292 



THE NATURE BOOK 



eddies out of the fierce rush of the 

 water. 



Long combat for existence has educated 

 the Trout of our ri\-ers to a remarkable 



riioto^'raph by mison. Aberdeen. 



A FALL ASCENDED BY TROUT. 

 Leny Falls, Perthshire. 



degree. There are streams that the 

 angler calls " difftcult." such as the crystal 

 Dove, or the Darenth in Kent, wherein 

 the Trout are so experienced in self- 



protection that e\'en the most capable 

 fisherman finds his skill severely taxed 

 in competition with his wily prey. To 

 tempt these shrewd Trout, the fly-fisher 

 uses the most dehcate of tackle and flies 

 that are works of art. An unfamihar 

 shadow on the water, a dubious disturb- 

 ance of the surface, no matter how 

 slight, and the flash of a rod in the air, 

 will scare these sophisticated fish into 

 the deeps. Again and again they will 

 refuse the most tempting counterfeit of a 

 natural insect, presented with the rarest 

 adroitness. 



Very different, though not without 

 cunning, are the Trout of remote lochs 

 and unfrequented rivers. They have a 

 less wide experience of the race of anglers, 

 and the po\-erty of their food supply 

 often makes them unwar3\ These are 

 the Trout that rejoice the novice in fly- 

 fishing, for their capture requires less 

 skill than that demanded b}- their 

 brethren of the much-fished waters. 



October is a month of much import- 

 ance in the hfe of the Trout. It is the 

 })eriod when the passion for wandering 

 seizes the fish, and the one supreme 

 object is that of migration to the sjiawn- 

 ing beds. If the tributaries are low, 

 this is the time when the poacher reaps 

 his j)lunder, for Trout, heavy with spawn, 

 or bent upon pairing, are apt to expose 

 themsel\-es to danger in the shallow 

 reaches of rivulets. In the surmounting of 

 the falls of streams at this season Trout 

 show a marvellous strength and pertinacity. 

 1 have seen a Trout, no longer than my 

 forefinger, working its way from ledge 

 to ledge of a tumbling cascade of fifteen 

 feet in height, an obstacle that no salmon 

 would \'enture to ascend. The abundance 

 of Troutlets in the highest pools of moun- 

 tain burns, above high falls, proves 

 beyond question that these fish are 

 possessed with a passionate lo\'e of ex- 

 ploring, and a wonderful capacity for 

 mounting waterfalls. 



Walter M. Gallichan. 



