46 FISH AND FISHING IN SCOTLAND. 



I have not fished the Hampshire streams nor those which 

 form the Thames, but I have examined many trout from Hamp- 

 shire and Oxford. In one from Hampshire, which measured 

 144 inches, the gape was If, and the length of the head 3^ 

 inches. There were two of these trout ; the one selected for me 

 by Mr. Groves (he looks to shape and form) measured 16 inches. 

 It was a female. I give the measurements, which may be useful 

 to the angler 



Length of head .... 3^ inches. 

 Gape If 



Dentition full and distinct. 



Pectoral fin 2| 



From snout to dorsal fin . . . 7 



Caudal fin 44 



Red and black spots abounded. This was on the llth of June. 

 Fine trout are caught in the Stour, which runs by Canterbury, 

 and many Kentish streams are noted for good trout. The trout 

 of the south of England seem to me excellent, being generally 

 pink-coloured in the flesh ; those of the north, and more espe- 

 cially the trout of the Coquet, resemble the common river trout 

 of Scotland; they amuse the angler, but are worthless for the 

 table. 



CHAPTER V. 



LOCH KATRINE VENACIIAE, GLENFINLAS. 



MENTAL fatigue and bodily toil, carpeted rooms, dining in 

 and dining out, but, worst of all, the commonplace of a large city, 

 had done its best and its worst to drive from my mind and body 

 all thought and energy. So I said to my friend, this can be 

 endured no longer, and next morning by break of day we were 

 off to Stirling. 



The angler may reach Stirling as he chooses ; on foot, by rail, 

 by coach or horse, by steam-boat. I recommend the last mode 

 as the pleasantest, though tedious. The boat will carry him up 



