THE BRITISH ANGLER'S LEXICON. 237 



but the difference in their sporting style ought to be able to 

 decide the matter, as the bull trout are lazy and dull and do 

 not rise well at the fly, while the other species are the gamest 

 fish that swim. They are very destructive to salmon 

 spawn, and are not desirable inhabitants of a sporting river. 

 The opinions concerning it are very conflicting, many 

 asserting that it is really a white or salmo trutta. How- 

 ever, the fish of the Coquet river may be considered an 

 established variety, seeing that no other migratory sal- 

 monidae are found there. Full information about this fish 

 may be found in Houghton's fine work on "British Fresh 

 Water Fishes/' in which a characteristic engraving of the 

 fish is given. 



TPOUt, The Common (Salmo fario] abounds in 

 nearly all the lakes and rivers in the British Islands. It 

 can be found in the smallest mountain stream up to its 

 source, and in the drains which feed it on its downward 

 course. The head of the common trout is short and round, 

 the eye prominent, the shape of the fish when in condition 

 very symmetrical the outline of the back corresponding to 

 that of the belly. The tail is slightly forked in the young 

 fish; as it gets older the fork disappears. The teeth are 

 numerous, strong, and curved ; the scales small. The back 

 is of a dark ash hue, sometimes tinged with purple ; the 

 sides yellow. These colours change according to the 

 streams they inhabit. If the water comes from moorland, 

 the colours are not so bright, but incline to dusky slate. 

 If the water runs over clear pebbles or granite, the colours 

 become quite bright the belly and sides gold, and the 

 back takes a lively brownish shade. They have bright red 

 and black spots sprinkled all over the body and gill covers. 

 These differences in appearance have led some naturalists 



