14 FRESH- WATER TROUT. 



characteristics of each stream. Trout taken from a 

 dark mossy water are dark and ill-coloured, while 

 those taken from a clear stream are of a corres- 

 ponding colour. Trout caught under a bank, in 

 the shade of a bush, or in a part of the river 

 where the bottom is dark, are of a darker colour 

 than those caught in the lighter and more open 

 parts ; their complexion thus changing according 

 to the colour of the water they inhabit, the colour 

 of the ground over which they move, and the 

 degree of light. 



It is not our province to enter into the natural 

 history of the trout, as what anglers wish to know 

 is how to capture them, and we shall therefore 

 consider trout in a purely angling point of view. 



With regard to the much-vexed question of 

 whether trout hear or not, naturalists say that 

 they have ears, but we think that these organs 

 are rather intended by nature to convey any 

 agitation in the water, to which they are keenly 

 alive, than external noise. This much seems 

 evident, that no noise out of the water can be 

 heard by a trout in it. Guns have been fired 

 not many yards from trout, but they exhibited no 

 symptoms of alarm, which they would certainly 

 have done had they heard ; and, though some 

 English works upon angling caution the angler 

 against speaking loud at the water- side for fear 

 of alarming the fish, this much is certain, that 

 neither by speaking, nor any other noise the 



