20 . THE FRESH-WATER TROUT. 



insects of all descriptions, minnows and other small 

 fish, worms, beetles, snails, and frogs, are equally vic- 

 tims to its rapacity ; nor does it feel any compunc- 

 tions in devouring the smaller members of its own 

 species. We once, when angling with the minnow 

 in Leader Water, caught a trout of five or six ounces 

 in weight with the tail of a fish protruding about 

 in inch from its mouth, on pulling out which we 

 found it to be a trout in a partially digested state, 

 which, when its neighbour swallowed it, must have 

 weighed at least two ounces. This did not prevent 

 it from rising at the minnow, but its mouth being 

 so full it could not get hold of it, and it was only 

 after repeated rises that it was caught by the outside 

 of the mouth. 



All this might lead to the supposition that trout 

 would be easily captured ; but this is a great error. 

 Whether it arises from any superior natural endow- 

 ments, or is merely the result of education, as they 

 are more fished for than any other fish, and may 

 from that cause be more wide-awake ; this much is 

 certain that they are the most wary and difficult to 

 capture of all the inhabitants of the waters, display- 

 ing a caution and sagacity in taking their food truly 

 astonishing. They are also the most capricious of 

 all fish, taking greedily one day what they will 

 hardly look at the next. The wariness which trout 

 display varies greatly according to circumstances. 

 A well-fed trout is at all times more wary than a 

 half-starved one, as it can afford to allow a suspicious- 



