20 THE PRACTICAL ANGLER 



about an inch from its mouth, on pulling out which 

 we found it to be a trout in a partially digested 

 state, which, when its neighbour swallowed it, must 

 have weighed at least two ounces. This did not 

 prevent it from rising at the minnow, but its mouth 

 being so full it could not get hold of it, and it was 

 only after repeated rises that it was caught by the 

 outside of the mouth. 



All this might lead to the supposition that trout 

 would be easily captured ; but this is a great error. 

 Whether it arises from any superior natural endow- 

 ments, or is merely the result of education, as they 

 are more fished for than any other fish, and may 

 from that cause be more wide-awake ; this much is 

 certain, that they are the most wary and difficult to 

 capture of all the inhabitants of the waters, displaying 

 a caution and sagacity in taking their food truly 

 astonishing. They are also the most capricious 

 of all fish, taking greedily one day what they will 

 hardly look at the next. The wariness which trout 

 display varies greatly according to circumstances. 

 A well-fed trout is at all times more wary than a 

 half-starved one, as it can afford to allow a suspicious- 

 looking fly or bait to pass, whereas the other cannot. 

 In rivers much fished, trout, although sometimes 

 numerous, become very shy ; seeing artificial flies so 

 often, and being deceived by them, they detect their 

 nature, thus showing that they are to some extent 

 possessed of memory. 



The only point relating to trout in an angling 

 point of view, which remains to be considered, is 



