1 86 Worm-Fishing. 



may be small, but they are generally in much 

 better condition, and present a more inviting 

 appearance, than those of the hill-drains. They 

 have bright yellow sides and crimson - spotted 

 backs, while their flesh is sometimes more delicate 

 than that of larger river- trout. All burns are not 

 alike plentifully stocked with trout, any more than 

 all rivers are. In accounting for this, regard must 

 be had to a variety of circumstances, such as the 

 character of the district through which they run, 

 and the mode in which it is drained ; the nature of 

 their channels as affording food-supplies, shelter, 

 and spawning-ground; and last, though not least, 

 the extent to which they are fished. The extensive 

 system of land-drainage now in operation has very 

 materially affected the number of trout, not only in 

 our burns but also in our larger rivers. Burns are 

 important spawning-grounds of the fish, and there- 

 fore may in every sense be called feeders of the 

 streams. Whatever, then, acts injuriously on the 

 young of trout in burns, must tend to their diminu- 

 tion in the rivers. The drains carry the rain too 

 hastily from the hills a very short time indeed 

 suffices to run it all off. The burns rise both 

 higher and more quickly than formerly during 

 floods, and fall more speedily and to a much 

 lower level during a long period of drought. The 

 result in both cases may be equally disastrous : in 



