ii4 AN ANGLER'S RAMBLES 



their counterparts, on a smaller scale, among our river-trout in 

 Tweed. What is called the swallow-smelt, in fact, bears an 

 exact resemblance to them. A swarthy yellow pervaded the 

 flanks of these fish, overlaid in profusion with irregular maculce 

 or blotches. In point of weight, the specimens I allude to were 

 nearly equal, being about eight pounds apiece. 



Whilst engaged in catching baits for trolling within the small 

 loch which subtends Loch Shin close to Lairg, I descried, float- 

 ing near the surface of the water, another specimen, weighing 

 about fourteen pounds, of the same variety of monster trout. 

 This was secured by the gaff-hook, and examined. As there 

 were no marks of violence on its person, it was concluded that 

 it had died a natural death. My impression regarding these fish 

 at the time, and it remains unimpaired, was that they were 

 merely overgrown individuals of the species fario, and that trout, 

 in all respects corresponding to them, might be raised simply by 

 the transplantation of a limited number of common fresh-water 

 trout, from a stream where they are rarely known to attain the 

 weight of half-a-pound, into a piece of artificial water of large 

 range, but affording precarious means of subsistence, say 

 minnows or loaches, which require to be hunted down, and so 

 induce to predatory habits. The relation, in fact, betwixt such 

 small fry and the others is precisely similar to that which the 

 cuddie or podley of our sea-coasts bears to the saithe, or full- 

 grown coal- fish. 



Differing in many respects from such coarse and repelling 

 specimens of the Loch Shin ferox (the appellative is appropriate 

 enough), were the other individuals examined by me on this 

 occasion. Of these, the larger one was as finely a proportioned 

 fish as could be imagined deep in the flank, the back gracefully 

 curved, and the head well formed and of small dimensions. 

 The external embellishments of this fish consisted of a few large 



