EFFECT OF TRANSFERENCE. 9 



into Tweed lose in fact, after a few weeks, many of 

 those distinctive points which the superior feeding of 

 the first-mentioned stream afforded them. They lose 

 their redness of flesh, their strength, liveliness, &c. ; 

 but in no case can it be proved that the change has 

 so affected their outward appearance as to alter the 

 character and arrangement of the stars or maculae. 

 These they retain as the indices of their origin; and 

 they are as essentially theirs in this character, as are 

 its spots the distinctive property of the leopard. 

 With regard to the general colour or complexion of 

 the fish, that is quite another matter. Nothing is so 

 readily operated upon, even within the precincts of its 

 own parent stream, as the skin of the trout, in relation 

 to colours. In this respect, it is like that of the cha- 

 meleon. During a top-flood, when the river is clayed 

 or thick, and fish are only to be captured by the pout, 

 hand-net, or some such contrivance, they present a 

 white, I might almost say sickly, look. On the water 

 becoming brown or porter-coloured, they assume a 

 fine yellow, healthy, and inviting appearance ; and on 

 its recurring to the ordinary size, they are again trans- 

 formed, and partake of a complexion agreeing to 

 that of the stream itself. The character of their 

 retreats also, the nature of the stones or banks they 

 lurk under, influence, not unfrequently, the general 

 complexion I speak of, and sometimes lend a parti- 

 coloured appearance to the fish, quite independent, how- 

 ever, of its fixed decorations in the shape of stars, &c. 



I have stated, that fresh-water trout, on being trans- 

 ferred from the parent stream to another range of 

 water, are capable of undergoing great changes. To 

 what extent these, in any instance, will take place, must 

 depend upon the nature of the transference. I have 



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