TROUT-BREEDING IN WINTER 173 



What can form a more lovely pet than a tame car- 

 mine-spotted trout taking its food from your fin- 

 gers ? I intend, therefore, giving plain directions, 

 by means of which any one possessed of ingenuity 

 and a little careful patience may satisfactorily be- 

 come a trout and salmon breeder on a small scale 

 at a very little cost ; and, as the chief part of the 

 operations will be carried out during the winter, 

 when outdoor sports are few, I feel sure my in- 

 structions will not fall to the ground. 



First, I must recapitulate briefly the natural his- 

 tory of the salmon family. Now, all this family, 

 which consists of several species of trout and the 

 lordly salmon himself as the head, have habits as 

 regards food, places of habitation, spawning, feed- 

 ing, etc., very similar to each other. As winter 

 approaches, unlike many other fish of our rivers, 

 which spawn in summer, the trout or salmon as- 

 cends the river and proceeds to make a nest in the 

 gravel. " Fancy," I think I hear some one say, 

 "a fish making a nest. I thought it was only 

 birds did that." Quite incorrect, my young friend ; 

 the trout and salmon make a distinct nest in the 

 gravel, not of fibres it is true (the stickle-back 

 does that, however), but by turning up the stones 



