58 PROCEEDINGS ON LEAVING WINTER QUARTERS. 



in the "banks amongst watery mud, in an extremely 

 emaciated and semi-torpid condition, whilst making 

 weirs and other improvements to a small river. And I 

 remember, on the 8th March 1852, I examined the 

 Breamish in order to see if they had yet taken the 

 streams : the day was bright and calm, and I could dis- 

 tinctly observe every inch of the bottom of the water. 

 In the lower and deeper parts of it plenty of trout were 

 abroad in the sharp streams, apparently on the feed ; but 

 two or three miles higher up, where the river is smaller 

 and shallower, not one was to be seen. But in a back water 

 connected with the main river, in which there were a 

 number of old piles surrounded by wreck partially 

 sanded over, I observed a large drove of small trout, 

 ranging from four to eight inches in length, and about 

 one hundred in number, congregated together like a 

 shoal of minnows, and which had evidently newly 

 emerged from their winter quarters. 



In a forward season, about the end of February, or 

 the first week in March (I speak of northern waters), 

 the great majority of trout leave their winter retreats ; 

 although, in a more than ordinarily mild winter, an 

 occasional early-spawned fish that may not have mi- 

 grated, will venture out to feed during the heat of the 

 day ; and I once caught two dozen fine fish on the 24th 

 of January, with worm. On first emerging from their 

 retreats, they generally betake themselves to the still 

 deeps for a few days, until their strength is sufficiently 

 recruited for more active exertions, when they next re- 

 pair to the tails of streams, the shallows, and gentler 



