THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 103 



shall yield finer wool than they did that year before they 

 came to feed in it, and coarser again if they shall return to 

 their former pasture; and again return to a finer wool, 

 being fed in the fine-wool ground. Which I tell you, that 

 you may the better believe that I am certain, if I catch 

 a trout in one meadow he shall be white and faint, and very 

 like to be lousy ; and as certainly, if I catch a trout in the 

 next meadow, he shall be strong, and red, and lusty, and 

 much better meat. Trust me, scholar, I have caught many a 

 trout in a particular meadow, that the very shape and the 

 enamelled colour of him hath been such, as have joyed me to 

 look on him : and I have then with much pleasure concluded 

 with Solomon, " Everything is beautiful in his season." 



I should by promise speak next of the salmon ; but I will 

 by your favour say a little of the umber or grayling, which is 

 so like a trout for his shape and feeding, that I desire I may 

 exercise your patience with a short discourse of him, and then 

 the next shall be of the salmon. 



[REMAEKS, ETC., TOUCHING- THE TKOTTT. Walton has dedicated 

 portions of the Third and Fourth Day's fishing and dialogue, embracing 

 two very long chapters, to that interesting fish the Trout. To be sure 

 the chapters are interspersed with songs, conviviality, and conversation 

 on many subjects besides fish. This good father of us anglers knew well 

 how to catch a trout with a worm, or with a live May-fly ; but certainly 

 he was not an adept at taking that fish with the artificial fly or by spin- 

 ning the minnow. Nor do I at all think that his knowledge of the 

 natural history of the trout, of its habits, and of the methods of breeding 

 it, was either accurate or profound. 



I shall begin with the natural history of the fish, and most probably 

 state that which will appear heterodox to thousands. We know the 

 history of salmon, but certainly not of trout, because there are so many 

 varieties of that fish differing in appearance, size, colour, shape, and 

 habits. As Walton and Cotton treat only of the common trout, perhaps 

 I ought to have confined myself to that fish, and avoided the other 

 species. My love for the art I have so long possessed prevents me. To 

 begin : 



The common trout is the salmofario of Linnaeus. On its lateral line 

 it has red spots, its tail is much forked when out of condition, and hardly 

 forked at all when the fish is in full season, at the end of June. It is 

 yellowish about the belly, darkish on the back, and in the upper part of 

 the sides has deep purple and pink spots. The head of the female is 

 blunter than that of the male, which, if he is an old fish, has the lower 

 jaw more elongated than the upper. The rays of the dorsal fin are 

 thirteen, pectoral thirteen, ventral nine, anal nine, and caudal or tail 

 twenty -five. Guided by this description, no one can fail to recognise 

 the trout. Let me utter one caution. He is not always of the colour 



