FRESH-WATER TROUT. 13 



ing colour. Trout caught under a bank, in the 

 shade of a bush, or in a part of the river where the 

 bottom is dark, are of a darker colour than those 

 caught in the lighter and more open parts ; their 

 complexion thus changing according to the colour of 

 the water they inhabit, the colour of the ground 

 over which they move, and the degree of light. 



It is not our province to enter into the natural 

 history of the trout, as what anglers wish to know 

 is how to capture them, and we shall therefore con- 

 sider trout in a purely angling point of view. 



With regard to the much-vexed question of 

 whether trout hear or not, naturalists say that they 

 have ears, but we think that these organs are rather 

 intended by nature to convey any agitation in the 

 water, to which they are keenly alive, than external 

 noise. This much seems evident, that no noise out 

 of the water can be heard by a trout in it. Guns 

 have been fired not many yards from trout, but 

 they exhibited no symptoms of alarm, which they 

 would certainly have done had they heard ; and, 

 though some English works upon angling caution 

 the angler against speaking aloud at the water-side 

 for fear of alarming the fish, this much is certain, 

 that neither by speaking, nor any other noise the 

 angler can make, is there the least danger of alarm- 

 ing them. They have frequently been caught below 

 a railway bridge at the very time a train was passing 

 overhead. 



Those who object to fishing on the ground of 



