THE WING-FOOTED 



fine trout as ever rose to a fly. Three 

 years ago a few score of fingerlings 

 taken from a neighbouring river were 

 placed in this water, then supposed to 

 be uninhabited. They came of a famous 

 breed, for the trout of the river run to 

 eight pounds and fight to the death. In 

 these new quarters they prospered on 

 the best of feed, and averaging to-day 

 nearly a pound and a half, are fat, lusty, 

 and in prime condition. They take the 

 fly with dash, play long and hard, and 

 are a very pretty handful for the fisher- 

 man ; still their distant cousins from the 

 far north are the bonnier fighters. 



Let me now attempt to describe the 

 first Malbaie trout which the landing- 

 net brought in, as it lies before us on the 

 thwart. The scales, though small, are 

 quite visible, and each one looks like a 

 flake of gold, pale gold, in which per- 

 haps there is some admixture of silver. 

 The colour is uniform, except that on 

 the back the gold predominates and on 



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