230 SEA-TROUT. 



varieties, one plentifully spotted on the back, shoulders, 

 and flanks, like the bull-trout ; the other, the true herl- 

 ing, having the maculae thinly distributed, the scales 

 silvery and easily separated from the skin, the head 

 small and delicately formed. 



The Esk, above Langholm, by no means excels as an 

 angling stream. It contains few yellow trout, there 

 termed eldrins, and these of small size, seldom weigh- 

 ing half-a-pound, some scattered troops of skellies or 

 chub, and is visited moreover by a scant and straggling 

 supply of salmon, few of which, after wending their way 

 upwards, are allowed time to effect a deposit of their 

 spawn, but become slaughtered, without mercy, by the 

 ruthless leisterer. In summer, before they commence 

 their ascent, a few sea-trout answering the description 

 of whitlings, and weighing from one to three pounds, 

 push their way up and generally meet with the same 

 fate as the autumnal fish. After them, in July and 

 August, succeed the herlings, and lastly, the bills or 

 bulls. These latter, as well as the herlings, were wont 

 to be destroyed in great numbers below Langholm, by 

 means of the pout-nets. This destruction, however, 

 through the medium of the Earl of Minto's act, was 

 last year, 1846, put a stop to, and in consequence, the 

 bills were more abundant than usual in the upper part 

 of the river. 



Although the bills, on a small scale, may be held to 

 resemble them, the Esk contains no fish answering 

 the description of the Tweed bull-trout, and I make no 

 question, judging from this circumstance, that the far- 

 famed bull-trout of Tarras, a tributary of the Esk, were 

 merely bills, and when " ta'en in season/ 7 herlings or 

 whitens, the latter being another local name for the 

 same description of fish. This is certain, that Tarras, 



