180 AN ANGLER'S SEASON 



the same age in natural lakes ; and, being 

 young, they rise as freely as other young 

 trout do. That is because the soil on 

 which they live is soil which has until 

 recently been open to the air, soil 

 swarming with worms, caterpillars, and 

 other succulent creatures, too many to be 

 mentioned, which are not indigenous to a 

 natural lake. The trout feed on these 

 tit -bits until the supply is exhausted. 

 That is about the fifth year ; and then 

 the average weight of the fish begins to 

 decline towards uniformity with the 

 average weight of the fish in the 

 neighbourhood. The process has been 

 witnessed on Lake Vyrnwy, and it will 

 ere long be manifest on Blagdon. 



The Highland lochs of which we have 

 been thinking are not subject to any such 

 falsifying departure from the normal 

 order. All of them are natural. In all 

 of them Nature is at work according to 

 her ordinary rules. The two sets of facts 

 which she produces are confusing. We 

 take the best baskets of trout from 



