20 TKOUT FISHING 



not at all times and in sufficient quantity be 

 obtained, and consequently he at one time eats 

 one kind, and at another time another kind of 

 food, making up in the whole what in any par- 

 ticular part was deficient; such a change and 

 variety of diet is positively necessary in order to 

 maintain the fish in a state of health. As a man, 

 kept solely on animal diet, would ere long become 

 ill, or on vegetable diet debilitated, so would the 

 trout if long restricted to any one class of food be 

 enfeebled. Kind nature to man, over and beyond 

 that appetite arising from the body's appreciated 

 requirement of food, added reason for selection 

 and guidance in his choice, nor has she left the 

 trout more unprovided tor, in them the same 

 appetite calls for what instinct directs. 



The different kinds of food the trout lives on 

 depends on locality ; he eats almost everything 

 that is nutritious to his body, but the classes of 

 nutriment are in some streams very limited, in 

 others more general, in all somewhat various, and 

 yet a universal similarity to a certain extent pre- 

 vails a little consideration of the land, the sides 

 of the stream, its bottom, &c., will usually settle 

 the point sufficiently for all practical purposes 

 and as we must allude again to the subject, just 

 now we will only remark that simple as this sub- 

 ject is, the places in which the trout take their 

 food is one of the highest importance to the fisher- 

 man. I feel that it is absolutely impossible to 

 describe accurately the precise spots trout may be 

 found in ; this can alone be learnt by personal 



