24 FISH A1S T D FISHING IIS SCOTLAND. 



not inferior to those of England, are sometimes caught in the 

 artificial ponds of Abercorn ; ponds fed by a rivulet called Clear 

 Burn, a short way from Edinburgh. Indeed, it is not impro- 

 bable that most of the trout taken in these streams, if allowed to 

 grow to a proper age, would prove of the pink-coloured kind, 

 and excellent as food. But they are generally caught when 

 small ; their flesh then has neither the colour nor flavour of the 

 full-grown trout ; this they can only acquire with time. 



I regret that I cannot put my hands on any notes respecting 

 the natural history of the red-spotted pink-coloured river trout 

 of Scotland ; and cannot therefore say whether or not they are 

 identical with those of England. In lieu thereof, I may offer the 

 angler, in a future chapter, some observations on the trout of Eng- 

 land, which I consider as analogous, if not identical, with the 

 trout caught in the stream I am about to describe ; for it is in 

 the Tyne, of which I have next to speak, that trout are found 

 which would not discredit the Itchen or the Thames. 



I subjoin a few notes respecting the salmonidaB taken with 

 nets at the mouth of the Esk (near Musselburgh), one of the 

 many small streams which pour their waters into the Firth of 

 Forth. 



Notes respecting the food of the sea trout and hirling, taken 

 at the mouth of the Esk, Firth of Forth. 



" Stake -net fishings at Fisherow* The runners were not 

 found essential ; the tenant also fished the shores with a coble and 

 very fine meshed net, able to take anything, and similar to 

 what we saw used on the Nith. With this he took some sea 

 trout of six pounds' weight, and many fish which he called 

 hirlings : to me they looked exactly like the hirlings of the 

 Nith and Solway. Eight were examined, each about fourteen 

 inches long, male and female nearly equal ; neither ova nor milt 

 were developed, flesh not so good as in those of the Annan, 

 ascribed by me at the time to their food, for in all, the stomachs 

 were loaded with the fry of herrings and sand-eels in all stages 

 of solution, the red substance (ascertained to be the eggs of 

 the Echinodermata)f being wanting. This kind of food was 



* September 1st, 1832. 

 f Dr. Knox "On the Food of the Salmon." 



