THE SALMON FAMILY. 319 



totally different from any that I had ever before seen in the 

 river, or, indeed, in that part of Inverness. This fish was 

 brilliantly coloured, the pervading tint being a rich yellow 

 gold spotted with vermilion, and becoming a deep orange 

 on the belly. The shape of the body and of the small 

 compact head was also graceful and symmetrical in the 

 extreme, resembling rather that of the White than of the 

 Yellow species ; and looking back at the many hundreds 

 of Trout it has been my fortune to take both north and 

 south of the Tweed, I should say that this fish was the most 

 beautiful I ever met with. 



During the succeeding half-hour I took four more fish, 

 all upwards of a pound in weight, from the same pool, and 

 was twice broken by others ; and although none of those 

 afterwards caught quite equalled the first in beauty or size, 

 they still bore so close a resemblance to it and to each 

 other, and were so entirely dissimilar to the ordinary run 

 of Laggan fish, that no doubt could exist as to the identity 

 of the breed. With the second breakage the last of my 

 small flies was unfortunately lost; and though I tried 

 conclusions with several larger varieties, and again the next 

 evening and on subsequent occasions with the original 

 pattern, I could not succeed in catching another of these 

 fish. The villagers said they had never seen such Trout 

 from the Laggan before. The flesh when boiled was a fine 

 salmon-colour, and the flavour excellent. 



In all cases of this kind a close comparison of the 

 several characteristics of the fish with those given at the 



