GROWING THE LARGE TROUT. 2O5 



found in the cold, narrow mountain rivulets near their 

 source. The largest brook trout of all are found in 

 large lakes, where range, space, feed, warmth of water, 

 and perhaps inherited tendencies, all combine to pro- 

 duce a large race. 



Trout, like other fishes, have small brains compared 

 with the higher animals, and are very slightly sensi- 

 tive to pain. 



They have a rapid digestion, which, though not 

 equal to that of a pickerel,* and some warm-water 

 fishes, makes them susceptible to very quick growth 

 indeed under favorable circumstances. Trout have 

 this peculiarity also, that they vary from one another 

 in their personal appearance to an endless degree. 

 No two trout are alike. Every trout has its individual 

 markings, as much as human beings, which distin- 

 guish it from all other trout. A mullet caught in a 

 lake looks like all the other mullets of the lake, so 

 with the white-fish and others ; but each trout has its 

 individual marks which distinguish it from all others. 

 The trout also of different brooks and lakes all differ 

 from one another, so that the streams in which they 

 are caught can frequently be told by the looks of the 

 fish. Their different localities in the same stream also 

 affect their appearance. Over a light gravelly bot- 

 tom the trout grow light-complexioned, and they vary 

 through all shades of complexion, from this to the 

 dark slimy trout, almost as black as a bull-head, which 



* Most fish have a rapid digestion. Bertram compares the 

 digestion of some to the action of fire. Harvest of the Sea, 

 p. 4. 



