406 THE MOOR AND THE LOCH. 



will now crawl upon hands and knees, just as near the top of 

 the linn as will enable you to drop the bait immediately 

 below the bubbling foam nearly as favourite a station for an 

 over-grown monopolising trout as the other. Except in such 

 situations, the burn-trout seldom exceeds a quarter of a pound, 

 and may be pulled out with single gut, without much risk of 

 breaking it. In these linns, however, I have frequently 

 taken them upwards of a pound, which is easily accounted 

 for. As soon as the trout grows to a sufficient size to in- 

 timidate his pigmy neighbours, he falls back into the best 

 pool for feeding not occupied by a greater giant than him- 

 self ; and as these linns are almost always in places very 

 difficult of access, he remains undisturbed and alone, or with 

 a single companion, driving all others away, until he may at 

 last exceed a pound in weight. 



I have seen two curious instances of the rapid growth of 

 the burn-trout under such circumstances, from the size of a 

 parr to fully half a pound. They were deposited in separate 

 spring-wells, about three feet deep and five round. The trout 

 in neither had any means of escape, and became so tame as 

 to seize worms, minnows, &c., when dropped from the hand. 

 One of them was within a hundred yards of Ardenconnell 

 House in Dumbartonshire, where I then lived. It had been 

 in the spring about four years, and although large-headed and 

 lean-looking, as all over-grown burn-trout are, seemed in good 

 health and spirits. It always came to the top of the water 

 for the remains of my minnows, when I returned from troll- 

 ing; and on one occasion I emptied a pailful of live ones 

 into the spring, which not only gave it several "hearty meals, 

 but exercise and amusement to boot. It pursued and seized 

 them with a rapidity the eye could scarcely follow. At last 

 the poor minnows, from several dozen, decreased in number to 

 three or four, who only escaped the fate of their companions 

 by discovering a small crack between two stones ; and I 

 noticed that the trout soon ceased to molest them, having dis- 



