COMMON TROUT. 55 



at the bottom of whose garden the fish was first discovered, 

 placed it in a pond, where it was fed and lived four months, 

 but had decreased in weight at the time of its death to 

 twenty-one pounds and a quarter. 



The age to which Trout may arrive has not been ascer- 

 tained. Mr. Oliver mentions, that in August 1809, " a 

 Trout died which had been for twenty-eight years an inha- 

 bitant of the well at Dumbarton Castle. It had never 

 increased in size from the time of its being put in, when it 

 weighed about a pound ; and had become so tame, that it 

 would receive its food from the hands of the soldiers." In 

 August 1826, the Westmoreland Advertiser contained a 

 paragraph stating that a Trout had lived fifty-three years 

 in a well in the orchard of Mr. William Mossop, of Board 

 Hall, near Broughton-in-Furness. 



The Thames at various places produces Trout of very 

 large size. Among the best localities may be named Kings- 

 ton, opposite the public-house called the Angler, Hampton- 

 Court bridge and wear, and the wears at Shepperton and 

 Chertsey. These large Trout are objects of great attraction 

 to some of the best London anglers, who unite a degree 

 of skill and patience rarely to be exceeded. The most usual 

 mode practised to deceive these experienced fish is by 

 trolling or spinning with a small Bleak, Gudgeon, or Min- 

 now ; and Trout of fifteen pounds' weight are occasionally 

 taken. 



On the 21st of March in the present year, 1835, a 

 male Trout of fifteen pounds' weight was caught in a net. 

 The length of this fish was thirty inches. On the 14th of 

 April following, a male Trout of eleven pounds' weight, 

 and measuring twenty-eight inches in length, was also 

 caught in a net. From this second fish the representation 



