A BOOK OF FISHING STORIES 



relied on to gobble up any spawn that might be deposited there. 

 The stock of trout, therefore, depends entirely for continu- 

 ance upon annual replenishment with fish conveyed from 

 elsewhere. 



I began by turning in two or three hundred troutlets taken 

 from a neighbouring burn, brightly-coloured little fellows, 

 spangled with vermilion and splashed with gold on their 

 flanks, running from two to four ounces in weight. Two or 

 three years later, I forget which, I went up to this lochan one 

 morning in April to see whether any of these trout remained. 

 There was no boat, and a strong east wind only allowed me to 

 cast from one part of the shore. I landed ten trout weigh- 

 ing io|^ lb., so altered in appearance from those which I had 

 turned in that it seemed hard to believe they were of the 

 same species. The gold had turned to silver, the red spots 

 had almost disappeared — quite so, in some of these fish — 

 and their general colouring and shape were strongly suggestive 

 of sea-trout. 



That happened more than thirty years ago. Since that 

 time the little loch has been regularly replenished, chiefly 

 with two-year-olds from a hatchery, and has never failed to 

 produce lovely trout up to 3 lb. in weight. I may add that 

 both American brook trout {Salvelinus Jontinalis) and rainbow 

 trout {Salmo irideus) have been tried, with a result that seems 

 to be invariable — namely, splendid promise during the first 

 year, partial fulfilment in the second, total disappearance 

 thereafter. The exit from the loch being guarded by a grating, 

 the disappearance of these fish admits of no easy explanation. 



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