i 4 BRITISH SPORTING FISHES. 



how Shakespeare described his Antiquary, and 

 has not the author of "/ go a-fishing" taught 

 us that there is much in common between the 

 angler and the antiquary ? How shall we look 

 at the trout ; how review his history ; and how, 

 further, forge some description of that "cold, 

 sweet, silvery life, wrapped in round waves, and 

 quickened with touches of transporting fear"? 

 Others have begun at the beginning. 



Of late years it has been our duty to patiently 

 watch and study the fish on their spawning-beds ; 

 and if ever trout-streams are more interesting 

 than when the March- brown and the May-fly are 

 " on," surely it is now. Look where we will, the 

 fish are heading up-stream to their spawning- 

 grounds. The salmon leaves the teeming seas, and 

 the trout his river reaches, for the tributaries. 

 At this time, the fish glide through the deep water 

 with as much eagerness as they rushed down the 

 same river as silvery samlets or tiny trout. 

 Maybe they will stay at some well-remembered 

 pool ; but the first frosts remind them that they 

 must seek the shallower waters. A brown spate 

 rolling down is another potent reminder, as they 

 know that by its aid rocks and weirs will be 

 more easily crossed. If their accustomed water- 

 ways are of solid foam, they get up easily ; but soft 

 spray gives them little hold, We must surmount 



