BRITISH FRESH-WATER FISH AND 

 THEIR HAUNTS 



By WALTER M. GALLICHAN 



THE TROUT 



NO fish that is born in fresh water 

 arouses so keen an interest as the 

 Trout. It is the theme of poets, 

 the subject of many learned treatises, 

 and the fish most beloved by the craft of 

 anglers. The very name of the Trout 

 brings recollections and visions of delight- 

 ful mountain burns, rushing down from 

 the scented peat bogs, in httle gorges 

 fringed with heather and fern ; of rippled 

 lochs, shining beneath the crags, and of 

 quiet meadow country, where the fields 

 are bright with patches of the kingcup, 

 and the river flows sedately by trim 

 farms, and through the arches of ancient 

 grey bridges. 



For the Trout is a creature of many 

 waters, haunting the deep weir-pools of 

 the Thames, the unfathomed pools of 

 the mountains, the striphng streams of 

 the moors, and the gliding rivers of the 

 lowlands. Its habits, too, are elusive 

 and fascinating ; they afford an unending 

 subject of discussion among those who 

 follow the gentle art of fly-fishing and 

 live much by the waterside. No man 

 has ever learned all that can be learned 

 concerning the reproduction of Trout, 

 the conditions that govern their rapid 

 growth in certain rivers, their adaptation 

 to the waters in which they are bred, 

 their instinct for wandering and ex- 

 ploring, and their cunning in outwitting 

 the enemies that prey upon them. Even 

 the gold and scarlet markings of the 

 scales of a Trout open a wide field of 

 scientific investigation into the wonders 

 of natural selection ; for there is little 

 doubt that the handsome burnished 

 Trout of clear streams, with its bright 

 sp(jts and innumerable speckles, has 

 been evolved from the silvery Trout 



of the sea, that near relative of the 

 Salmon. 



To know something of the hfe-history 

 of the Brown Trout, we must watch the 

 waters with the keen vision of the heron 

 or the kingfisher, and track the httle 

 fr}^ in the tributaries that serve as nur- 

 series to the main stream.. We must 

 visit the tarns that are hidden among 

 the hummocks of the uplands, gaze into 

 the deep, green pools of the rivers, and 

 observe the fish when they are feeding, 

 pairing, and migrating in the autumn. 

 The study of fishes is, in many respects, 

 more difficult than that of quadrupeds 

 and birds ; for the w'aters often baffle us, 

 and the fish are very cautious in conceal- 

 ing themselves. 



Trout are alert and nervous, and ages 

 of adventure in evading the pursuit of the 

 otter, and the several species of aquatic 

 birds that feed upon them — not to speak 

 of the experience gained during the 

 centuries of fly-fishing — have taught them 

 that concealment is an essential of their 

 existence. This is why the casual rambler 

 by the banks of a Trout stream may 

 spend hours without seeing a single fish. 

 He may, indeed, reach the conclusion 

 that there are no Trout in the river. 

 But the fisherman, whose eye is quick 

 for those dimples that mark the spot 

 where a Trout is rising to flies on the 

 surface, knows that there are as many 

 good Trout in the stream as ever came 

 out of it. 



The first scene in the life of a Trout is 

 enacted at that hour when he emerges' 

 from the egg or spawn globule, which 

 has been deposited by the parent on a clean 

 bed of gravel. The "redds" or spawn- 

 ing grounds are selected with great care^ 



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