MAEIE STUART. 37 



trout, namely, the trout which lives on entomostracjB, and comes 

 into season in December, January, and February : and the trout, 

 which feeding on the buccinum, and on flies, worms, and all the 

 common food of the common river trout, comes into season 

 much later in spring. If this view be the true one, then the 

 early trout of Loch Leven ought to be called the char-trout, 

 as being allied to the char in its habits and general character. 



Sir Walter Scott, in his pleasant tale of the "Abbot," skilfully 

 and naturally introduces the subject of the Leven trout, in an 

 ideal conversation between Queen Mary Stuart and Roland 

 G-rseme. The hot-headed attendant had been, as he thought, 

 unjustly suspected and accused. Sir Walter brings about a 

 reconciliation in the following way : " With the peculiar tact 

 and delicacy which no woman possessed in greater perfection, she 

 (Queen Mary) began to soothe by degrees the vexed spirit of the 

 magnanimous attendant. The excellence of the fish he had taken 

 in his expedition, the high flavour and beautiful red colour of the 

 trout which have long given distinction to the lake, led her first 

 to express her thanks to her attendant for so agreeable an addition 

 to her table, especially upon a jour de jeune ; and thus brought 

 on inquiries into the place where the fish had been taken, their 

 size, their peculiarities; the times when they were in season, and 

 a comparison between the Loch Leven trouts and those which 

 are found in the rivers and lakes of the south of Scotland. The 

 ill humour of Roland Graame was never of an obstinate cha- 

 racter. It rolled away like a mist before the sun, and he was 

 easily engaged in a new and animated dissertation about Loch 

 Leven trout, and sea trout, and river trout, and red trout, and 

 char, which never rise to a fly, and parr, which some suppose 

 infant salmon, and hirlings, which frequent the Frith, and ven- 

 daces, which are only found in the Castle Loch, of Lochmaben ; 

 and he was hurrying on with the eagerness and enthusiasm of a 

 young sportsman, when he observed," &c.* 



The trout of Loch Leven seem to me able to live in waters 

 unfit for supporting the life of the river trout. This was all but 

 proved at Prestmannan Lake. They succeed also tolerably well 



* "The Abbot." 



