240 THE BRITISH ANGLER'S LEXICON. 



fly fisher. It can also be angled for, and will take a fly, in 

 the brackish water at the mouth of the river. It is very 

 active, and can force its way over rocks and stones if it 

 has enough water to half cover it. There are one or two 

 sub-varieties, differing principally in colour, such as the 

 Galway sea trout and those of the Tweed and Solway. 



Trout Existence. The ova of trout are placed or 

 deposited by the female parent in gravelly beds of streams 

 in October, November, and December, and are hatched out 

 in February, March, and April. The young fish are 

 about five-eighths of an inch in length, and derive their 

 sustaining nourishment for a few weeks from a sac-like 

 appendage which is attached to them. In about six to 

 seven weeks this bag is absorbed, and the young fry flit 

 about seeking what nourishment the water in which they 

 swim affords. They now have the same appearance as 

 young salmon, being marked with transverse bars, and like 

 them in other respects as well. One know r n characteristic, 

 however, will determine whether the fry is salmon or trout, 

 and that is the second dorsal fins in trout are of a yellow 

 tinge, while those of the salmon are dark. At the end of the 

 year they attain a length of three to four inches ; if food is- 

 plentiful, and the stream in which they exist is a favourable 

 one, they sometimes grow to the length of six and seven 

 inches. In the second year they increase a couple of 

 inches, and will then be six to eight ounces in weight. As 

 a rule, in small rivers and brooks, they do not grow much 

 more in length, but they increase in breadth and in thick- 

 ness over the shoulder ; a trout may be nine inches long 

 and only eight ounces, while one of the same length in a 

 good stream and well fed will be over one pound in weight. 

 Some naturalists aver that trout only spawn every second 



