SENSES OF TROUT. 15 



believe otherwise. They can detect the smallest fly 

 even in running water ; and at night, when it is so 

 dark that the angler cannot see his flies, or even his 

 rod, trout will see and seize a midge-fly, which 

 certainly argues the possession of extraordinary 

 powers of vision. Their eyes are situated in the 

 front of their head, and looking sideways, so that 

 they not only see in front, hut also on both sides 

 of them, and even a little behind. 



The growth, size, and edible qualities of trout, 

 entirely depend upon the quality and quantity of 

 their food, and these, of course, depend upon the 

 nature of the water they inhabit. The largest and 

 finest trout are usually found in lochs ; these yield- 

 ing more and better food than rivers. The redness 

 in the flesh, which some trout have, is entirely the 

 result of feeding, and is a very good index to their 

 edible qualities. It is quite a common occurrence 

 to capture red and white fleshed trout in the same 

 loch or river; the red fleshed ones being merely 

 better fed specimens of the same kind. 



Of rivers, those which flow slowly, and are 

 more like canals than rivers, always produce the 

 best trout. Of this description are most of the 

 English streams ; and though trout in some of them 

 are now very scarce, they are occasionally caught of 

 large size ; indeed, in point of size, shape, and edible 

 qualities, they bear away the palm from any that 

 can be found in our Scottish streams. Among our 

 own streams of this kind are the Eden and the 



