102 ELEMENTS OF ANGLING. 



pocket, and not disclose it till he has caught a fish. 

 Fates or no fates, however, the novice has his 

 first trout all right, and has a right to expect others. 

 A yard or two above where he caught it (reached 

 not by lengthening line but by taking three or four 

 short steps up stream) he gets another rise, and 

 finds he has hooked a second fish. This time it is 

 but a little one, some 5in. long, which can be pulled 

 tumbling and splashing down stream and lifted out 

 instead of netted. Its captor should study it with 

 some attention, for, though small, it is important 

 both in law and economics. It is very like a trout, 

 being red-spotted and similarly coloured ; but 

 down each side is a row of dark smudges like finger 

 marks, which were not visible on the trout recently 

 caught. This is not a trout at all, but a young 

 salmon (" samlet " or " parr" are its usual names), 

 and it must be returned safely to the river, for it is 

 illegal to keep it. Many anglers find a great 

 difficulty in distinguishing parr from little trout. 

 The dark marks(" parr marks ") are not a point of 

 difference, for young trout often have them too, 

 and they are only a sign of immaturity. The 

 easiest method of distinguishing the two is to 

 consider their appearance. The parr is bigger 

 headed and smaller bodied in proportion to its 

 length, and altogether looks less mature, somewhat 



