AND ANGLING SONGS. 321 



lake intended to be stocked or replenished for sustaining, up to 

 the required mark, the breed in question, whether in the shape 

 of fry or in a more adult form. To test and ascertain this fit- 

 ness, before committing one's-self to the experiment, will save, in 

 most cases, both trouble and expense. The stocking of arti- 

 ficial ponds with the Loch Leven breed has frequently been 

 undertaken, indeed it is an experiment of old date, but in no 

 one instance that I am acquainted with has it fulfilled what I 

 am entitled to suppose were the anticipations of those interested 

 in the results, whereas, in the case of other well-known artificial 

 ponds or reservoirs, with which no pains in the way of stocking 

 them from extraneous sources had been taken, the result has 

 been a very superior caste, both as regards size and quality, 

 of fresh-water trout, the origin of which may be traced simply 

 to the rill or brook acting the part of main feeder to the 

 reservoir. 



What I maintain is this, that, in rearing a trout stock, its 

 antecedents are of secondary consideration ; that the accommo- 

 dation given, in the shape of feeding-grounds, shelter, etc., is of 

 primary importance ; that, in default of such auxiliaries, the best 

 reputed breeds will quickly become deteriorated, and aided by 

 them, mere starvelings, those freckled pigmies which in their 

 native rills were never known to exceed in length six or seven 

 inches, will attain large dimensions, and acquire in a very brief 

 space of time that curdiness, richness of flavour, and fine internal 

 colour which characterizes, when in condition, our best trout. 



SEA-FISHING. 



SEA-FISHING with the line and hook is greatly dependent, for 

 its character as an amusement, upon fine weather, and the mode 



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