306 SALMON AND TROUT. 



and even its surroundings, if not distinctly picturesque, will 

 have a- certain rural charm. The level line of water along 

 which he plies his craft has at least its green fringe and its 

 border of fields to rest and refresh his eye ; and if along with 

 a few fish for the ' missis ' he can carry home a bunch of 

 marsh marigolds or forget-me-nots, a yellow iris, or a spike of 

 purple loose-strife for the 'kids,' he will be well pleased with 

 his humble trophies. 



Philanthropy in our England takes a thousand forms ; an 

 association for stocking the open waters nearest to our towns 

 with the best fish they are capable of feeding would be a bene- 

 ficent and popular novelty. And I feel sure that if ever the 

 experiment be tried on a large scale, no little surprise will be 

 felt even by experienced anglers at the ease with which trout 

 will adapt themselves to waters apparently unpromising. 



I have pointed out, under the general head of ' Flies,' the 

 chief ingredients of that insect diet on which trout so largely 

 subsist. But as that diet is, for reasons already mentioned, 

 becoming scantier in many of our best streams, we should do 

 well to study the means of supplementing it with other kinds of 

 food. It is, I am afraid, useless to attempt restoring the larger 

 Ephemera in waters whence they have died out, drainage and 

 weed cutting remaining the same. The flies are too delicate 

 to be fit for breeding after a long journey, and it would be 

 difficult to obtain the larvae in sufficient quantities to give the 

 experiment a fair chance of success. As regards the Fhry- 

 gane<z, there are some neighbourhoods where a few sharp lads 

 might gather ' caddis ' almost by the bushel for turning out in 

 the adjacent trout stream. But this could only be worth while 

 in a land of spring ditches and shallow drains, and even then 

 it is by no means sure that the stock of flies could be perma- 

 nently increased. 



In streams where the trout run large much might, I think, 

 be done by providing them with cheap fish dinners. A trout 

 over two pounds weight generally becomes ' piscivorous ' if he 



