20 FRESH- WATER TROUT. 



and the supply of food limited, the trout are gene- 

 rally numerous but small ; Manor and Quair in 

 Peeblesshire, and some of the tributaries of the 

 Whitadder in Berwickshire, are examples of this, 

 in any of which the angler may easily capture from 

 ten to fifteen dozen of trout any day in summer. 



Small rivers produce more trout in proportion 

 to their size than large ones, as a large river has 

 not so much bed in proportion to its volume of 

 water : and it is principally the bed of a river 

 which yields the insects and other food upon which 

 trout live. Rivers where the salmon-fry, or parr, 

 as they are usually called, are very numerous, are 

 rarely such good trouting-streams as those where 

 there are none, the small fish consuming a large 

 proportion of the food of the river. Placing some 

 obstruction at the mouth of a stream in order to 

 prevent the migratory species from ascending it, 

 would improve materially the size of the common 

 trout it contains. Gala and Leader Waters are 

 examples of this. At the mouth of the former there 

 are mill-caulds which salmon cannot get over ; near 

 the mouth of the latter a rarely-surmounted water- 

 fall ; consequently there are no parr, and the trout 

 are much larger than in any similar tributaries of 

 the Tweed where parr are to be found. A proprietor 

 on the Leader made a well-meant but injudicious 

 attempt to let salmon up ; happily, as it has proved, 

 with little success ; and we think it is not worth 

 while spoiling the trouting qualifications of such 



