THE TROUT. 67 



variety and even the same spawning. The species of 

 fresh- water trout in Scotland may be reduced to the great 

 lake trout or salmoferox, the gillaroo or gizzard trout, 

 the great river or bull-trout, and the common trout, 

 which last species admits of an infinite variety from the 

 causes above stated. We omit mentioning at present 

 the sea trout, whitling, and herling, the guiniad or pol- 

 lac, the vendace, and the char, as also the greyling, 

 which is not properly a Scottish fish. 



Before disserting upon these kinds of trout, it is 

 worthy of remark, that within the last sixty years our 

 waters have undergone considerable changes as regards 

 their inhabitants ; that, in fact, some streams and lochs 

 contain at this moment sorts and sizes of fish very un- 

 like those which peopled them half a century ago. 



For example, let us take St Mary's Loch, and the 

 small one connected with it, called the Loch of the 

 Lowes. There are many living in the Forest (a name 

 given to that part of Selkirkshire which formerly con- 

 stituted the far-famed forest of Ettrick) who remember 

 when this considerable sheet of water scarcely con- 

 tained a single trout, whereas, in the present day, it is 

 completely filled with them. Pike, however, abounded 

 at that time, in proof of which fact, there are a few 

 deep holes adjoining St Mary's at Meggat-foot, which 

 retain the name of the Ged-lake the word Ged being 

 the Scotch for pike. A further confirmation of this 

 singular circumstance will be found in Sir John Sin- 

 clair's Statistical Account "of the parish of Ettrick, 

 written by the present Dr Russell of Yarrow. It is 

 affirmed, moreover, that in the Loch of the Lowes, 

 trout, which are now scarce, were then found in great 

 numbers, and that a mutual and voluntary change of 

 quarters between them and the pike gradually brought 

 about matters as they now exist. 



