NATURE AND SPORT IN BRITAIN 



rises, a handsome brown trout of a pound and a quarter, 

 and after that a halt for luncheon. A water-bailiff has 

 been halloaing to us with great pertinacity for the last 

 twenty minutes, and now putting ashore for a brief 

 space, we are able to lull his suspicions and produce 

 our licences. Poachers of high as well as of low degree 

 are pretty numerous in Ireland, and although rivers 

 and lakes are better protected than they used to be, a 

 good deal of French leave is still taken in these remote 

 places. For sea-trout, as well as for salmon, a i 

 fishing licence is required, and occasionally asked for, 

 where keepers do their duty. 



It is curious, by the way, how little is known of the 

 habits of the sea-trout. Here in the west of Ireland 

 peasants and water-bailiffs seem to be even less able to 

 enlighten one than their fellows of Scotland or even 

 Norway. When and where do the heavier examples 

 of these fish spawn? Very few anglers, even among 

 those who understand salmon and their ways pretty 

 thoroughly, are able to tell you. In various rivers a 

 large proportion of sea-trout seem to return to the salt 

 water without spawning at all. Again, many of the 

 heavier fish seem to hang about the coast and estuaries. 

 Do these ever ascend a river with their fellows ? They 

 love apparently to drift up and down with the tide, to 

 just taste the fresh water coming down from the rivers 

 and move on. The smaller sea-trout do, of course, 

 ascend the upper reaches and spawn ; the heavy fish, it 

 would seem, much more rarely. Male fish, too, among 

 heavy sea-trout, seem far scarcer than among salmon. 

 One thing our Mayo friends are able to bear witness 

 to a fact well known, of course, to most anglers among 

 the Salmonidce and that is, that white trout, unlike 

 their big cousins the salmon, do feed freely in fresh 

 water. Of that there can be no manner of doubt. Upon 



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