276 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 



THE fishing party had been successful, and returned 

 late in the evening with two baskets of trout, which, 

 although of small size, were remarkable for beautiful 

 shape and excellent flavour. 



It is a curious fact that the loughs where the party 

 angled, though situate in the same valley, and divided 

 only by a strip of moorland not above fifty yards across, 

 united by the same rivulet, and in depth and soil at 

 bottom, to all appearance, precisely similar, should 

 produce fish as different from each other as it is possible 

 for those of the same species to be. In the centre lake 

 the trout are dull, ill-shapen, and dark-coloured ; the 

 head large, the body lank, and, though of double size, 

 compared to their neighbours, are killed with much 

 less opposition. In the adjacent loughs, their hue is 

 golden and pellucid, tinted with spots of a brilliant 

 vermilion. The scales are bright, the head small, 

 the shoulder thick, and from their compact shape, they 

 prove themselves, when hooked, both active and vigorous. 

 At table they are red and firm, and their flavour is 

 particularly fine while the dark trout are white and 

 flaccid, and have the same insipidity of flavour which 

 distinguishes a spent from a healthy salmon. The 

 red trout seldom exceed a herring-size, and in looking 

 through the contents of the baskets, which amounted 

 to at least twelve dozen, I could only find two fish which 

 weighed above a pound. 



The dark trout, however, from their superior size, 

 are more sought after by the mountain fishermen. 



