SLOW AND RAPID RUNNING STREAMS. 17 



best trout. Of this description are most of the 

 English streams ; and though trout in some of them 

 are now very scarce, they are occasionally caught of 

 large size ; indeed, in point of size, shape, and edible 

 qualities, they bear away the palm from any that 

 can be found in our Scottish streams. Among our 

 own streams of this kind are the Eden and the 

 Leven in Fifeshire, the Blackadder and the Leet in 

 Berwickshire, the lower parts of the Clyde in 

 Lanarkshire, and Biggar Water in Peeblesshire. 

 All these streams run very slowly ; in some of them 

 there are miles where it is difficult to tell at first 

 sight which way the water is flowing. They all 

 contain large, well-shaped, and in general red-fleshed 

 trout, owing to the superior feeding which such 

 streams, running over a bottom of mud or marl, 

 possess, and also to the circumstance that they are 

 generally not numerous. This last fact is due to a 

 number of causes. Deep, slow-running streams are 

 not favourable for spawning, trout requiring briskly- 

 running, shallow water for that purpose. They are 

 also ill provided with stones and gravel, where the 

 young fry may shelter themselves from their rapaci- 

 ous relatives, and from pike, which generally abound 

 in such places, and commit sad havoc. It is ob- 

 served that wherever these fresh-water tyrants are 

 found, the trout attain large size, those that escape 

 getting double the quantity of food they would 

 under ordinary circumstances. It seems as if the 

 feeding of a river could only support a certain 



B 



