424 ENGLISH A ND SCO TCH TR UT 



or river differ in colour, as is frequently the case, such 

 variation is due to a difference in food. As a rule, it 

 is quite true that the redder the flesh of trout, the 

 better condition they are in ; but, at the same time, I 

 have caught many a fat and well-conditioned trout 

 whose flesh has been quite white, and I do not there- 

 fore attach any value to the theory, and have come to 

 the conclusion that feeding has nothing whatever to 

 do with any material variation in the colour of the skin 

 or flesh. Some slow-runninof English rivers and 

 canals produce trout just as good as the Scotch lake- 

 trout, and it is the fault of the Conservators of a 

 district if the rivers are capable of holding good fish 

 and fail to do so. 



No river-trout in Scotland can for a moment compare 

 with those of the English rivers. The nature of the 

 bottoms of the rivers is totally different. Where, how- 

 ever, the Scotch rivers are slow-running, such as the 

 Eden, Leven, Leet, Blackadder, and parts of the Spey, 

 the trout are good, and some good fish of three, four, 

 and even five pounds are obtainable in the slow, deep 

 pools on the upper portions of the Beauly, I have 

 heard of trout of six and seven pounds, and, unless I 

 am mistaken, one of twelve pounds, being taken on the 

 Tweed, but in no case were they equal in quality to 

 our smaller trout. 



Age may influence the weight of trout, but it cer- 

 tainly does not affect their colour, and this I have 

 more than once heard asserted as a fact. 



Where the number of trout in a lake is excessive, 

 the fish will be small, and continually decrease in size. 

 In proof of which the following may be of some interest. 

 Loch Auchnanuilt, near to the railway-station of that 



