FRESHWATER TROUT 13 



spending colour. Trout caught under a bank, in 

 the shade of a bush, or in a part of the river 

 where the bottom is dark, are of a darker colour 

 than those caught in the lighter and more open 

 parts ; their complexion thus changing according to 

 the colour of the water they inhabit, the colour of 

 the ground over which they move, and the degree 

 of light. 



It is not our province to enter into the natural 

 history of the trout, as what anglers wish to know 

 is how to capture them, and we shall therefore 

 consider trout i a purely angling point of view. 



With regard to the much- vexed question of 

 whether trout hear or not, naturalists say that they 

 have ears, but we think that these organs are rather 

 intended by nature to convey any agitation in the 

 water, to which they are keenly alive, than external 

 noise. This much seems evident, that no noise out 

 of the water can be heard by a trout in it. Guns 

 have been fired not many yards from trout, but they 

 exhibited no symptoms of alarm, which they would 

 certainly have done had they heard ; and, though 

 some English works upon angling caution the angler 

 against speaking loud at the water-side for fear 

 of alarming the fish, this much is certain, that 

 neither by speaking, nor any other noise the 

 angler can make, is there the least danger of alarm- 

 ing them. They have frequently been caught below 

 a railway bridge at the very time a train was passing 

 overhead. 



Those who object to fishing on the ground of its 



