmo Eriox of Linnaeus), or the grey trout (Cinereus 

 ant Grisetcs) of Willoughly, and others ; a distinct species from the sdmon 

 and salmon-trout. It is an inferior fish, and seldom taken with the rod 

 when in good condition. YarrelJ aiid others. — im. Ed. 



t Every angler has met with such big-headed trout ; which peculiarity 

 arises not from old age, but the comparative leanness of the body, after 

 spawning, or when in ill-health. — Am. Ed. 



